Report automation takes the manual and tedious process of compiling accounting reports and uses software to process the work automatically.
Using digital data streams from other tools such as marketing automation platforms, accounting software, payroll programs, etc.,
The report automation platform pulls together the relevant data and creates visualizations and dashboards. Report automation can be used to speed up most accounting reports, including:
The complexity of financial reporting only grows as the organization scales.
For this reason, report automation quickly goes from “nice to have” to a requirement. It also frees up your teams to handle more strategic work automation can’t handle.
Reduces errors: Manual entry errors are a common pitfall of traditional accounting methods. One study cited the invoice exception rate for manual entry at over 25%.
These exceptions impact every aspect of the accounting and reporting process. Automating reports drastically reduces exceptions, resulting in cleaner, more trustworthy data.
Increases data visibility: Manually entered financial data often lives in silos. When that data is centralized into a cloud-based FP&A platform, everyone can access the appropriate data and detail for their role.
This improves data analysis and decision-making by keeping everyone on the same page with the freshest, most accurate data.
Boosts productivity: Removing manual labor from the workday allows your teams to focus on higher-level tasks.
Everyone gets more accomplished, and their work positively impacts the business and its goals.
Saves time and money: With fewer errors, better visibility, and more productivity, reporting automation results in time and cash savings for organizations implementing it.
Reporting automation often provides a financial net positive result thanks to better performance, clearer decision-making, and reduced organizational risk.
Speeds month-end close: With report automation, all data streams flow into a centralized database to make month-end reporting and reconciliation a breeze.
For non-technical or non-finance teams, plenty of options exist for managing and automating the financial reporting process.
From simple templates to integrated services, the opportunity to improve your reporting through automation is easily within reach.
Here are five cloud-based, accessible reporting tools that help non-finance and non-technical users capture the power of their data in automated reporting:
While Excel is a powerful tool for accounting and reporting in its own right, the power of spreadsheets can be enhanced by pairing it with code-based query and automation tools (more on this below).
While this method significantly enhances the data capabilities of Excel, it requires a significant amount of technical knowledge.
Google Data Studio is a free, managed web service that allows users to connect one or more data streams and build an automated reporting system.
The tool creates dashboards and visualizations. It’s capable of drawing on multiple information sources and customized reporting for tech-savvy users.
This free web analytics service is offered by Google tracks and reports website traffic, paid ad spend, and more.
It helps you understand website behavior and ad performance through detailed reports.
The ad spend reporting informs Finance decisions about the marketing budget.
Tableau is a data visualization and analysis software that enables users to create visualizations of their data, analyze it, and share that insight across teams.
It's a business intelligence tool that offers other functionality, including customer segmentation, sales analysis, predictive analytics, and more.
This is Microsoft’s cloud-based business intelligence (BI) suite.
It enables users to visualize and analyze information and trends using various data sources, including Excel spreadsheets, relational databases, on-premises data sources, and web apps.
BI’s visualization enables decision-making using all the data resources within the company.
Both dashboards and reports provide valuable business intelligence insights that can drive better decisions.
But Dashboards aren’t the same tool as a fully automated report; the mileage you get out of even a well-crafted dashboard may not be enough for all business purposes.
Dashboards are excellent for measuring your team's performance metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs).
They provide visual data for known points or metrics requiring regular monitoring.
Dashboards can be customized to show either high-level or in-depth data, making them great for communicating financial performance and details across a wide audience.
Automated and customized reporting is valuable for giving context to your real-time numbers, as reports can pull in current and historical data.
Reporting is more appropriate in cases where you’re attempting to discover data, trends, or other information not readily apparent as expected in a dashboard.
While we're big fans of automated reporting software, it turns out that you can already do a lot of the heavy lifting in your favorite environment.
Let's look at how.
Using Excel to automate reporting requires a functional knowledge of Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) text editor. This program can automate data entry, formatting, calculations, and other repetitive processes.
To create the macro program, open the Visual Basic Editor window in Excel. You can then write the code and save it as a macro.
Once saved, you can assign this macro to a button or keyboard shortcut and use it to automate any report-related tasks you need to do.
