Financial Intelligence & Performance
We build management reporting that shows which products, channels and customers make money while there is still time to act on it.
Discuss this with usFinancial intelligence at THEFOCUS is management information work: designing the reports a leadership team uses to run the business, reconciling sales, advertising and banking data to the accounts, analysing profitability by product, channel and customer, and modelling scenarios before money is committed. It supports the client's accountants and finance team, who keep responsibility for statutory accounts and tax.
Relevant industries
Associated solutions
Business challenges
01
Month-end reporting that arrives too late to act on
The management pack lands weeks after month end, assembled by hand from exports. By then the campaign, the stock order or the price change it should have informed has already gone ahead.
02
Channel revenue that does not reconcile with the books
Ad platforms, marketplaces and the online store each report their own revenue. Added together the figures exceed what reached the bank, and nobody can say which number the budget decision should use.
03
Losses hidden inside a blended margin
One gross margin figure hides products that lose money once shipping, payment fees, returns and advertising are allocated, and audience segments that look profitable on platform data turn out to lose money on recorded orders.
04
Billing records that drift from payments received
Invoices, credit notes and bank receipts sit in different systems. Over a long client or supplier relationship, the outstanding balance becomes a matter of opinion.
05
Large purchases decided on price alone
Equipment, software and supplier decisions are compared on purchase price, without the running costs, financing, downtime and subcontracting alternatives that decide what they cost over their working life.
What this covers
- Management reporting
- Weekly and monthly packs built from the systems of record, with metric definitions agreed once and reused, delivered early enough to change the next decision.
- Financial analytics and profitability
- Contribution by product, channel, market and customer segment, with advertising, fees, shipping and returns allocated to the sales that caused them.
- Business performance measurement
- KPI definitions tied to the ledger and the order book, with targets set from a reconciled baseline.
- Cost visibility
- Analysis of recurring software, advertising, platform and supplier spend, including subscriptions nobody uses and charges nobody approved.
- Scenario modelling
- Break-even, pricing, budget and total-cost-of-ownership models that show the assumptions behind each scenario and let your team change them.
- Financial workflow modernisation
- Bank feeds, multicurrency setup, invoice and payment matching, chart-of-accounts tidying and import routines in tools such as QuickBooks Online, configured with the client's accountant.
How we approach it
01
Start from the ledger and the bank
Bank records and the accounting system are the reference. Figures from stores, marketplaces and ad platforms are reconciled to them, and every difference is either explained or listed as open.
02
Agree definitions before building reports
Revenue, margin, customer acquisition cost and return on ad spend are each defined once, in writing, with the source system named. Any report that uses a different definition says so on the page.
03
Model before money moves
Pricing, budget and purchase decisions are run through models that state their assumptions. Purchase recommendations name one main option and one alternative, with the reasoning first.
04
Leave the process with the finance team
Reports and workflows are built in tools the finance team and accountant already use, and documented, so the reporting continues after we step back.
What you keep
- A management reporting pack with written metric definitions and source mapping
- A reconciliation of channel, platform and bank data with every difference explained or listed
- Profitability analysis by product, channel and customer segment
- Scenario and total-cost-of-ownership models with their assumptions stated
- Configured finance workflows (bank feeds, matching rules, imports) with documentation
How outcomes are evaluated
- Working days from month end to a management pack the leadership team uses
- Number and value of unexplained differences between operational data and the ledger
- Share of revenue whose contribution can be traced to a product and a channel
- Difference between modelled and actual outcomes for decisions taken on the models
Scope boundaries
- We do not carry out statutory audits or sign off accounts.
- We do not give regulated financial or investment advice.
- We do not file tax returns or provide tax services as a regulated activity. Statutory accounts, tax and compliance remain with the client's accountants, and we work alongside them.
- FINMETRA, our financial-data intelligence product, is in design and is not offered as a service today.
Questions executives ask
Are you an accountancy firm?
No. Our financial work is management information, analytics, reporting design, modelling and finance-process technology. Statutory accounts, audit and tax filing stay with your accountants, and we work with them on definitions and data.
How do you work with our accountant or finance team?
We agree the chart of accounts, metric definitions and reconciliation rules with them before building anything, and configure workflows in the systems they already use. They keep sign-off on anything that affects the statutory accounts.
What access to financial data do you need?
Read access to the accounting system, bank feeds or statements, and the sales and advertising platforms being reconciled. Any change to the ledger, such as an adjusting entry, is made only with your written approval and your accountant's agreement.
How does an engagement start?
Usually with one reconciliation the business already doubts, such as ad-platform revenue against recorded orders, or invoices against bank receipts. It shows the condition of the data quickly and sets the scope for the reporting work.
Can you build a model for one specific decision?
Yes. Pricing, budget, break-even and equipment purchase decisions are typical. Each model lists its assumptions and sources so your team can change an input and see the effect.
What is FINMETRA, and do we need it?
FINMETRA is a product we are designing to turn accounting and management data into decision-ready reporting. It is not yet available, and current engagements are delivered with your existing tools.
Discuss this with us
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