Streamlining consolidated financial reporting with Gravity Software

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In today's dynamic business landscape, companies with multiple locations or managing multiple entities face significant challenges when it comes to efficiently managing and analyzing their financial data. Consolidated financial reporting bolsters transparency, giving you full visibility into your best opportunities for growth and areas where you need to improve performance.  It also ensures compliance and gives investors and other key stakeholders peace of mind.

See Gravity’s consolidated financial reporting software in action.

  • Understanding financial consolidation

    • Understanding financial consolidation

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    Unfortunately, most legacy accounting solutions aren’t designed this way. They force users to treat each entity within the same company as a separate business with separate databases, each with their own login and chart of accounts.

    Any information that pertains to more than one entity within a business — such as an invoice from a vendor that provides office supplies to  your locations — must be copied and pasted into each database.

    Not only is this tedious and time-consuming for your team; it also increases opportunities for error.

    The best-case scenario is that someone catches the error before reports go out to stakeholders and it doesn’t take a significant amount of time to rectify. A less ideal scenario is that investors or the SEC receive inaccurate reports. This erodes trust in your organization and can even result in fines.

    For instance, rental car company Hertz paid $16 million to settle fraud charges from the SEC following a series of inaccurate financial statements, including misstating income due to accounting errors.

    Financial consolidation isn’t just about finances.

    Investors want to see that an organization is using technology to sustain performance today and  position it for future growth.

  • The benefits of financial consolidation software for reporting

    • The benefits of financial consolidation software for reporting

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    Accounting software that includes consolidated financial statements eliminates many of the manual work of compiling data from multiple sources, significantly reducing month-end financial reporting.

    It also gives your company a clear picture of business performance in real time so you can identify potential issues sooner.

    For instance, if you notice one of your locations is underperforming compared to the others, you might consider running a special promotion there or reducing employee hours to adjust to reduced demand. Other benefits of using financial consolidation software include:

    More efficient financial reporting

    In the era of big data, companies grapple with vast amounts of financial data coming from various sources. Software that consolidates them into a single source of truth eliminates the need to log into various systems, import and export data, and use yet another solution to compile it all into the same report. It’s much easier to share reports with investors or other key stakeholders as well.

    Improved transparency and collaboration

    With all your financial data in one place, it’s easier for your company to work together to improve profitability. The executive team can see revenue and growth metrics at a glance. The finance team can budget more effectively. The accounting department can stay on top of past-due invoices or rising expenses by identifying them earlier.  Sales and marketing can identify the activities that have had the greatest impact on growth within individual locations and entities, as well as across the entire organization.  Importantly, your team can also manage cash flow across the entire organization, rather than just within the company.

    Maintaining compliance

    Consolidated financial reporting ensures your organization meets guidelines set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). You can maintain a full audit trail, prevent fraud or embezzlement, and respond faster to auditors requesting information.

    Time and cost savings

    The hours your team spends on manual data entry comes at a cost without adding value. By automating repetitive tasks, your team can focus on more strategic priorities, such as finding new ways to manage costs and assisting with budgeting and planning.

  • Key features of financial consolidation software

    • Key features of financial consolidation software

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    The best software for consolidated financial reporting doesn’t just combine all your data into a single platform; it makes it easier for your team to access it and act upon it. Here are are few of the most important features it should include.

    Multi-entity capabilities

    Every multi-entity company is structured differently. Some have multiple departments or divisions, while others have multiple locations or lines of business. Look for software that allows a clear separation between entities while enabling you to share critical information, including customer data, vendor details, and shared expenses. The solution you choose should make it easy to manage intercompany transactions without duplicate data entry.

    Advanced financial statements

    Your company’s structure will also influence your preferences for financial reporting. In addition to showing key financial data for your main account, you’ll also want to see data for different entities or locations within the same report. You may also want to show different categories of operational expenses, such as the costs of labor, marketing, or capital expenses, within the same report. 

    Built-in business intelligence

    Business intelligence solutions are becoming more collaborative, enabling team leaders across departments to make decisions faster by creating a single source of truth for data and presenting it in a clear format. While there are many options available, they aren’t always included in accounting software or financial reporting software — and they should be. Look for software that includes robust insights in a format you can personalize and easily use to present data to your board or other stakeholders.

