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Gross Margin Analysis - Multi-company Benchmark
Who uses Gross Margin with Cross-Subsidiary Benchmarking Reports and What are Some Key Analytical Features? In today’s fast-paced business environment, CFOs are under high pressure to supply end users like executives and financial analysts with timely and concise Profitability Analysis. Companies use key features like the ones below to support their users with effective analysis that helps drive better focus on under- and over-performing locations:
- Chart with comparison of each subsidiary's GM to the average of all selected locations
- Report section with gross margin per location and drill down to the underlying drivers (revenue and cost of sales)
- Variance analysis with traffic lights to highlight monthly and year-to-date (YTD) variance of actuals versus budget and last year
A Brief Description of the Gross Margin Analysis with Benchmarking Across Subsidiaries Template Profitability Analysis like the one seen in the image above are interactive and parameter driven and typically contain sections with metrics and charts that compare each location’s gross margin to the benchmark average. One of the important features that aid the user in the analysis process is the ability to visually see a side-by-side comparison of GM per location and versus the average. Gross Margin Analysis with Benchmarking Across Subsidiaries reports are often used in conjunction with profit & loss reports, variance and trend reports, gross margin dashboards, KPI dashboards, gross margin dashboards, budget and forecast input forms.
Data Integration to Transaction Systems Most organizations these days want automated and streamlined planning, reporting and analysis. However, many of the benefits described earlier rely on best of breed extended financial planning and analysis (xFP&A) tools and/or Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities as well as data marts or data warehouses that use pre-built integrations to the organization’s ERP system. Oftentimes, they also need integrations to other key data sources like CRM, subscription systems, payroll tools, etc. Modern, cloud-based ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance (D365 Finance), Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Sage Intacct, Acumatica, Netsuite and SAP have robust APIs which allow for dynamic integrations to xFP&A and BI tools that are fully automated and flexible to run on a schedule or on-demand.