How to Improve Cost Visibility and Control With Some Killer Tools

tools and control

How can you control something that can not be controlled? Is there a certain set of tools?

Are you constantly blinded by the committed costs within each department? Is there no real measuring tool to control the approval of expenses or no real safety net to enclose unexpected approvals?

Tweet thisIf you could foresee the obstacles your budget will have to face, you could make provision for them.

‘The power of visibility can never be underestimated’. Margaret Cho

One thing that every CFO should realise is that your “budget” can be seen as a real living breathing person. It starts off with great expectations everything seems to be in place. It smiles at you with great expectations. And for a split second you think that you know this person, taking care of it would be easy. Then out of the blue it changes it’s temperament unexpectedly.

It’s a continuous maze of obstacles and paths. If you could foresee the obstacles your budget will have to face, you could make provision for them before they happen.

According to Deloitte’s latest CFO Signals™ quarterly survey, challenges in allocating costs and assets appear to be a major contributor to CFOs’ limited visibility.

The use of data analytics tools to more accurately allocate costs can help improve profitability assessment and costing efforts, says Mike Seng, a senior manager in Deloitte & Touche LLP’s enterprise risk services practice. “Such tools include business warehouses that are integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, business intelligence systems that sit on top of ERP systems and bolt-on costing solutions that operate independently but in conjunction with financial systems,“ he adds.

There are a few killer tools to help you overcome the chasm:

Dashboards

Tableau is dashboard software that helps people see and understand their data.

Sisense takes your data from complex to stunning in no time.

CXO-Cockpit enables financial storytelling. Conveys the story behind the data with best practice reporting packs on offer with guided analysis.

Projections

Mindtools the scenarios are stories about the way the world might turn out if certain trends continue and if certain conditions are met.

3csoftware.com the biggest drawback to most cost and profitability systems is their inability to answer the question, “What will happen if…?” With ImpactECS, you can manipulate any variable to measure its effect on cost and profits – using the same logic defined in your production system.

Accounting Tracker

CreativeCFO providing with strategic financial tools and services to plan, structure, invest and grow.

Shoeboxed is actually pretty amazing. It’s virtual accounting in your pocket. You can connect it to your QuickBooks, email account, bank accounts and more.

Comparison Charts

IBM dashDB – data warehousing as-a-service, born on the cloud, built for analytics.

Oracle BI Analytics turns the technology disruption into innovation with data discovery.

Virtual Data Room

Ideals Virtual Data Room shares and collaborates on business-critical documents in a secure way.

Nasdaq purposely built and designed with multiple security features, our centralized and efficient Directors Desk software simplifies the sharing of critical information via the web or tablet apps, helping you make meetings anywhere more productive.

Budget Planning

Procurementexpress.com strict budget control to decline user requests and route to a more senior delegation or authority level based on financial limits.

There’s graphical views of each unique workflow routing. A centralised approval screen or console to enable all approvers to approve costs request individually or in bulk. Real-time notifications via email or alerts of user requests and approvals.

Procurementexpress.com runs your budget for you and gives you the freedom to focus on other aspects of being a CFO. It’s an easy to use application any of your staff members can master in a few minutes. It’s adaptable to each client’s preferences and is an efficient 1-click approval system to secure every aspect of your processes.

With the tailored reports, real-time visibility of current budget and a fully customizable PDF, the Procurementexpress.com app consolidates all your project needs.

Procurementexpress.com purchase order software will free up your time, so you can spend it on strategic planning and periodic forecasting. Try it for free! Our 24-hour customer- success ninjas are waiting for you!

If you’d like more info about Procurementexpress.com (automated purchase control system), please contact: [email protected]

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