To enable its small, medium and large business customers to effectively forecast potential changes in their financial landscape, Sage has launched the WinForecast Professional business management solution (BMS) module.
While designed to integrate with the Sage Line 50, Line 200 and Line 500 BMS's, the new solution also works with spreadsheets from Lotus and Microsoft, as well as other popular financial systems.
It allows a company to paint a realistic picture of its financial future. It enables companies to forecast for up to 99 years and obtain corresponding year-on-year variance reports. And it can investigate any number of 'what if?' scenarios that help with strategic investments and planning.
"'What if the cost of raw materials increases by 10%?' 'What if I take on more sales staff?' And 'can I afford to increase my advertising spend?' are just some examples of questions that can be asked," explains Ashley Ellington, the divisional director for Africa at Sage.
"The answers provided can be used by companies as part of broader plans to revise or maintain their strategic direction."
At the heart of Sage WinForecast is a comprehensive data entry system. The nature of the process ensures the absolute integrity of financial data, thereby eliminating the time consuming task of tracing errors that can cause problems on the balance sheet. It also simplifies forecasting.
"It's possible to create forecasts at the level of detail which is necessary for the task or audience at hand," says Ellington.
"It's really quite simple ... the product handles all double entry and performs complicated calculations such as those involved in factoring and provisions. Reports such as profit and loss and cash flow are supplied and they can be viewed at any time.
"There's also the option to consolidate forecasts for a number of companies departments or divisions. This eliminates inter-company transactions and allows for drill-down on [and change] consolidations, individual forecasts or foreign currency transactions."
Other features of the solution that are sure to find favour with users of financial systems in SA are WinForecast's ability to calculate important factors such as VAT and corporate tax automatically. An integrated reporting facility ensures that profit & loss, balance sheet, cash flow and other reports are automatically updated. Features such as employee, fixed asset, VAT and loan schedules also give managers instant access to business-critical information.
"We believe that Sage WinForecast allows companies measure their actual performance against their projections and forecasts. The variance reports produced as a result make it possible to revise budgets, make comparisons to revisions and drive forward in a more accurate and strategic direction," adds Ellington.
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