- Financial reporting tools compared
- Eleven financial reporting tools to consider
- Management reports and statutory accounts are different jobs
- Reporting, forecasting or consolidation?
- Questions to ask a reporting vendor
- Signs your reporting needs an upgrade
- My plain advice on choosing financial reporting software
- Frequently asked questions
The best financial reporting software turns your accounting data into clear monthly reports, dashboards and consolidations without spreadsheet work: small businesses and their accountants usually want tools that sit on top of Xero or QuickBooks, while larger and listed companies need full reporting platforms with audit trails. Eleven options follow in no particular order.
Accounting software is good at recording what happened. It's often far less good at explaining it, which is why so many finance teams still export everything to spreadsheets at month end and spend days building the same report again.
Financial reporting tools do that work for you, pulling numbers from your accounts into reports owners and boards can read. The eleven tools below are listed alphabetically and in no particular order, and every description comes from the vendor's own site, read this week. If you're after one view of the whole business, see keeping track of your business with one dashboard.
Financial reporting tools compared
In the free plan column, Yes means the tool's own site names a free plan, a free version or a free profile. Trial only means a time-limited trial. Not stated means the pages I read named neither, even where there's a button inviting you to try it or book a demo.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fathom | Reporting, forecasting and consolidation | Accountants producing client management reports | Trial only |
| Jirav | FP&A and forecasting software | Growing firms adding forecasts to reports | Not stated |
| Joiin | Reporting and consolidation software | Groups consolidating several companies | Trial only |
| Kepion | Planning, forecasting and reporting | Finance teams working in Microsoft tools | Not stated |
| LivePlan | Business planning with performance tracking | Owners comparing plan against actuals | Not stated |
| Phocas | Business intelligence and financial analysis | Distributors and manufacturers | Not stated |
| Qvinci | Financial reporting and business intelligence | Franchises and multi-location businesses | Trial only |
| Reach Reporting | Financial reporting and dashboards | Advisers presenting QuickBooks and Xero numbers | Not stated |
| Spotlight Reporting | Management reports and forecasts | Advisory firms serving many clients | Trial only |
| Syft Analytics | Dashboards, reports and consolidations | Xero users wanting visual reports | Not stated |
| Workiva | Reporting platform for finance and audit | Listed companies with heavy reporting | Not stated |
Eleven financial reporting tools to consider
Fathom
Best for: Accountants and small finance teams who want management reports, forecasts and consolidations built from Xero or QuickBooks data.
Jirav
Best for: Growing businesses that want reporting joined up with forecasting and planning in one finance tool.
Joiin
Best for: Owners and accountants of groups with several companies who want reporting and consolidations without spreadsheets.
Kepion
Best for: Finance teams in the Microsoft world that want planning, forecasting and reporting on one platform.
LivePlan
Best for: Small business owners who want a business plan plus simple tracking of how actual results compare with it.
Phocas
Best for: Distributors and manufacturers that want sales and financial reporting in one business intelligence tool.
Qvinci
Best for: Franchise groups and multi-location businesses that want standardised financial reports produced the same way across every location.
Reach Reporting
Best for: Advisers and accountants who want polished financial reports and dashboards built from QuickBooks or Xero.
Spotlight Reporting
Best for: Accounting and advisory firms that want reporting, forecasting and dashboards for many clients in one suite.
Syft Analytics
Best for: Xero and other cloud accounting users who want dashboards, consolidations and reports from a tool that's now part of Xero.
Workiva
Best for: Larger and listed companies that need financial, regulatory and sustainability reporting with audit trails in one platform.
If your books live in QuickBooks, see whether QuickBooks Desktop or Online suits you.
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Management reports and statutory accounts are different jobs
GOV.UK says a limited company's statutory accounts must always be sent to all shareholders, to people who can go to the company's general meetings, to Companies House and to HMRC as part of the Company Tax Return. It adds that small, micro and dormant companies may be able to send simpler abridged accounts.
Most tools in this list are built for management reporting, the monthly view that helps you run the business. They don't replace your accountant's year-end work, but clean monthly reports make that work quicker and catch problems months earlier.
Companies with leases on the balance sheet need lease accounting software.
Reporting, forecasting or consolidation?
Reporting shows what's already happened in a format people understand. Forecasting projects the months ahead from those numbers. Consolidation combines several companies in a group into one set of reports, which is a real headache in spreadsheets.
Some tools do all three, others focus on one. Work out which you need now and which you'll need in a year, then shortlist accordingly.
Questions to ask a reporting vendor
- Which accounting systems do you connect to?
- Can we consolidate several companies or currencies?
- How much of the monthly pack can be automated?
- Can non-finance managers read the reports easily?
- Do you handle forecasts as well as actuals?
- How do we share reports with a board or lender?
Signs your reporting needs an upgrade
- Month end takes a week. Reports are rebuilt by hand every time.
- Nobody reads the pack. It's long, dense and late.
- Group numbers live in spreadsheets. Consolidation is a monthly risk.
- Forecasts are separate files. They never match the actuals.
Do you make financial reporting software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My plain advice on choosing financial reporting software
Ask your accountant first. Many firms already use one of these tools for their clients, and if yours does, you'll get better reports with less effort. If you're the finance team, pick the tool that builds the report you need every month with the fewest manual steps.
Keep the pack short. Owners read the first page and the exceptions, so design around that rather than printing every number the software can produce. Month end is easier when the bookkeeping is tidy; my notes on automating month-end bookkeeping help there.
Frequently asked questions
What is financial reporting software?
It's software that pulls data from your accounting system and turns it into reports, dashboards and consolidations people can understand and act on.
Do small businesses need financial reporting software?
Not always. It becomes worth it once monthly reports take hours to build, or when owners, lenders or a board want regular packs.
Does it replace my accounting software?
No. These tools sit on top of your accounting system and use its data to produce better reports.
What is financial consolidation?
It's combining the accounts of several companies in a group into one set of reports, removing transactions between them.
Can these tools help with statutory accounts?
They help keep monthly numbers clean, but statutory accounts are usually prepared by an accountant to set legal formats.
Which accounting systems do these tools work with?
Many work with Xero and QuickBooks, and some also connect to larger systems. Check the integration for the software you use.