To perform report automation in Excel using SQL, you need to understand the SQL database programming language and be familiar with the query editor in Microsoft Excel.
You’ll have to connect Excel to an external SQL database.
You can write a SQL query within the editor to generate a desired Excel report. The query can be saved. This allows you to run it anytime to generate an up-to-date report version.
Additionally, Excel allows you to filter and sort the data generated by your query to customize the results of your report further.
Python is another programming language you can use with Excel to create automated reports.
Python is a general-use programming language and thus gives you access to a wider variety of abilities and commands than simple macros within the Excel framework.
Python allows you to move, manipulate, and send data to external recipients.
Cube is a cloud-based, Excel-native financial planning and analysis (FP&A) software tool that allows organizations of all sizes to automate their reporting, create multi-scenario analyses, and automatically consolidate data.
Cube offers a range of capabilities and integrations that exceed the capabilities of even more advanced automation tools like Python.
Fast-growing companies and enterprises benefit from software solutions that collect, organize, analyze, and visualize their data.
This may come from accounting software, financial close platforms, performance management tools, or ERP solutions.
Here are 10 great options to consider when searching for a reporting automation solution.
Cube is the first Excel-native, cloud-based FP&A software platform that helps finance teams work anywhere with the ultimate speed and confidence. Data analytics and generating reports become a breeze in Cube because its single source of truth ensures that your data is always correct.
And since Cube integrates with Excel and Google Sheets, you can give management access to real-time reporting via the cloud. It's that good.
This is on top of Cube's strong automated data consolidation, in-depth and automated analysis, and performance management capabilities.
Not meant for personal finance planning—Cube is best for mid-marketing and enterprise customers with scaling needs.
Prices start at $1,350 per user per month. See detailed pricing.
QuickBooks is a familiar and versatile small business accounting software with useful reporting features and integrations to keep finance on track. Manage every aspect of your small business from within the platform.
Plans range from $7.50 to $100 per user per month during a 50% trial period before moving to full pricing of $15 to $200 per user per month. Enterprise plans range from $1,700 to $4,200 per user annually.
BlackLine is financial close software that provides automation and financial reporting features to help businesses of all sizes close faster and more accurately.
Blackline does not provide pricing information on its website.
Acumatica is a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool with built-in accounting and financial planning features.
Custom pricing based on individual feature choices and user seats.
FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting system built for small and service-based businesses.
It offers straightforward features and pricing for freelancers and others looking for a basic solution that integrates with other tools (like Quickbooks).
Pricing starts at $15 per month.
MosaicTech is an analytics and planning tool for strategic financial planning, focusing on planning and reporting capabilities for SaaS clients.
Mosaic does not provide public pricing information.
FloQast is financial closing software for mid-market companies with plenty of features and integrations.
$1300+ per user, billed annually, including additional features.
SAP Business One is an ERP system for small businesses that offers CRM, inventory management, business operations management, and reporting features.
FeaturesPricing for SAP Business One starts at $3,200 per named user, with additional maintenance fees due every year. A professional license subscription costs over $100/month with no extra fees.
NetSuite is an enterprise-class, cloud-based finance software within a larger product suite, including ERP, accounting, CRM, and HRM modules.
NetSuite doesn't publish pricing but is reportedly more expensive than other options.
Some sources report the investment in Sage to be $15,000 to $35,000, depending on service tier and user seats.
Anaplan is a planning performance management tool for finance and FP&A teams for enterprises. It has robust features, but it’s geared toward the enterprise crowd.
Anaplan does not publish pricing but is reportedly a very expensive option.
That’s everything you need to know about reporting automation and all the tools available to help you get started on your automation journey.
Want to get started with the most intuitive, Excel-native platform available on the market? Check out a demo with Cube to learn more.
Cube integrates with your source systems and cleanses, de-duplicates, and checks your data. So you're always using the most accurate, up-to-date numbers in Excel.
And Cube does more than just automate reports for financial data. Need automated marketing reports that show how contacts in your CRM became dollars? That's possible with Cube.
Click the banner below to schedule a free demo and learn why Cube is the only automated reporting software you'll ever need.