20+ Best Financial Reporting Tools

Data reporting is at the core of making informed business decisions. Whether you're a financial analyst, accountant, or business owner, understanding how to use financial reporting tools can significantly enhance your ability to interpret and present data. Imagine being able to quickly research and accurately report on financial data with the help of AI.

This guide will help you through the essential financial reporting tools that can help you achieve just that.  With Otio's AI research and writing partner, you can effortlessly research and write accurate data reports, taking your data reporting skills to the next level. Let's explore how this powerful tool can assist you in your financial reporting journey.

Table Of Contents

• Importance of Financial Reporting

• 11 Tips for Financial Reporting Efficiently

• 20+ Best Financial Reporting Tools

• How to Choose the Best Financial Reporting Tool

• Supercharge Your Researching Ability With Otio — Try Otio for Free Today

Importance of Financial Reporting

1. Cash flow management: Tracking the flow of money in and out of your business

Two key questions for any business are how much cash is coming in, and where it is going out. These are fundamental to understanding whether the organization is profitable or operating at a loss. Without transparent cash flow reporting, it’s difficult for any entity to know how well it can manage its debt obligations and whether it can keep outlays under control.

Therefore, cash flow statements include vital metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine not just current accounts receivable and accounts payable but also any profit and liabilities coming down the line.

2. Financial analysis: Using data to make informed business decisions

From reporting liabilities and equity in the short- and long-term, business owners and accounting staff can predict future trends and business opportunities. In particular, they’ll want to look at the best ways to cut unnecessary expenditure, and the most profitable areas to invest in and secure business growth.

Financial reporting allows managers, senior leaders, and other stakeholders to create strategies from vital data. This is especially true of modern reporting solutions, which assist accounting teams and interested stakeholders in tracking income in real-time, monitoring expenditures, and suggesting better ways to allocate resources.

3. Disclosing information for stakeholders: Keeping everyone in the loop

Put simply, investors want to know how their capital is being used by the businesses they are funding. Proper financial reporting provides the transparency that stakeholders wish to, so they can decide how well an organization is using their valuable investment.

It’s also relevant for internal stakeholders. Without updated financial data, it’s harder to identify trends and drive efficiency across the business, and to stay ahead of potential compliance issues.

4. Debt management: Keeping your debt in check

Managing debt requires careful attention to detail, no matter the sector or business model. Financial reporting solutions or practices should be used to divide assets by liabilities and calculate if and where debt is accruing. Reporting measures also allow entities to gauge liquidity levels and manage current obligations, for instance, by converting assets into cash to pay off loans or other accounts payable.

5. Raising capital: Showcasing your financial health to attract investment

Financial reports, whether balance sheets, income statements, or otherwise, paint a picture of a company’s economic situation. When businesses seek to raise capital from private investors, loans, or the stock market, financial reports are instrumental in indicating how creditworthy a company is and its likely performance over the next fiscal year or other given period.

6. Compliance: Staying on the right side of the law

Last, but certainly not least, the data and information from financial reporting are all vital to ensuring that organizations adhere to regulatory compliance requirements and laws. In the US, for example, public companies have to give the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) reports to demonstrate that they are complying with financial regulations, and likewise, the IRS with tax laws.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires firms to provide periodic reports of business activities to satisfy compliance rules. Corporation tax law also requires firms to file tax returns to HMRC, including income statements, within 12 months of the end of the accounting period.

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11 Tips for Financial Reporting Efficiently

1. Use Otio for Financial Reporting Efficiency

Financial reporting often requires gathering and analyzing vast amounts of data from various sources. Otio solves this problem by providing one AI-native workspace for researchers. It helps you: 

• Collect a wide range of data sources, from bookmarks, tweets, and extensive books to YouTube videos. 

• Extract key takeaways with detailed AI-generated notes and source-grounded Q&A chat. 

• Create draft outputs using the sources you’ve collected. Otio helps you to go from reading list to first draft faster. 

Along with this, Otio also helps you write research papers/essays faster. Here are our top features that researchers love such as AI-generated notes on all bookmarks (YouTube videos, PDFs, articles, etc.), Otio enables you to chat with individual links or entire knowledge bases, just like you chat with ChatGPT, as well as AI-assisted writing. 

Our tool has web scraping capabilities that allow you to access a wide range of data sources beyond traditional academic papers and search engines. This feature enables researchers to collect diverse information from sources like bookmarks, tweets, books, and YouTube videos, streamlining the process of curating and analyzing data for research purposes. Let Otio be your AI research and writing partner try Otio for free today! 

