What is a flash report and how to create them effectively

A flash report is a snapshot of current financial performance and operational performance metrics. For many decision-makers, these reports are essential. However, for the accounting department, creating these reports daily or weekly can be excruciating. Yet, the delivery of flash reports is often a non-negotiable. These reports must be on everyone's desk at the same time, regardless of what data needs to be pulled or stitched together. This blog aims to provide some alternative ways to automate and deliver these telling reports so everyone can be across business performance.

How to prepare a flash report

Like all good reporting, it comes down to the numbers. So when you have all your data from your ERP, HR, third party sell-thru and spreadsheets integrated into one system and constantly updating, the creation of flash reports, dashboards or financial statements is straightforward. With a BI (Business Intelligence) and FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) solution like Phocas, flash reports can be staple of your financial reporting and can be available in real-time in any format.

To create the flash report, the finance, sales, or operations teams would decide which metrics need to be included, build the report, allocate recipients for the information, decide whether to show numbers or graphs, and set the delivery time. The Phocas system completes the refresh, validation, and updating of all data. So by the following day or the next weekly flash, the report is available for those who need the relevant numbers, allowing them to take corrective action or stay across trends.

How flash reports are used in business

Trade Supply Group, is a New York based distributor of building materials with a number of divisions. The company runs an Epicor ERP and has a data-driven culture aided by using Phocas BI and FP&A. When talking with Scott Sokoly, the Business System Administrator, he advised 3 flash reports are automated from Phocas every day for the plumbing division, lumber division and for the whole company so it has one view of all financial performance.

As a product driven business, gross profit is important. The first flash report includes three metrics - gross profit year to data, gross profit month to date and all the company’s current sales numbers vs the budgets by division and by company.

Trade Supply also has a flash report for accounts receivable so the accounts and sales team can quickly see if there are any potential problem areas like potential receivables aging. The third flash report includes inventory numbers and valuations so “the business can see if we are getting too heavy in certain product categories.”

Most of the Trade Supply businesses are similar but they operate in different geographical areas, so these reports allow their people to take ideas that worked in one place and bring them to another. “It exposes the team to what is going on in Connecticut to the people in New York as everyone shares their numbers. One of our favorite parts of the flash reports is that we can use them from the top to the bottom of the organization,” says Sokoly.

Types of flash reports

Typical three-part flash report

Phocas customer, Trade Supply Group has fashioned its own version of flash reports just like every business should do. Usually, a flash report is made up of three parts that have metrics for profitability, liquidity and productivity.

The profitability section usually shows metrics from the income statement such as revenue, operating income, gross profit margin and net profit margin. The liquidity area concentrates on cashflow and shows the quick ratio, accounts receivable turnover and operating cash flow from the cashflow statement.

The productivity section of the flash report differs according to your industry type. Manufacturing companies will monitor operational key performance indicators such as production efficiency (throughput or overall equipment efficiency and utilization rate) and quality control (defect rate and cost of scrap are examples of metrics that can be displayed). Wholesale companies will review inventory management or order fulfilment metrics such as inventory turnover ratio or days sales of inventory (DSI). Retail companies will be interested in reviewing sales performance such as gross margin return on investment and customer satisfaction metrics like customer retention rate or average transaction value. To calculate these productivity metrics, the accounts team would set up the formulas in Phocas with a drag and drop and then the system would automate the calculation.

More flash report options

Inventory flash report

Purchasing managers and operations specialists in a distribution business will benefit from an inventory flash report. This report will determine how well stocks are moving and how to stay on top of early trends so purchasing managers can work with sales on better forecasting.

General ledger flash report

For many finance teams they find the three statements (profit and loss/income statement, balance sheet and cashflow statement) with customized financial ratios that they can create in Phocas is enough financial information for the business. Yet the condensed general ledger flash report often includes financial ratios for quick comparison between divisions.

Accounts receivable flash report

Accounts receivable is a high priority for most businesses as it affects cashflow. This is a popular flash report because it summarizes customer accounts, receivables aging (or days past due), and monthly sales on a single page. This report is helpful for identifying customers that cost more or potentially less to serve. You might want to use to identify opportunities to expand sales with fast-paying customers and to watch out for at risk customers.

A lot of reporting in a business can be counterproductive so at Phocas we like to help customers to be as efficient and accurate as possible.

When data is consolidated in one platform, reporting becomes streamlined, enabling the finance team to efficiently serve all stakeholders, including the management team, with specialized flash reports. Many customers find that producing customized financial statements for various divisions meets most queries. However, setting up and automating flash reports is straightforward and significantly reduces the overtime hours finance teams typically spend creating these reports in Excel. Utilizing a platform like Phocas ensures that your flash reports can evolve alongside your business.