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Forecast

Configure and populate a forecast that you can use elsewhere in reporting.

Updated today

💡Find the Sheet integration section here.

Creating a new forecast

  1. Navigate to Setup > Forecast.

  2. Use the Add forecast button top right to create a new forecast.

  3. Change the Name of the forecast inline.

💡 Use the duplicate icon on the right hand side to create a new version of your forecast. This way you can organise your forecasts that are related.

Update or delete an existing forecast

Use the pencil and garbage bin icon on the right to update the name or to delete an existing forecast.

Setting up a forecast

Populating a forecast

Step 1: Access your forecasts

  1. Navigate to Setup > Forecast.

  2. Create a new forecast or select your forecast from the list to go into the details page.

Step 2: Choose a structure for your Forecast

You can create forecasts tied to structures beyond the Default structure, allowing you to, for example, tailor budgets for specific business units, regions, or custom reporting views. You can additionally define the granularity (eg. mappings, GLAs, Cost centers) to forecast with a different level of detail.
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Setup Instructions:

  1. Create a Forecast:

    1. Click Add forecast in the top-right corner.

    1. Provide a Name for your forecast.

    2. Select the desired structure from the dropdown menu.

      Example:

      • Assign “Structure A” to a forecast for Division A.

      • Use “Structure B” for another division or custom group

    3. Next, select the desired granularity for the Profit & Loss statement and Balance Sheet.
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Important Notes: 🚨

  • Structure updates impact forecasts: Changes or deletions made in Setup > Structure will directly affect associated forecasts.

  • Reporting Integration: To view forecasts tied to specific structures, ensure the correct structure is selected in the filter in Reporting.

Step 3: Populate Forecasts Per Entity

  1. Choose an Entity

    • Use the dropdown in the top-right corner to select the entity for the forecast.

    • Select “All entities” to create a group-level forecast that covers the entire organization (this aligns with “All entities” selected in the Reporting filter).

    • Alternatively, choose an individual entity to populate forecasts specific to that entity.

  2. Choose where to assign the forecast by using the entity dropdown in the top right corner

    • All entities: Applies to the entire group.

    • Individual entity: Populate forecasts for specific entities (e.g., FinStack X1, FinStack X2). Iterate over all entities to complete the consolidated forecast.

  3. Populate forecast values:

    • Enter values manually by selecting a cell and typing.

    • Copy data row-by-row from a spreadsheet using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.
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  4. Use whole numbers only (negative values—e.g. for costs—are indicated by a minus sign).

💡 You can populate both the Profit & Loss statement and the Balance sheet by selecting the tabs on the top left. The Cash flow statement forecast will automatically be derived from both those statements and the references configured in Setup > Mapping for the CFS.

Summing up forecasts

Step 4: Sum your forecasts (Optional)

  1. After populating forecasts for individual entities, you can enable automatic group forecast calculation:

    • Switch to the All entities forecast.

    • Toggle the Sum all entities button:

      1. The group forecast will automatically sum the values of the underlying entity forecasts.

      2. Any updates to entity-level forecasts will be reflected instantly in the group's total

Notes

  • Forecast Hierarchy: Forecast mirror the structure of your P&L and Balance Sheet in Setup > Structure.

  • Dynamic Reporting: In Reporting, aggregated forecasts automatically display when multiple entities are selected in the entity filter.

  • Manual Entry Option: You can choose to manually populate the “All entities” forecast instead of using the Sum all entities functionality, if needed.

Selecting another timeframe

Use the calendar icon top right to limit the display to certain months, quarters, or years. Select the timeframe you would like to see, by first clicking on the starting month and next the ending month.

Importing and Exporting

Use the Import and Export button top right to download the sheet to your computer, make changes, and upload the sheet again. Either do a full upload or upload the periods you want to change. Periods that are not in the upload file will retain their previous values.

Connecting a Google Sheet

💡This functionality is in beta. If you face issues, please reach out to support.

Besides the options to manually populate the Forecasts or import them through an Excel upload, you can also decide to connect a Google sheet. This will allow you to maintain all values in a sheet and publish them to Finstack. You can use the full flexibility of a sheet, for example by using multiple tabs for calculations and collaborating with your team by sharing the sheet.

Step 1: Preparing the sheet

  1. This feature will synchronise actuals to your sheet and sync back the forecast model back to Finstack without the need of manual copy pasting. The forecast model is powered by a tab (eg. Calculations) that you reference in this process. Finstack can provide templates to get you started!

  2. Make sure you have a Google sheet available. You can create a new sheet by the shortcut "sheets.new" in your browser or make a copy of our template here.

Step 2: Connecting the sheet

  1. In Setup > Forecast select Link Google Sheet on the top right

  2. In your sheet:

    1. Copy the service account email from Finstack and add it to your sheet (Share top right) as Editor. Select Done.

    2. Copy the URL of the sheet

  3. Back in Finstack:

    1. Fill in a sheet Name

    2. Paste the copied Spreadsheet URL

    3. Select Next.

  4. Configure the forecast

    1. Select a Date range. For example: -12 months from now, until +24 months.

    2. Select a Structure

    3. Select an Entity or the full group (All entities).

    4. Select whether you want to include IC Eliminations and Adjustments.

  5. The sheet will be linked. This will create two new tabs in the sheet: [Finstack] Actuals and [Finstack] Forecasts. The badge will show Active when the sheet is connected.

💡In this version it is only possible to connect one entity (or the full group) per sheet and only on Mapping level. We are actively developing this feature.

Step 3: Updating your values

  1. By selecting Open, you can open the sheet in Finstack.

  2. Navigate to the [Finstack] Actuals tab.

    1. This tab will be populated by Finstack. Do not adjust values here. You can use the button Publish to sheet top right to receive most recent actuals. Reference this tab in your Calculations tab to incorporate the achieved results into your forecast model.

  3. Navigate to the [Finstack] Forecast tab.

    1. These values will be written back to Finstack. You can trigger that with the button Publish to Finstack top right. The exercise here is to reference the output of your Calculations tab per PL or BS line item.
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When you have made changes to your Forecast structure in Finstack, you can always Reset sheet top right. This will recreate the tabs. Note that old data will be lost in this process.

🚨Make sure to sync changes on either side (Finstack or sheet) back to the other side, otherwise values will get out of sync.

🧪 We are actively developing this feature. Expect more functionality coming up soon! Support is available for help if needed.

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