2. Maintain a Centralized Repository

By creating a dedicated location or data room for all documentation for significant transactions or events, the right information is quickly and easily accessible for your accounting team at the right time. This includes everything from leases and purchase agreements to sales and equity transaction agreements to supporting schedules for journal entries and footnote calculations. 

3. Reconcile Accounts Consistently

Many accounting departments reconcile accounts on an ad-hoc basis or with long gaps in between due to lags in the close calendar. Having a consistent workflow and regular cadence of performing account reconciliations ensures that all accounts have an accurate balance and helps expedite additional tasks such as footnote preparation and review. 

4. Communicate Openly

The accounting team should take the lead in preparing the financial statements, but every department of the company has a role to play for a seamless process. From legal to HR, the various functions of your business are valued and integral to the process, and must maintain constant communication with accounting to gather and share up-to-date information. 

5. Set Clear Roles and Responsibilities

A cornerstone of successful financial reporting is having a clear segregation of duties.Determine the team or individual(s) accountable for preparation and/or review throughout every stage of the process and communicate this clearly to all stakeholders. 

6. Build in Time for a Final Review

Multiple layers of review are key to reliable financial reports. Yet even then, it’s possible for the latest information to be missed or missteps to be made. Agree on a ‘final reviewer’ (normally a senior person in the business) who is up to date on significant transactions and new accounting guidance so that the final product is scrutinized before any financial report is submitted. 

7. Be Proactive

Rather than waiting until the end of the reporting period, prepare the appropriate documentation for transactions and events as they occur, including drafting the appropriate footnotes and other disclosures, recording the appropriate journal entries, and engaging third parties for various services such as valuations and taxes. By being proactive, the company will be able to plan for the future more effectively and will be more prepared to work against applicable deadlines, such as filing deadlines for a 10-K/10-Q. 

8. Implement Robust Controls

Implementing a robust system of internal controls helps boost the reliability of your company’s financial statements while also helping safeguard assets, prevent errors, and detect fraud. Having an internal control framework includes having accurate policies and procedures that are shared with everyone who touches the reporting process. Conducting regular assessments of the internal control framework will help to confirm how effectively these policies are being followed and if additional policies or controls need to be created or implemented. 

9. Keep Improving

Companies are always evolving, and so are the financial reporting requirements. Rather than continue to rely on the same systems and procedures, encourage your team to constantly look for ways to improve workflows within each business process. Improvements could include deploying advanced technologies like AI to automate certain tasks or creating new roles and responsibilities as the business matures. 

10. Know Your Calendar

Everyone who contributes to creating your firm’s financial statements and the financial reporting function should be aware of all key dates and milestones including the close calendar, submission to the auditors, and internal management reviews before ultimately submitting the report. Public companies must adhere to more stringent audit requirements and filing deadlines set by the SEC. However, private firms should still aim to report financial information in a consistent and timely manner. 

11. Get the Right Expertise in Place

To mitigate the risk of errors, consider working with an experienced advisor like Cherry Bekaert. Our co-sourcing model means you can work with us however suits you best whether that’s on a project-by-project basis during busy reporting periods or by providing ongoing support to your in-house team throughout the year.

20+ Best Financial Reporting Tools

1. Otio: An AI-Native Research Workspace

Knowledge workers, researchers, and students today suffer from content overload and are left to deal with it using fragmented, complex, and manual tooling. Too many of them settle for stitching together complicated bookmarking, read-it-later, and note-taking apps to get through their workflows. Now that anyone can create content with the click of a button, this problem is only going to get worse. Otio solves this problem by providing one AI-native workspace for researchers. It helps them: 

• Collect a wide range of data sources, from bookmarks, tweets, and extensive books to YouTube videos. 

• Extract key takeaways with detailed AI-generated notes and source-grounded Q&A chat. 

• Create draft outputs using the sources you’ve collected. Otio helps you to go from reading list to first draft faster. 

Along with this, Otio also enables you to write research papers/essays faster. Here are our top features that researchers love such as AI-generated notes on all bookmarks (YouTube videos, PDFs, articles, etc.), Otio enables you to chat with individual links or entire knowledge bases, just like you chat with ChatGPT, as well as AI-assisted writing. Our tool has web scraping capabilities that allow you to access a wide range of data sources beyond traditional academic papers and search engines. This feature enables researchers to collect diverse information from sources like bookmarks, tweets, books, and YouTube videos, streamlining the process of curating and analyzing data for research purposes. Let Otio be your AI research and writing partner — try Otio for free today!

