Financial and Management Reports Made Easy!

Make it Simple and Clear!

Financial management reports can easily turn out to be confusing and overwhelming, even for finance and other "numbers" people.

There are two types of reports: the ones which are serving the legal purpose of your company like Profit and Loss reports and Balance Sheets.

The second type of reports serving to track your company progress, your management reports, such as profit center reports, KPI reports etc.

Focus on the management reports which do not serve a legal purpose. These are the ones you can design according to your needs and requirements.

I have seen so many management reports containing a lot of (valuable, but too much) information with a boring layout. For example, long listings of numbers with the most important KPI at the bottom, without any explanation or a very long text etc.

Let's be honest, who likes to read that kind of reports? I suppose nobody. Reporting is like meeting people - the first impression counts. Does your most important information catch your readers eyes immediately?

Key information should easily be seen, progress should easily be traceable, no one should have to look for the most important information longer than two seconds.

6 Steps to Focus on Implementing Management Reports:

Less is more!

Think about your company goals for example - do you have certain KPI's to track your progress? KPI's are Key Performance Indicators, so they are key to track your company's progress. Place them to a prominent place, where most of us look first - for example on the left upper side on your reporting page.

 Tell a story with your report

Most people can be attracted to a report when it is presented like a story. There are three types of information available: context, content, and meaning. Thing about a timeline, include historical data, where were we last year, where are we now and what are we targeting on. Achievement, also failures to hit a goal will be easily visible. The gap you will need to fill to achieve your goals, will be visible.

Who is your audience?

For whom is the reporting, top management or head of operations, or the HR employee? The intentional targeting of your readers / audience is key. Focus on what is important to your target audience. It is not about what you can make available, it is important what is important for your readers.

Remember - finance and management reports are not for finance and "numbers" colleagues!

 Consistency counts

Make reports always available at the same day and time. Consistency is also key if you want to make reporting reliable and usable.

 A Game Changer - "Drill down" Options

Now your first page (digital page) is set up and you have a clear arranged layout with key information catching the readers eyes.

Provide drill down options to make it easy for your audience to allow a deep dive into the KPI or topic. For example, create a button "Do you need further information about x, y, z - click here".

 Colors and layout matter!

Make your reporting thrilling and attractive. Financial reports are often all grey including the header or even worse, just excel spread sheets with red and green for either profit or loss.

Choose colors wisely to support your message. I believe that you are aware of the use of numbers in red and green, right?

Finance and management report are not for finance and controlling department!

 Do you need support?

Do you need support with your management reports? Let me know and send an email to Cordula.buss@planatoccontrolling.com or leave a message.

Let's do it!

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