Three reasons no-code analytics is the future of accounting advisory services
Despite 94% of organizations believing data and analytics is important (MicroStrategy) to their digital transformation and business growth, only 3% of workers can find information in seconds. As a trusted advisor to your clients, what are you doing to help make their financial data accessible and effective?
Based on this study it’s safe to assume nearly all your clients are adopting, or would like to adopt, analytics. It’s also clear owners are not asking for printed reports, so if you’re still offering PDF packets as your advisory services offering you may be slipping behind the times. Companies want to make sense of their financial data, not just present it in a different way.
To remain a trusted advisory your client analytics offering needs to be easy to navigate, interactive, and customizable. For years now there have been cloud-based report tools that make financial statements easy to navigate, but these tools lack interactivity (the typical final deliverable is a PDF print out) and are not customizable beyond a few pre-built options.
That’s why we built Malartu. Malartu is a no-code analytics platform for the modern advisor. No-code analytics is different from report tools and business intelligence tools by combining the simplicity of a report tool with the flexibility of BI. From any template, advisors or admins can tweak dashboards to their liking using a drag-and-drop, point-and-click interface. They can create new KPIs and calculations across any connected data source. All of this without a single line of code.
There are three main benefits to using no-code analytics with clients rather than report tools or traditional financial statements:
Provide clients with financial updates in a language they understand
No-code analytics is interactive and customizable
It incorporates operational data to tie financial data back to day-to-day initiatives
Let’s take a look at each.
Providing financial updates in a language they understand
In nearly every scenario viewing time-series data is better than in a tabular format. This is because time series data makes it easy to spot trends, and acting from identified trends is how business owners succeed.
Monthly financial reports aren’t typically the best format to identify trends. No-code analytics helps you to build trendlines from key data points that the business owner is concerned about.
Speaking an operational language
Balance sheet line items don’t speak to an executive, but debt ratios do. That’s because ratios and KPIs are a much more succinct way to communicate what’s happening in the business.
Our operating expense went up, but how does that compare to revenue? Should I care? An OPEX ratio would be much more fitting here.
How is our ability to pay down our debt changing over time? Let's monitor our liquidity ratios.
Are COGS increasing with revenues? Why not look at Gross Profit Margin?
We spent twice as much on ads this month - how did our acquisition cost fare?
It’s not hard to see how much more information you can convey using KPIs and basic ratios instead of financial statements. View those ratios and KPIs over a time-series and you’re cooking with gas.
Not familiar with financial KPIs? We put together an exhaustive list here of 156 financial KPIs for every accountant or bookkeeper:
Interactive and customizable
It might be hard to understand as a steward of financial statements, but reading a typical profit and loss or balance sheet is information overload for the average manager. Presenting this data in a time series with the option to drill down is a better alternative.
Drilldowns prevent information overload by offering a view of data from a high level and an interactive way to dig deeper when questions pop up.
Customization without the code
Historically, if you wanted to offer analytics you had two options: a one-size fits all tool or writing custom code for everyone. The obvious issues with either approach are:
Every business is different
The time it would take to code custom solutions for each client is too cumbersome, let alone hiring someone with the technical skills to accomplish such a task.
No-code analytics allows you to develop template dashboards that scale infinitely across your client base, with no-code options to customize each board where you or your client see fit.
Tech-forward approach: scale with your clients
As recent headlines from companies like Scale Factor have shown (raised $100M for automated accounting, recently folded) - clients really value bespoke service over fully automated solutions.
But the initial success of Scale Factor also means clients are willing to switch to a tech-forward firm if they believe it leads to a better outcome.
There’s a delicate balance between human-to-human advice and technology to streamline tasks. If you’re running a successful advisory, you’ve certainly mastered the human aspect, so it’s important to invest in the technological aspect now.