Otio is an AI-native workspace designed for researchers to help them manage content overload by collecting data from various sources, extracting key takeaways using AI, and assisting in creating draft outputs.

2. Phocas: Business Intelligence and Financial Analysis Software

Phocas is a business intelligence and financial analysis software designed to provide organizations with comprehensive data analytics, visualization, and reporting capabilities. It's specifically tailored for businesses seeking to enhance their data-driven decision-making processes as it integrates with various data sources, including ERP systems, CRM software, and other databases.

Pros

• Forecasting capabilities, real-time data and analytics, extensive customizations for reports and dashboards.

Cons

• Learning curve for new users wanting to maximize the features, setting up and configuration can be time-consuming.

3. QuickBooks: All-in-One Accounting Tool

QuickBooks is an all-in-one accounting tool developed by Intuit. It is ideal for small businesses, freelancers, and startups that want to manage their finances without requiring a dedicated finance team. With QuickBooks, you can send invoices, accept payments, and track payment statuses. It categorizes expenses by linking to bank accounts and simplifies payroll with automatic tax filing and payments. You can also generate profit and loss reports, manage inventory, and track billable hours. QuickBooks also supports real-time insights via a personalized dashboard or mobile app.

Pros

• Choose between the cloud version for access anywhere or the desktop version for offline use. The intuitive interface makes it simple for non-accountants to manage finances, integrates with tools such as PayPal, Shopify, and Square for smoother operations, and multiple pricing tiers make it suitable for both small businesses and growing organizations.

Cons

• Costs can add up, especially for businesses needing more users or capabilities; there may be a learning curve for advanced features.

4. Ramp: Spend Management Platform

Ramp is a spend management platform that helps finance teams handle expenses, accounts payable, and financial reporting in one place. It automates key financial workflows so you can keep your reports accurate and up to date.

Pros

• Comprehensive reporting features, ability to issue multiple virtual cards with customizable controls, automated expense reporting, and receipt matching.

Cons

• Mostly focuses on accounts payable and spend management, could offer more advanced accounting features.

5. NetSuite: Automation and CRM Platform

NetSuite automates general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and tax management. As a CRM platform, it also manages customer interactions, sales, marketing, and support. NetSuite also supports HR functions such as payroll, recruitment, and employee records.

Pros

• All users get the latest features and security updates instantly, track progress, resources, and budgets in real-time, manage customer interactions, sales, and support in one platform.

Cons

• At a starting price of $999 per month, plus $99 per user, NetSuite can be an expensive option for small to medium-sized businesses, deploying NetSuite can be complex and time-consuming.

6. Puzzle.io: AI-Native Accounting Platform

Puzzle.io is an AI-native accounting platform built for startups and small businesses. Its core functionality focuses on automating bookkeeping tasks like categorization, reconciliations, and accruals. On top of that foundation, Puzzle.io offers real-time reporting tools that allow you to review financial statements and monitor business health daily.

Pros

• Automates revenue recognition and expense categorization, AI improves categorization accuracy over time, supports both cash and accrual accounting.

Cons

• Free trial requires users to connect a bank account, and limited customization for complex workflows.

7. Centage: FP&A Software

Centage is a popular FP&A software that streamlines complex budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes. Its appeal stems from its “what-if” scenarios, which enable users to assess the impact of different factors on revenue and cash flow. Centage helps businesses align budgets with company goals, forecast financial performance, and create GAAP/IFRS-compliant reports.

Pros

• Built-in GAAP compliance reduces errors and simplifies reporting, integrates with GL, ERP, and CRM tools for consistent data, and scales with business growth for long-term usability.

Cons

• Some users report constraints when exporting data, which can hinder data sharing and integration with other systems.

8. Rippling Spend: Centralized Expense Management

Rippling Spend is a tool designed to help businesses manage spending by providing a centralized place for managing expenses, corporate cards, and budgets. With it, you can set up automated controls to ensure spending stays within your company’s guidelines.

Pros

• Dynamic policy enforcement helps prevent unauthorized spending, detailed reports for departments, projects, and employees, and expense tracking helps with budgeting decisions.

Cons

• May offer more features than required for smaller operations, and lacks advanced forecasting features.

9. WorkDay: Unified Finance and HR Management

Workday helps businesses manage finances, HR, and planning in one place. It handles tasks such as payroll, budgeting, and tracking employee performance. Workday also aggregates data from different departments, thus ensuring everything is accurate and up to date. It also integrates with ERP and CRM platforms, enabling users to share data seamlessly.

