Cognos solutions for finance

Finance evaluates the soundness of the issues and decisions your company faces every day. It is a balancing act. On one side, Finance must focus on checks and controls to comply with legal, tax and accounting regulations and requirements. On the other side, it must be able to advise the business on future directions, performance and opportunities.

Information feeds this process. The ability to consolidate results, report and analyze what’s happened, and shape what will happen is critical to the organization. As the custodian of shareholder value, Finance needs dynamic tools to balance compliance and performance, accounting and business structures, short term and long term, top-down vision and bottom-up reality. These tools let Finance:

• Close the books, consolidate results and report performance.
• Set performance targets, align resource plans and forecast business results to meet or beat expectations.
• Define, understand and lead your company's decision-making for better performance management.

To help with this last challenge, we suggest seven areas within Finance to focus on for your goals, plans and measures:

• Income statement: How did the business team score? Where was performance strong or weak?
• Drill-down variance: What causes changes in financial performance?
• Operational plan variance: How do we best support, coordinate and manage the delivery of meaningful plans?
• Cash flow and working capital: How do we manage working capital, collect accounts receivables and monitor cash use effectively?
• Balance sheet: How do we balance and structure the financial funding options, resources and risks of the business?
• Capital expenditure and strategic investments: What are the investment priorities and why?
• Treasury: How can we efficiently manage cash and liquidity requirements?