Written by Johnny Kipps
After attending Accountex for the fifth time, here are some of the most important things we've learnt over the years:
- There is a huge appetite for Cashflow forecasting; whilst it’s good to know what your Profit and Loss Account will look like, and the banks and investors may be particularly interested in the shape of the future balance sheet, whether the debt covenants will be safe and the future returns on investment – cash is king and many wanted, particularly, to talk about Cashflow forecasting.
- There remains a lot of accountants still using Winforecast (discontinued in 2012) and Sage Financial Forecasting (discontinued even earlier, 2007). However much these users are wedded to their ageing products, many are also grudgingly realising how exposed they are and are mighty
relieved when they find Forecast 5, and can relax, knowing that they’ve reached a “safe harbour” with a product that is up-to-date, provides everything they had before and lots more besides – and doesn’t fall over every time Microsoft puts out a new Windows update.
- Also, more and more accountants are realizing how vulnerable they are if relying on Excel to build financial models for their clients. As we explain to those new to Forecast 5 - or perhaps beginning to doubt the wisdom of continuing to build models in Excel - that it’s the self-balancing architecture of the reports generated by Forecast 5 – the forecast balance sheet, profit and loss account, cashflow and most importantly, the funds flow report – that prove the integrity of Forecast 5 as a financial modelling tool, quite often you can sense the relief flooding through the listener; they have found a tool that will enable them to sleep soundly at night!
- And an important insight from one of our clients – thank you, Philip – for those who are really, really wedded to Excel and are determined to continue to keep their data in Excel (so much easier to do in Forecast 5, by the way!) we can work with them too, suggesting they reduce all the Excel links onto one worksheet, and we tack Forecast 5 on as a front end cashflow model. (But not too many hotlinks, please.)
Happily, it’s easy to talk about Forecast 5 because it provides the answers to the questions; we supply cashflow forecasting and even 90 day rolling cashflow forecasting if that’s what’s needed.
We provide the best replacement product for Winforecast and for Sage Financial Forecasting, we can front end the Excel models, we deliver a robust model where the users can see for themselves that the model doesn’t have formula errors hidden from sight as Excel can and Cloud is coming soon.
Our final learning point; we’re booked to be back at Accountex 2024 – it’s a great place to be!
Take the next step and get a free 21-day trial, join us on an introductory webinar or get in touch for more information!
