Integrated Financial Planning
CFO Services
In a nutshell
Integrated financial planning refers to a planning approach in which the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement are not planned in isolation but are linked together based on a common data set. At the same time, operational drivers such as sales, production, personnel, purchasing, and capital expenditures are integrated into the financial planning process.
The goal is to make the financial implications of business decisions immediately apparent and to provide a consistent view of the company's future development.
Why is integrated financial planning important?
In many companies, financial planning is still carried out today using separate sub-plans. Revenue planning, cost planning, investment planning, and cash flow planning are often prepared independently of one another and then consolidated manually. The consequences include: a high level of effort required for reconciliation, discrepancies in figures, long planning cycles, a lack of transparency regarding interdependencies, and limited responsiveness to changes.
Integrated financial planning takes a different approach. Instead of planning financial metrics in isolation, it takes the underlying business processes into account. For example, a change in the sales plan automatically affects revenue, production requirements, costs, inventory, liquidity, and earnings.
This results in a comprehensive management model that supports management and functional departments in their decision-making. This approach becomes particularly relevant during times of economic uncertainty.
Today, companies need to be able to respond more quickly:
- How are our earnings trending?
- What are the effects of a decline in sales?
- What happens when labor costs rise?
- What level of liquidity will we have available in the future?
Modern integrated financial planning provides precisely this level of transparency and often serves as the foundation for xP&A (Extended Planning & Analytics) initiatives.
How does celver AG provide support?
celver AG has been supporting companies for many years in the development of integrated financial and business planning processes. We view financial planning not as an isolated controlling task, but as an integral part of overall corporate management. Sales, supply chain, production, HR, and finance are linked together on a common planning foundation.
Typical questions from our customers include:
- How can the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement be planned in an integrated manner?
- How can operational and financial planning be integrated?
- How can Excel-based planning processes be replaced?
- What impact do scenarios have on earnings and liquidity?
- How can forecasts be created more quickly?
- What role do Board, SAP Analytics Cloud, Anaplan, and other planning platforms play?
- How can we establish a unified corporate management system?
Our goal is a planning solution that not only generates financial figures but also supports management decisions and provides transparency into the impact of business decisions.
Related Terms
-min.avif)
Frequently Asked Questions
By linking operational and financial planning, changes in sales, costs, personnel, or investments can be directly simulated in the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow.
The first step usually involves defining the key planning drivers and interrelationships. These can then be mapped out step by step on a shared platform.
Modern planning solutions enable automated calculations and scenario analyses. This makes it possible to compare different future scenarios in just a few minutes.
Common causes include manual reconciliations, decentralized planning files, and a lack of integration between departments. Integrated financial planning significantly reduces this effort.
S&OP plans sales, production, and supply. Integrated financial planning assesses the financial implications of these decisions and links operational and financial management.
AI can improve forecasts, identify risks early on, analyze deviations, and automatically calculate scenarios. This makes planning processes faster and more well-founded.
