Spreadsheets have long been a staple for financial planning, close, and reporting. They are accessible, flexible, and familiar to finance teams. However, as businesses grow and their financial operations become more complex, financial processes built around spreadsheets often struggle to keep up and can lead to numerous issues. If your business is dealing with any of the problems highlighted below, it may be time to rethink your approach and invest in new tools that will help your team work more efficiently. Higher efficiency can improve accuracy and prevent finance staff burnout.

Signs your business has outgrown spreadsheets

  1. Increasing errors. Manual data entry and formula errors are inevitable when relying on spreadsheets. As the volume of financial and operational data grows, so does the potential for mistakes, leading to incorrect forecasts, delayed reporting, and diminished trust in the numbers.
  2. Collaboration challenges. When multiple stakeholders need to contribute to the same spreadsheet, version control becomes a nightmare. Emailing files back and forth or dealing with conflicting updates can slow down decision-making and introduce risks.
  3. Lengthy financial close. If your month-end or quarter-end close takes too long due to manual reconciliations and consolidations, spreadsheets could be part of the problem. These delays can affect your ability to make timely, strategic business decisions.
  4. Difficulty handling growth. As your business expands, you need to manage increasing data volumes, multiple entities, and more diverse reporting requirements. Things can get out of hand quickly with spreadsheets. Complex scenarios such as acquisitions, global expansion, or regulatory changes require more advanced, robust functionality and automation.
  5. Limited insights. Spreadsheets are excellent for storing data but fall short when it comes to providing real-time insights or enabling advanced analytics that requiring merging multiple sources of data. Finance teams often spend more time gathering data and formatting reports than analyzing them.

How an EPM solution helps resolve these challenges

An enterprise performance management (EPM) solution is designed to reduce dependence on spreadsheets by bringing together budgeting, forecasting, account reconciliation, financial consolidation, and reporting processes from across the organization to help improve the speed and accuracy of financial processes. Here are ways that it helps:

  1. Scalability to support growth. EPM solutions are built to handle large data volumes, multiple entities, and complex reporting needs. As your business expands, an EPM solution grows with you, providing a centralized location for managing all financial processes.
  2. Automation and AI save time. Extensive automation capabilities in EPM software, some powered by AI, increase the efficiency of budgeting, forecasting, and narrative reporting processes. This reduces the manual effort required with spreadsheets, minimizing errors and freeing up your team to focus on strategic tasks.
  3. Real-time insights. EPM solutions offer dashboards and analytics that use the latest data to provide real-time visibility into financial performance. Advanced capabilities including predictive analytics and scenario planning enable better decision-making.
  4. ERP integration. Spreadsheets often exist in silos outside of your financial systems, but EPM software integrates with your ERP system, helping improve data consistency and reduce the need for manual data transfers. This integration provides one source of accurate, up-to-date financial and operational data.
  5. Enhanced collaboration. Modern EPM solutions support multiuser access to work simultaneously, with role-based permissions, so that stakeholders can collaborate in real time without version-control issues. Built-in workflows also make it easier to manage approvals and track progress.

When is it time to move to EPM?

If your business experiences any of these challenges, it’s time to evaluate an EPM solution. Consider starting small by implementing one piece of EPM that can help with a specific business process, such as financial planning and budgeting or account reconciliation. Then expand as your needs evolve.

Transitioning from spreadsheets to an EPM solution is a significant step, but it’s one that can improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability for your organization. By investing in the right tools, your finance team is free to focus on finding ways to add strategic value rather than getting bogged down in manual tasks such as fixing errors, chasing data, or formatting reports.

How can NetSuite EPM help?

NetSuite Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) brings together planning, budgeting, forecasting, account reconciliation, financial close, and reporting processes from across an organization. Bringing this data together can help businesses improve the speed and accuracy of tasks such as creating detailed budgets, reconciling balance sheet accounts, closing the books, and preparing board and financial reports. Additionally, NetSuite EPM provides actionable insights into profitability, cash flow, financial performance, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions with speed and confidence. Based on Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM technology, NetSuite EPM seamlessly integrates with NetSuite ERP and other source systems so you’re always using the most up-to-date information.