Making a Reporting Dashboard for an Accounting Firm

Know Why Your Firm Needs a Customized Dashboard?

Every firm wants its business to run smoothly, but only a few know how to do it. There are several essential elements that can help you with it. One of that element on which you can count on is ‘Dashboard’. Let’s learn more about what exactly ‘Dashboard’ is and how it can help your business.

‘A Dashboard is a graphical representation of all your business activities, that includes cash inflow and outflow, account payables and receivables, inventory and stock management, bank transactions, etc.’

Dashboard prepares a kind of report on your behalf that is presented in the form of graphics that make it easy to understand not only to you but also to the personnel belonging to the problematic department if any.

There is various application software available in the market that prepares an automated customized dashboard for you. Some software that is most popular in the market are as follows:

1. Xero
2. Quickbooks Online
3. Netsuite
4. Odoo
5. Freshbooks

There are many reasons why opt for software and go for a customized dashboard for your business. Refer to the following reasons if you still have a second thought about going for it:

1. Update On Bank Reconciliation of Each Client
   

   Every firm, whether big or small, goes through hundreds of bank transactions. It gets difficult to track every transaction. Graphical representation through dashboards will help you keep an eye over every transaction through each client.
   
   

2. Working Capital of Each Client
   

   Working capital is used to pay for the small expenses of the businesses. A dashboard helps you have accurate information about all the expenses incurred on certain clients. The dashboard lets you view working capital incurred on each of the clients.
   
   

3. Working Out Ratios for Each Client

   
   

   Ratios reflect your business stability. Before your clients choose you for themselves, they always cross-check and know whether you are stable in the long run. You are bind to disclose your business position to your clients. In order to do so, you can take help of dashboards. Dashboards show you all the information concisely and all your data in one place.
   
   

4. Artificial Intelligence for Reporting

   Since the dashboard is prepared by AIs based on the reports you make on your accounting software. This eliminated the chances of mistakes unless it is from your side. This eventually increases the efficiency of the firm.
   
   

5. Chatbots For Assisting On User Queries

   It is not necessary that everyone knows everything. If you come across any problem regarding dashboards, chatbots are there for your rescue. They help you from creating a dashboard to teach you how to read the dashboard. Chatbots will not only be there with all your problems but also after all the set-up.
   
   

6. Using Slack for Communications

   You need to share these graphical representations among other employees and the managers or among different departments or to headquarters at different locations. You can use ‘Slack’ for this purpose. Slack is a software that helps you share files. It allows you to send direct messages and provides you with features like creating private groups for chats. You can use this software to have internal communications.
   
   

7. Videos On How To Improve Workings On Various Things

   Automated readily graphical representation is not the only motive of dashboards. You can do many more things with them and to learn about them, there are plenty of videos available. You can take references from all those videos to add up to your dashboard knowledge and apply it when further using this software.
   
   

8. Budgeted Time vs. Actual Time for Each of the Client

   Every client is assigned a specific time-period for fulfilling their orders. This time is set before working on the project. However, not always these time predictions work. You need to have to track whether you are going with the budgeted time. If not, what is the actual time on which you are working and which is the standard time required? Dashboards help you with that.
   
   

9.  When Is Client Due For a Call

   Maintaining warm relations with clients is very necessary but it efforts. You need to be available to them if they need you. Many clients prefer calls over e-mails when there seems to have any problems. Having a prepared dashboard will help you track on which day and what time you assigned a call to a client.