Pros

• Simplifies benefits enrollment with simple setup and vendor integrations, mobile-friendly, enabling employees to manage benefits on the go, integrates with 600+ third-party tools, including payroll systems like ADP.

Cons

• Workday implementation may take longer.

10. Vena: Financial Planning and Analysis Platform

Vena is a flexible financial planning and analysis (FP&A) platform that automates key financial consolidation and reporting processes. It features a native Excel interface as well as integrations with Microsoft Power BI and PowerPoint, making it easy to adopt for most finance teams.

Pros

• Usually quick to implement, preconfigured templates and reports, leverages familiar Excel interface.

Cons

• No mobile app, some compatibility issues with Mac.

11. Cube: Quick Setup FP&A Tool

Unlike most FP&A tools that require weeks of setup and ongoing maintenance, Cube gets teams started in under 10 days. It integrates with popular tools such as Excel, Salesforce, Xero, and QuickBooks, enabling users to work within systems they already know. The platform combines enterprise-grade financial modeling, data consolidation, and real-time validation. It also pulls data from multiple sources, including ERP, CRM, and HRIS, into one reliable system.

Pros

• Easy to use with Excel and Google Sheets, quick setup, automates data consolidation from multiple sources, reducing manual errors, and responsive customer support praised by users.

Cons

• At $1,250/month, Cube can be an expensive platform.

12. Spacebase: Lease Accounting and Management Solution

Spacebase is a modern lease accounting and management solution designed to help businesses efficiently handle their portfolios. It offers tools for managing leases, ensuring compliance with accounting standards, and streamlining reporting processes.

Pros

• Custom reporting features allow tailored financial analysis, ensure compliance with lease accounting standards like ASC 84, and provide effective tracking and management of rent, leases, and important real estate files.

Cons

• No mobile app, could offer more native integration options.

13. Anaplan: Corporate Financial Planning

Anaplan’s Corporate Financial Planning supports rolling forecasts, enabling businesses to explore multiple scenarios easily. Combined with Anaplan’s other enterprise financial solutions, it allows companies to consolidate, sync, validate, and analyze vast amounts of data from a single, reliable source. The platform empowers teams to build scalable financial models using enterprise-level formulas and fosters real-time collaboration across departments.

Pros

• Highly customizable models tailored to specific business goals, a user-friendly interface similar to Excel, making it easier to adopt, robust customer support, and an active user community for guidance.

Cons

• Performance may slow down when handling huge datasets, high cost, making it less accessible for smaller businesses.

14. Freshbooks: Affordable Accounting Software

Freshbooks is accounting software that’s very affordable and easy to use, which I think is ideal for small businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs.

Pros

• Customizable invoices and email templates, connects with your bank for easy reconciliation, and is easy to use.

Cons

• No full audit trail, limits on billable clients.

15. Xero: Comprehensive Financial Management

Xero helps with invoicing, bank reconciliation, and expense tracking. Businesses can manage inventory, handle multiple currencies, and generate real-time financial reports. Xero also integrates with bank accounts and works on mobile, making it easy to manage finances anywhere. Xero also integrates Stripe, Shopify, PayPal, and Hubdoc to simplify workflow and connect and organize data. The Xero App Store offers smooth access to apps that enhance accounting efficiency.

Pros

• Allows unlimited users on all plans at no extra cost, supporting team collaboration, integrates with over 1,000 apps for better functionality and customization, automates bank feeds to update transactions daily, saving time and reducing errors.

Cons

• Does not support inventory assemblies, limiting complex product management; time tracking must be tied to projects, reducing flexibility.

16. Datarails: Data Consolidation and Reporting

Datarails integrates data from ERPs, CRMs, and accounting software to provide a single source of truth. Once the data is consolidated and validated, you can analyze it directly in rows and columns or through an interactive dashboard. Both options enable you to explore the data and share FP&A insights with stakeholders. You can also zoom into specific details in real time to answer questions quickly and accurately. Datarails also supports budgeting, forecasting, and scenario modeling.

Pros

• Users praise Datarails for its intuitive interface, support for real-time reporting, and seamless integration with Excel.

Cons

• The initial setup process can be complex.

17. Drivetrain: Collaborative Financial Reporting

The Drivetrain platform is designed to enable collaboration within financial teams when creating reports. Simple dashboards allow users to quickly see and understand financial performance, while effective integration technology allows for data consolidation from ERPs to CRMs and billing platforms.

