Key features for FP&A software to choose the best one

FP&A software is designed to streamline financial management tasks and improve decision-making in planning operations.

Here are some common features of financial planning and analysis (FP&A) software that are essential for business performance management.

Planning: this is the first stage of every business activity. Company’s management at first should realize the volume of good that could be sold, considering all limitations of production and storage capacity, labor availability and logistics bottlenecks. Then all of this physical metrics are transferred in money and here we can proceed to the next step.

Budgeting and forecasting: These tools allow users to create budgets and forecast financial parameters like revenue, net income, costs and so on. Or, simply turn production metrics into money for complex planning. Features of budgeting and forecasting software help users plan the future cash flow.

Cash flow management: Software tools for cash management can help business manage the performance of cash flow by providing detailed cash flow statements and projections. Often cash flow software module can include data modelling tools that based on external inputs like exchange and interest rates or so on.

Investment analysis: Business software tools for investment analysis allow you to analyze investment options and evaluate their potential returns.

Financial reporting: These tools generate financial reports, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. It can be important that FP&A software can generate financial reports by several standards. It useful when company have to report financial results by national and international rules.

Tax planning: Some financial analysis and planning software includes tax planning tools that help users forecast and minimize tax liabilities and maximize tax deductions.

Risk management: These tools help users identify and manage financial risks, such as market fluctuations, interest rate changes, and currency exchange rates. For this purposes the FP&A software should be available for integration with third-party software.

Choosing a financial analysis and planning software, users should ensure that the software is secure and meets any compliance requirements for industry or location company works.

Also, we should add two important features that can really make life much easier, if these tools are included in FP&A software.

APIs: Application programming interfaces (APIs) are used to integrate financial analysis and planning software with other systems, such as accounting software or banking systems. APIs allow data to be shared between systems and automate tasks.

Security: Financial analysis and planning software must use robust security measures to protect sensitive financial data. This can include encryption, multi-factor authentication, and access controls.