Monthly Exception Report Focused on User Comments

What is an Exception Report Focused on User Comments?

Exception Reports are considered analytical tools and are often used by analysts and accountants to quickly find items from the monthly financials where users made comments. Key functionality in this type of report automatically tracks all account balances where users entered comments. It then displays the department, account and comment, along with the monthly and year-to-date figures. You will find an example of this type of report below.

Purpose of Exception Reports with Comments

Companies and organizations use Exception Reports with Comments to present all user comments from the financial statements in a single report for easy review. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Department, a company can improve tracking of potentially significant variances because the users made comments there, as well as, reduce the chances that executives and managers miss key comments and never take action.

Exception Reports with Comment Example

Here is an example of an Exception report that displays all financial items where users made comments.

Exception Report Focused on User Comments Example

Exception Report Focused on User Comments Example

You can find hundreds of additional examples here.

Who Uses This Type of Report?

The typical users of this type of report are: CFOs, Controllers and Accountants.

Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Exception Reports with Comments

Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Departments sometimes use several different Exception Reports with Comments, along with monthly financial statements 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, Acumatica, Netsuite and others.

In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional corporate performance management (CPM/EPM) solutions.

What Tools are Typically used for Reporting, Planning and Dashboards?

Examples of business software used with the data and ERPs mentioned above are:

  • Native ERP report writers and query tools
  • Spreadsheets (for example Microsoft Excel)
  • Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tools (for example Solver)
  • Dashboards (for example Microsoft Power BI and Tableau)

Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Cloud Solutions and More Examples

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