Drivetrain is a collaborative financial reporting platform that helps teams create reports together. It features simple dashboards for quick financial performance review and integrates data from various sources.

Pros

• Enables collaboration, easy-to-understand dashboards, and effective data integration.

Cons

• Not mentioned.

18. Sage: Diverse Business Solutions

Sage offers a range of solutions designed to meet different business needs. Sage Intacct provides cloud-based management to finances, HR, and payroll. For manufacturers and distributors, Sage X3 delivers customizable ERP features tailored to industry needs. 

For financial processes, Sage 100 automates accounting, payroll, and operations, while Sage 300 handles complex multi-entity and multi-currency accounting. Sage Intacct Planning supports budgeting and forecasting, ensuring businesses can plan effectively. Additionally, Sage Inventory Planner helps forecast inventory needs and streamline purchases.

Pros

• Affordable compared to popular alternatives, the higher-tier plan supports unlimited users and robust inventory management features.

Cons

• It lacks features for tracking mileage or time.

19. Mosaic Tech: Cross-Departmental Reporting

A cross-departmental reporting platform, Mosaic again stands out for its ability to enable collaborative reporting across an organisation. Its user-friendly platform can be easily installed and learned by new users.

Mosaic Tech is a reporting platform that facilitates collaboration across departments. It is easy to install and user-friendly.

Pros

• Enables collaborative reporting, easy to learn.

Cons

• Not mentioned.

20. Workday Adaptive Planning: Analytics and Automation

Workday adaptive planning is, as the name suggests, built around its powerful analytics, modeling, and forecasting tools that allow for effective reporting for stakeholders. The platform also allows for effective automation for finance teams through several different tools.

Pros

• Powerful analytics, modeling, and forecasting, effective automation for finance teams.

Cons

• Not mentioned.

21. Planful: Cloud-Based FP&A Platform

Planful is primarily a cloud-based corporate management and FP&A platform with reporting facilities built in. The planful platform is easy to use and navigate, with the ability to create customised dashboards.

Pros

• Easy to use, customizable dashboards.

Cons

• Not mentioned.

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How to Choose the Best Financial Reporting Tool

Budgeting for Financial Reporting Software: What You Need to Know  

When scouting out financial reporting software, price takes center stage. You’ll want to think about how many folks will be needing access to your shiny new system because many vendors price their services based on the number of users. Don’t forget to factor in any hidden costs, either. These might include setup fees, training costs, customer support charges, or even maintenance expenses related to hardware. Remember, the goal is to find a tool that meets your needs without breaking the bank.  

Planning for Growth: The Need for Scalable Financial Reporting Software  

As your business grows, your financial reporting needs will become more complex. The software you choose should be able to grow with you, accommodating new requirements without the need for a complete overhaul. This means it should easily integrate with your existing systems, like ERP platforms, and have enough capacity to handle increasing amounts of data. Choosing a scalable solution will save you time, money, and headaches down the road.  

Customer Support and Training: Ensuring Smooth Operations  

Once your financial reporting software is up and running, you’ll want to make sure everything continues to operate smoothly. This is where customer support and training come in. Find out what kind of help desk services are available, whether you can get on-site technical assistance, and if there are remote training options like webinars or video conferencing. These resources will be invaluable for getting your team up to speed and troubleshooting any issues that may arise.  

Vetting Your Vendor: The Importance of Reputation  

Before making your final decision, do some homework on the vendor behind the software. Look for customer reviews and testimonials to get an idea of their reputation. You’ll also want to assess how well their product meets your current needs and whether it has the potential to support your long-term business goals. Choosing a reputable vendor will give you peace of mind and help ensure a successful implementation.  

Integration is Key: Compatibility with Other Business Systems  

Your new financial reporting tool won’t be operating in a vacuum. It needs to play nicely with your existing business systems to provide accurate, timely data. Make sure the software you choose can seamlessly integrate with your current platforms to avoid any disruptions or data silos. This will help you get the most out of your investment and keep your financial reporting processes running like a well-oiled machine.

Supercharge Your Researching Ability With Otio — Try Otio for Free Today

Otio is an advance AI-native workspace designed to help researchers, knowledge workers, and students overcome the challenges of content overload. With the rise of digital information, anyone can create content with the click of a button, making it increasingly difficult to find and process relevant data. Otio addresses this problem by providing a centralized platform for collecting, extracting, and utilizing information from a wide range of sources. This innovative tool allows users to streamline their workflows and get more done with less effort.

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