Integrated Financial Planning tools

What is integrated financial planning?

Integrated financial planning is a way for businesses to plan for the future with a model that incorporates a complete range of different planning methods into one ‘integrated’ model.

It is a very detailed form of financial planning and helps to assemble a range of financial information into a clear, easy to understand format.

The level of detail and depth that an integrated financial planning solution covers gives the user a comprehensive analysis of costs and benefits across a range of metrics. This, therefore, provides strong advice for strategic decisions for both your business and your clients.

Who is an integrated financial planning solution useful for?

An integrated financial planning is an extremely useful tool for those looking to estimate the profitability of their business for the coming years. The major benefit of an integrated financial planning solution is that it helps to collect financial data from a variety of sources. It is therefore best suited to businesses who have different employees or departments who handle financial data and wish to centralise this.

It is particularly aimed at top management, Chief Financial Officers, Entrepreneurs, Bank and Finance Managers and Analysts, and professionals working in business more generally.

What can be included in an integrated financial planning solution?

For an effective integrated financial planning solution, there needs to be sections covering project planning, sales planning and forecasting, capital costs, and demand planning. Commonly included in an integrated financial plan are the following section and models:

Sales: including Production, Trade, and Services

Production: Inventory, Overheads, Capacity Planning

Financials:

Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) – Valuation method allowing estimation of the investment value based on its future cash flows.
Income Statement – Also referred to as the Profit and Loss Statement (P&L), focusing on the revenue and expenses of your business.
Loans

Reporting:

Balance Sheet – This provides an insight into the assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity at any given time. This gives an overview into what a company owns, owes and how much shareholder investment is.
Cash Flow – Recording the cash, and cash-equivalents coming in and out of a business.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – Highlighting the performance of your key business metrics.

The data for these sections can then be presented in the form of charts.