Your Numbers, Your Way: Making Reports Work for You

Background

The monthly management meeting had become tense.The numbers were there, but the report wasn’t helping anyone understand the business. The directors wanted a clearer view of gross margin, but the standard P&L coming from the accounting system buried the information they needed in pages of data.

Instead of discussing performance, meetings often became conversations about the report itself. They asked us to see if there was a better way to present the information — without creating more work for the accounts team or producing confusing reports.

Our Approach

The first step was reviewing the system and the reports already being produced. The second — and most important — step was understanding why those reports weren’t working. Different businesses focus on different metrics.

In this case, the directors wanted to understand their product margins much more clearly. To do that, sales and direct costs needed to be presented differently so margin could be seen quickly and easily.

Once we understood the “why”, we could start reshaping the report around it.

Actions Taken

Looking at the system, it was clear why the existing report felt unwieldy. There were many different sales and cost codes flowing through it, which made the output cluttered and difficult to interpret. Using the standard reporting framework, we reorganised the positioning of sales and cost codes to present margin more clearly.

This process requires care. Move something incorrectly, miss a code or alter a formula and the whole report can stop reconciling.

Our first draft didn’t quite work. A couple of codes had been missed and some formulas needed adjusting.

Because we reconciled the report throughout the process, we caught the issues quickly, corrected them and continued refining the layout until the report delivered exactly what the directors needed — while still balancing perfectly.

Outcomes

The change was simple, but the impact was significant. Monthly management meetings became far more productive. The report now shows margin clearly, the accounts team doesn’t spend extra time preparing information, and the conversation has shifted away from questioning the data.

Instead, discussions are now focused on performance and decision-making.

Happy directors.
A happy accounts team.
And a business able to focus on moving forward.

Porterdale’s Comments

We say this often at Porterdale: Your management accounts are for you. Statutory accounts follow a prescribed format for Companies House. But the reports you use to run your business don’t have to.

As long as the underlying accounting is correct, reports can be structured in whatever way helps you understand performance best.

Sometimes that means adjusting system reports.
Sometimes it means building something bespoke.

Either way, the principle remains the same:

Your numbers. Your Way.

Contact us today to see how we can help to bring some clarity to your numbers.

Words by Lindsey Owen

Header photo by Nathan Dumlao