The starting point is nearly always the same: the accounts and the operational files exist, but nobody reconciles them on a fixed date. The engagement sets up that reconciliation, agrees with management on the few indicators that matter, and puts in place reporting your team can then produce on its own.
What the engagement covers
Review of current reporting
A list of the reports produced, with their timing, sources and manual adjustments, and the reasons why some figures contradict each other.
Choosing the indicators
A deliberately short list of financial and operational indicators, chosen with management and each defined in writing: source, formula, owner, frequency.
Building the dashboards
Design and set-up of management reports (activity, margin, cash, budget) in the organisation's existing tools.
Budget monitoring
Setting up the budget process, tracking actual-versus-budget variances and writing commentary for the board.
Approach
- 1 · Scoping
- Reports expected, data access and timeline. Deliverables are set out in the proposal before work starts.
- 2 · Diagnosis
- Review of current reports and interviews with management and staff: which figures exist, which are missing, which contradict each other.
- 3 · Build
- Indicators and dashboards set up in your own tools, sources and formulas documented, tested on real data.
- 4 · Handover
- Training for the people who will produce the reporting, a written procedure, then a few supported cycles as agreed in the proposal.
Typical deliverables
Management dashboard
Monthly or quarterly, with a written definition of each indicator (source, formula, owner, frequency) and commentary on variances.
Reporting procedure
The steps from data extraction to management commentary, written precisely enough for someone else to produce the reporting.
Budget monitoring note
Actual-versus-budget variances explained line by line, with the issues to raise with management or the board.
Tell us about your current reporting.
Describe what you produce today and what is missing: a 30-minute call is enough to scope the request.