    Accounting automation and artificial intelligence

    More organizations are realizing the value accounting automation can offer when it comes to saving time, reducing costs, improving accuracy, and creating a better employee experience. AI offers opportunities to further streamline processes such as accounts payable, financial forecasting, and more. Look for solutions that incorporate these features and have a product roadmap that includes ongoing innovation.

    An intuitive user experience

    The best solutions are robust, but easy for anyone at your organization to use. Intuitive dashboards, clear navigation, and interactive graphs ensure that even those without a deep financial background can confidently navigate and extract insights. This helps you onboard employees quickly, maximizing productivity and the return on your investment.

  • Gravity Software combines consolidated financial reporting with robust multi-entity accounting solutions

    • Gravity Software combines consolidated financial reporting with robust multi-entity accounting solutions

    The best solutions for consolidated financial reporting isn’t stand-alone software, but a key feature of robust accounting software.

    Gravity Software is designed specifically to simplify multi-entity accounting and consolidated financial reporting.  Here’s a closer look at what sets it apart from entry-level accounting solutions.

    Sharing information across multiple entities

    With Gravity, you can store financial information for all your companies in a single database. You can create shared master files for customers or vendors, enabling quick data entry and effortless access control. When you update information once, the data synchronizes across all selected entities.

    Accounts payable for multiple companies

    With Gravity’s accounts payable solution, paying a vendor invoice on behalf of multiple companies takes a fraction of the time. You can choose how you want to allocate each bill across entities from a single screen.

    The expense is automatically listed in each company's database, and Due To/Due From records are automatically balanced. Gravity also makes it easy to pay invoices in batches, set up electronic payments, and integrate with services like bill.com.

    Multi-dimensional financial reporting

    With Gravity, you can create reports showing the main account, individual entities, and additional dimensions within the same view. Dimension codes allow you to organize expenses by projects, events, employees or any other category within the same report.

    Business intelligence

    Gravity uses Microsoft PowerBI for built-in business intelligence, making it easy to create personalized dashboards and charts with the data specific people within your organization need to see. You can give your CEO a high-level overview of performance or create reports relevant to individual stakeholders who may only have investments in a few of your many entities.

    Accounts payable automation and AI

    With Gravity, you can automate anything from revenue recognition to bank reconciliation to sending emails to approve certain expenses. You can also take advantage of advanced features, such as AI-powered invoice processing. This frees up your team’s time to focus on more strategic priorities like planning, budgeting and risk mitigation.

    Automated financial report distribution

    Give every access to the reports they want to see in the format they want to see them — without having to remember to send them. In Gravity’s advanced financial report distribution, known as Packages, you can create a list of recipients who will receive automated emails at set timelines.

  • Consolidated financial reporting success stories

    • Consolidated financial reporting success stories

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    Family eye center reduces month-end close times

    Dr. Tavel Family Eye Care struggled with an outdated, server-based accounting system that was both inefficient and inflexible. They were using Sage100, a system that had no capacity for document storage and backup. That meant the team had to review piles of paperwork to reconcile expenses, contributing to a month-end close process that extended beyond 30 days.

    With Gravity’s multi-entity accounting software, they reduced their month-end close time from more than 30 days to 10-15 days within just a few months. They also saved time on triple net calculations, leaving more time for financial analysis, budgeting, and providing valuable feedback to the company on strategic direction. Read the case study

    Hospitality company simplifies financial reporting

    Sunray Companies, a multi-company organization with 47 locations including hotels, tanning salons, and massage locations, faced significant challenges in managing daily accounting processes. Each time they needed to make an intercompany transaction — which could be hundreds of times in a day — they had to enter the same information in two different places, which added time and frustration.  The team often stayed late to create consolidated financial reports and show year-to-date performance.

    With Gravity, the team has more time to analyze financial data, identify cost-saving opportunities, and solve proactively solve problems. Read the case study

    Simplify multi-entity accounting with Gravity Software

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  • More consolidated financial reporting resources

    • More consolidated financial reporting resources

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