Budget Accuracy Analysis

What is a Budget Accuracy Report? Budget Accuracy reports are considered essential planning tools and are used by budget managers to help their department managers improve the accuracy of their budgets. A key functionality seen in this type of report may provide two years of historical actual-to-budget variances, in addition to, variances in the current year. This gives users a total of three years of data to see how well (or not) they have been able to predict revenues and expenses for their department. You will find an example of this type of report below.

Purpose of Budget Accuracy Reports Companies and organizations use Budget Accuracy Reports to detect repetitive misses in departmental budgets so that users can improve their planning accuracy in future years. In other words, the greater the precision in planning that a company is able to achieve, the more successful it is likely to be. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Department, a company can improve its hiring plans, capital investments and liquidity, as well as, mitigate the risk that budgets repeatedly miss their targets, which can cause managers to lose faith in the value of the budget process.

Who Uses This Type of Report? The typical users of this type of report are: Budget Managers and Department Heads. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Budget Accuracy Reports Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Departments sometimes use several different Budget Accuracy Reports, along with exception reports, drill down features and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional xFP&A solutions.

This Solver planning template connects directly to your ERP data via the Solver Data Warehouse, enabling near real-time analysis with minimal setup. Designed for QuickStart deployment, it can be activated rapidly so your team can focus on analysis and decisions — not data preparation.

What is the Budget Accuracy Analysis in Solver? The Budget Accuracy Analysis is a pre-built xFP&A planning template in Solver that allows finance and business teams to submit planning data directly in Solver, with automatic roll-up to consolidated budget and forecast models.

Who uses this Solver planning template? Cfos, fp&a managers, and budget owners rely on this Solver planning template to streamline the budget and forecast submission process. It replaces disconnected spreadsheets with a single, controlled input point that feeds directly into consolidated models.

Where does the data come from? Data is sourced automatically from your ERP system through the Solver Data Warehouse, which integrates with platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Acumatica, Sage Intacct, and other leading ERP solutions. Once connected, the template updates in near real-time with no manual data entry required.

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