What are you using for Financial Forecasting

[stevel61]

Hi Guys

I am curious to find out what everyone is using now for financial forecasting, I used a desktop version of Sage Financial forecasting for many years but it doesn't like modern operating systems and Microsoft 365, I got so frustrated with it losing functionality I built my own system but I am keen to get feedback on what is the "go to application" these days, is it Fathom, Futrli, Vena or something else

Regards

Steve

 

[James Edison]

Hi Guys

I am curious to find out what everyone is using now for financial forecasting, I used a desktop version of Sage Financial forecasting for many years but it doesn't like modern operating systems and Microsoft 365, I got so frustrated with it losing functionality I built my own system but I am keen to get feedback on what is the "go to application" these days, is it Fathom, Futrli, Vena or something else

Regards

Steve

Hi Steve,

Fathom is probably the most common "go to" among UK accountants now, clean Xero integration, good reports, reasonable for the price. Futrli covers similar ground with more focus on cash flow scenarios. Vena's the heaviest of the three and really aimed at mid-market finance teams doing proper FP&A, probably overkill unless you've got multiple entities and a finance function to justify it.

Honest take though: if your own system already gives you what you need and you trust the numbers, that's worth more than any of the above. Most of the frustration with off-the-shelf tools isn't functionality, it's that they force you into someone else's view of your business. The fact you rebuilt yours from scratch usually means you understand your own cash flow better than a generic template ever will.

What did you end up building it in, Excel, Sheets, something else?

James

 

[cjd]

Excel plus 20 years of data and experience.

AI will produce forecasts from your data using various statistical models but I’ve found them pretty inaccurate. It probably depends on your business and how much historical data you have.

 

[tony84]

Our back office system allows us to put income and expected dates. This tells us what our pipeline is.
As cjd says, experience tells me when we will likely be busy and quiet and bar numpties starting wars or mini budgets, I generally have a good idea of where we will be income wise each year.

But we are a small firm (3 of us) so it does not take a lot to go busy or quiet.

 

[fisicx]

I have a wife. She forecasts when I need to pull my finger out and earn some money.

 

[tony84]

Thats an outdated system. You need to get rid and get a newer one.

 

[Ozzy]

Despite all the tech we have in our business; including various AI tools which I am sure might do a reasonable job, all our forecasting is still based on industry experience, gut feel and Excel to present it all to stakeholders.

Our finance team lay the fixed numbers out for the year and two ahead, and then I sit down with the SLT and we feed in our own areas of responsibility into the forecasts. Then, finance goes away and punches those numbers into Excel and returns with the cash flow and P&L outcomes.

 

[ladypandora]

Personally I prefer Cube.
It's excel-friendly and AI data mapping for fast setup

 

[taxplus12]

Hi Guys

I am curious to find out what everyone is using now for financial forecasting, I used a desktop version of Sage Financial forecasting for many years but it doesn't like modern operating systems and Microsoft 365, I got so frustrated with it losing functionality I built my own system but I am keen to get feedback on what is the "go to application" these days, is it Fathom, Futrli, Vena or something else

Regards

Steve

There is no single software package that does everything for you; the best choice depends on your requirements. Fathom is often used to generate reports, do KPI analysis, and forecast across multiple companies. Futrli provides better short-term cash flow analysis and scenario planning than other packages.

But in practice, many businesses use cloud software along with Excel, and so the “right” choice really comes down to your existing process.​

 

[EnterprisePro]

I have a wife. She forecasts when I need to pull my finger out and earn some money.

Joking apart, I call that the "plan", i.e. sits above forecast and is for the FY based on company objectives (or partner objectives!). I define "forecast" as being based on the percentage likelihood of all open deals going ahead + active revenue for live work (closed-deals)

Thats an outdated system. You need to get rid and get a newer one.

 

[camelback890]

Hi Guys

I am curious to find out what everyone is using now for financial forecasting, I used a desktop version of Sage Financial forecasting for many years but it doesn't like modern operating systems and Microsoft 365, I got so frustrated with it losing functionality I built my own system but I am keen to get feedback on what is the "go to application" these days, is it Fathom, Futrli, Vena or something else

Regards

Steve

Fathom!

 

[stevel61]

Hi Steve,

Fathom is probably the most common "go to" among UK accountants now, clean Xero integration, good reports, reasonable for the price. Futrli covers similar ground with more focus on cash flow scenarios. Vena's the heaviest of the three and really aimed at mid-market finance teams doing proper FP&A, probably overkill unless you've got multiple entities and a finance function to justify it.

Honest take though: if your own system already gives you what you need and you trust the numbers, that's worth more than any of the above. Most of the frustration with off-the-shelf tools isn't functionality, it's that they force you into someone else's view of your business. The fact you rebuilt yours from scratch usually means you understand your own cash flow better than a generic template ever will.

What did you end up building it in, Excel, Sheets, something else?

James

 

[stevel61]

Sorry for the late reply everyone, but some really interesting feedback here and helpful to see what people are using operationally now.

As I mentioned originally, a lot of my frustration came from gradually losing the ability to use the old desktop Sage Financial Forecasting environment properly with modern operating systems and Microsoft 365.

Over the past year I ended up continuing to build my own browser-based forecasting platform around many of the principles I always liked from structured 3-way forecasting:
• linked Profit & Loss
• Cash Flow
• Balance Sheet
• scenario modelling
• working capital visibility
• rolling forecasts

The interesting thing for me reading through the replies is that a lot of finance teams still seem to rely heavily on experience, judgement and Excel operationally, even with newer AI tools appearing everywhere.

I think there is still real value in understanding the underlying forecasting and accounting logic itself rather than relying entirely on automated outputs.

I’ve now monetised the commercial version, but I’ve kept the interactive demo free if anyone is curious to see where I eventually ended up taking it:

I called FinForecast a nod to the original forecasting tool WinForecast

Appreciate all the feedback on the original thread.

 

[cjd]

I've been running two different AI forecasts against my own for two years now; the AI is laughably wrong. I'm going to ask them why at the end of the year.

 

[stevel61]

I've been running two different AI forecasts against my own for two years now; the AI is laughably wrong. I'm going to ask them why at the end of the year.

That’s really interesting and honestly mirrors some of my own experience as well.

AI can be very impressive at generating projections quickly, but I still think forecasting accuracy often depends on understanding operational behaviour, timing, working capital and commercial context — not just pattern recognition from historic data.

That was actually one of the reasons I became so focused on structured 3-way forecasting and accounting integrity when building my own platform.

I suspect AI forecasting will improve massively over time, but I’m not convinced businesses can completely remove finance judgement, experience and scenario thinking from the process yet.

 

[cjd]

The odd thing is I'm basing my forecast on pretty simple historic data - customer numbers, revenue and sales volumes by month over 20 years. It has the same data and uses far more complex modelling. It's a hyper intelligent baby.