Excel can do a lot – but it can't scale professional financial reporting.

Excel can do a lot – but it can't scale professional financial reporting.

That this limit is reached sooner or later was also evident in the case of Sleeping Rabbit GmbH. For a long time, financial reporting was heavily manual – resulting in a correspondingly high workload and a clear dependence on individual people.

"Before using the Financial Management Suite of loyos bi Our reporting was largely characterized by manual processing. This was time-consuming and, especially during data updates, prone to errors.

Martin Galas, CFO of Schlafender Hase GmbH

Sleeping Rabbit GmbH is a growing medium-sized company. In his role, Galas is responsible not only for the financial figures, but also for their reliability to internal decision-makers and external stakeholders. With increasing professionalization, reporting has thus become a more and more central focus of corporate management. The decisive impetus ultimately came from outside.

“The increased demands regarding deadlines and quality for monthly reporting – especially from our shareholders – motivated us to look for a secure, flexible, and reliable solution,” says Galas. They weren't looking for a standalone solution or a completely custom-built system, but rather a robust standard that could be adapted to the company's needs. They ultimately chose the Financial Management Suite (FMS) from [Company Name]. loyos bi Since December 2021, the company has been successfully using FMS.

What ultimately tipped the scales, from the CFO's perspective, was primarily the interplay of structure and flexibility. "The FMS comes with a selection of standard tools that effectively cover the financial side," Galas explains. "In addition, we received a number of personalized reports and views that allow us to consolidate data from various sources." The implementation of the software solution was deliberately pragmatic. Besides the technical implementation, day-to-day support played a crucial role. Galas particularly appreciates the customer focus: " loyos bi offers live training sessions, and support is readily available via email or telephone. Furthermore, there are recorded tutorials that address the most essential support needs."

The new reporting structure also changed the way planning and management are carried out. Forecasts can now be updated much more flexibly and kept closer to day-to-day operations. "We have the option of updating the current planning figures ourselves for the forecast," says Galas. "This allows us to predict our annual results more accurately." The effects are particularly evident in daily operations. Where previously a lot of time was spent creating reports, there is now more free time.

"By using FMS, we save many working days in the preparation of our financial reports compared to the previous Excel-based method."

This time is not wasted, however – quite the opposite. " The processing time saved, equivalent to several working days, can be meaningfully invested in deeper analyses or even new projects ," says Galas. Besides efficiency, it is primarily the robustness of the reporting that has improved. The CFO sees a decisive advantage, especially in the event of staff absences. "The problem is data quality in the case of a loss of expertise, for example, due to extended illness or resignation," he explains. "The effort required to derive the usual data is incomparable to the effort with the FMS."

Internal collaboration also benefits. Instead of manually distributing reports, information is now readily available wherever it's needed. "Dedicated access for cost managers eliminates the need to email reports or manually create Excel exports." One aspect Galas doesn't underestimate is ongoing support. "We typically receive a response within 24 hours. Technical requirements are also implemented promptly, depending on their complexity."

In summary, Schlafender Hase GmbH has structurally reorganized its financial reporting. It is now less manual, less dependent on specific individuals, and significantly better prepared for increasing demands – both internal and external.

Would you also like to professionalize your financial reporting and replace Excel as your central reporting tool? Learn more about the loyos bi Financial Management Suite or arrange a demo directly .

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