Planful

Planful connects planning, close, consolidation and reporting in one financial performance management platform, with the vendor reporting more than 1,500 companies using it.

Connecting close and consolidation with planning in a single platform addresses the discontinuity that defines financial reporting in multi-entity organisations.

Consolidation is the mechanical work of combining several legal entities into group figures, and it is more involved than adding them together. Intercompany transactions must be eliminated so the group does not report revenue it earned from itself. Foreign subsidiaries must be translated at appropriate rates, with the differences recorded correctly. Ownership percentages determine what proportion consolidates. Each of those is a rule that must be applied consistently and evidenced.

Organisations doing this in spreadsheets typically have one person who understands the workbook, and the risk is concentrated in them entirely. When they are on holiday the close is delayed, and when they leave the organisation discovers what was never documented.

Doing consolidation in the same system that holds the plan means variance analysis compares like with like, since both sides have been through the same eliminations and translations. Comparing a consolidated actual against a plan built on unconsolidated figures produces variances that are artefacts rather than findings.

The scale claim of 1,500 companies is worth noting for a practical reason beyond credibility: a platform with that many customers has encountered most structural situations already, which matters when your own group structure is unusual.

Pricing is not published. The pricing URL captured for this product resolved to an unrelated site and carries no information about Planful.