Getting it right in choosing a program to make financial projections is very important for any company. The step of evolving from financial management based on Excel spreadsheets to management based on specific software will give you a strong boost in optimizing financial processes, gaining more reliable information, better presented to managers and with better execution times. .

These programs should allow you to make a financial plan in the short, medium and long term; control cash flow, prepare balance sheets, monitor income and costs by business area, estimated profitability and return on investment, among other variables that you need day by day in your company.

In contexts as volatile as the macroeconomies of Latin American countries, a program to make financial projections like Plika will allow you to have a «short rein» on the financial health of your organization, evaluating different scenarios and anticipating risk mitigation measures based on information trustworthy.

How can a program to make financial projections help you?

1. Guarantee a collaborative environment to plan between business areas

   FP&A software will allow you to assign heads of areas, budgets, and processes, as well as managing Cost Centers, criteria for allocating cash flows, and everything you need to collaboratively build better finances for the company.

   The data: According to a study by the consulting firm Accenture that we usually cite in this blog among CFOs from around the world, 64% of those surveyed recognized that starting to use some type of technology in the company’s finances improved its efficiency.

   Know the detail of how it is achieved by seeing an example of Plika here.

2. For a much faster and more analytical Budget and Forecast

   The preparation of budgets and forecasts is always, in every area of ​​finance, a real challenge. It requires a lot of time to collect data, interaction with other areas (some may be more detailed than others) and a vision of the future based on estimates that is usually difficult, more so in LATAM.

   With Plika these tasks flow thanks to the automation of processes proposed by the software, the independence of the areas that is achieved by assigning specific users and the dynamism gained by setting up automatic upload forms, avoiding the use of emails and desktop versions.

   Fact: 83% of CFOs think their annual budgeting process needs to be streamlined. This data is extracted from the e-book “Reasons why CFOs should change their budgeting & forecasting process”.

   Learn how to make projections of scenarios and variables with Plika by clicking here.

3. Having the traceability of the accounting information to the management information, to automate the control of deviations

   This is achieved by integrating the FP&A solution with your ERP or chosen information source. In this way you will no longer have to check the accounting against the management documents: you will only have to connect Plika with the accounting software!

   Thus, the automation of month-end reports will be an invaluable time gain for you and your team. Even if you need to make management adjustments, such as distribution of expenses by stores or brands based on their sales, you can do it in Plika, in a traceable way.

   The data: According to research by the firm Oracle, 37% of the CFOs surveyed in a sample of thousands of small and medium-sized American companies spend more time collecting data than analyzing it, which makes the process much longer.

   How to automate the management control of your company’s finances? See how to do it with Plika by clicking here.

4. Achieve what you want so much… Automate your short and long-term Cash Flow

   Is projection modeling a headache? Don’t trust the collected data? Can’t figure out your cash flow statement for sure? Do you feel drowned in a sea of ​​Excel spreadsheets as if you were at a desk with all papers? Do not get frustrated. Adopting a financial projection program like Plika will also help you with this.

   With Plika you will be able to automate the control of Cash Flow in the short term, as we call Operative or Treasury Cash Flow, without depending on the IT area or the technical support of the software. It is undoubtedly an easy tool to learn to use, designed for financiers, which is why it will be intuitive and friendly.

   The data: in a study of CFOs of SMEs in Latin America, more than 50% recognized that they considered that their Cash Flow management strategies should improve. We recommend some practices to optimize this beyond the adoption of specific software in this blog post.

   Learn how to manage and automate your company’s Cash Flow with Plika and thus have more free time for you and your team for analysis and projection tasks that provide more added value to the business.

   Click here for a demo video.

5. What so many CFOs and Finance Professionals are telling us… «Spend less time building and more time analyzing»

   All SMEs have gone through the stage of having a super spreadsheet, complex and with a huge amount of data and functions that has been improved over time.

   Remember that “what cannot be measured cannot be controlled; what cannot be controlled cannot be managed; what cannot be managed cannot be improved” (P. Drucker).

   With specific software like Plika, analyzing your company’s income statement becomes a more dynamic and faster process. Only by updating the information can you visualize the graphs and economic indicators of P&L, Cash Flow or Balances necessary to make decisions, correct or improve. And all this on 100% validated information.

   The data: Again according to the Accenture study, 76% of American CFOs agree that if there is no single version of business results, the organization will have problems achieving its objectives.

   How does Plika do economic and financial reporting? Click here to see it.

Technical characteristics of Plika, the FP&A solution you are needing

Plika is more than a program to make financial projections. It is a support tool for the financial team of an organization of any size: large companies, SMEs and startups will benefit from the implementation of this software.

With Plika you will automate the repetitive tasks of the finance team or even the operational areas that must register income and expenses, you will improve the quality of the presentations intended for the company’s management, you will optimize the data collection processes, among other virtues.

We know there are still many businessmen and women who are hesitant or reluctant to talk about adopting cloud technology. In this sense, the consulting firm Accenture in its report «Finance 2020: Death by digital» revealed that for the aforementioned year, 85% of CFOs had planned to move their entire operation to the cloud.

Although this type of migration to the cloud is more common in English-speaking countries and others in Europe, Latin America also experiences a growing demand for cloud services. According to IDC (International Data Corporation) by 2022 the use of the cloud in LATAM companies will grow by 30% thanks to the boost that the COVID 19 pandemic meant in terms of digitizing processes.

Conclusion on the programs to make financial projections

In short, at Plika we are convinced that by contracting software to make financial projections like the one we are proposing, you will acquire a tool that is completely adaptable to the needs of your business from an operational and economic point of view.

The efficiency in the processes that you will achieve will result in time gained for your staff, which can be used in tasks of greater value for the business. In addition to other qualitative advantages that your team will acquire, such as the one you will obtain in the presentations generated and in the work environment when a large percentage of the repetitive tasks every month are automated and do not have to be carried out by the staff.

Request a demo and try Plika, you won’t regret it!