As companies move their systems and data to cloud computing finance departments are often the first to suffer the consequences of the digital transformation. This is why the use of business intelligence (BI) tools within the finance industry has been increasing in recent times. Business intelligence tools allow businesses to visualize their data as part of dashboards, gaining rich information that can boost efficiency and reduce cost.

In this age of technology, many visualization tools are on the market. One of the top BI instruments of today's new age is Tableau. It is a wildly popular data visualization analysis, interaction and interaction tool that allows you to use the power of financial analytics.

In the present, an increasing amount of finance companies around the world are using Tableau to boost operational efficiency and to make data-driven decisions. But, the benefits are multiplied when you implement Tableau dashboards that include financial reports. In this blog you will discover the steps needed to implement Tableau's dashboard for financial reporting. Dashboard in Tableau to facilitate Financial reporting.

Methods to take Tableau dashboards:

Tableau dashboards give accountants and finance teams with an all-encompassing financial reporting system to evaluate financial information using various dimensions. There are generally five steps to set up Tableau reports dashboards. If you want to go beyond this article & dive deeper into Tableau, you can definitely master from Tableau Training.

1. Verify data as it is transferred to the cloud

The first step in creating highly designed financial dashboards is to confirm the accounting and financial data as it moves towards the cloud. Therefore, prior to using Tableau as a Tableau dashboard, it is essential to verify the accuracy of your data. It is also possible to verify the column's values in every table. For tables that are critical you may want to compare the primary keys. It is also recommended to connect the balance sheet as well as the income statement. Verifying the financial data can help improve the accuracy, reliability and credibility.

2. Create workbooks for financial management.

The next method is to break all of your data on financials into smaller pieces and create separate workbooks for each of the fragments. With these workbooks you will be able to work with an enormous amount of data across various dashboards in financial workbooks. It is important to assign each workbook the proper title since you could have a variety of workbooks. For example, a financial workbook may include dashboards that include:

• Sales invoiced by the customer

• Sales invoiced by brand

• Profit and loss

• Summary of advertising and promotion

• Gross profit margin and ales depending on the location

• Summary of administrative and general

Source: Tableau.com

3. Add dashboard objects

The next step is to incorporate dashboard objects to bring more interactivity and interest on your dashboards. There are various types of objects for dashboards. The guidelines about certain of these objects can be found below:

Web Page objects They display the pages of your choice in the view on your screen. However, certain web websites will not grant you with the ability to embed their own pages. For example, Google.

Vertical and horizontal objects They allow you to organize relevant objects by using layout containers. This means that you can adjust your dashboards and allow users to adjust their size when they are in contact with them.

navigation objects They allow you to go between one dashboard or sheet to another. They can display details tooltips, highlight text on the screen, and create boundaries that are custom-made using these objects.

Download object The Download objects will allow users to choose the option for users to make an image in PNG format, a PDF file or PowerPoint slides of your dashboard, or other workbooks that you choose to use.

Extension objects They allow you to include attractive and unique capabilities on your dashboards. You can also connect your dashboards to apps that are not Tableau with these objects.

4. Enable data drill-down

Fourth step: dig into the financial statements to determine the cause of the performance. If you observe any differences on your dashboards, when you follow this process you will be able to pinpoint the reasons behind those differences. When you drill down into the smallest details and analyzing the data, you can identify patterns and trends within the business. For further exploration you should look into your visualization i.e. financial reports.

Metrics for Tableau finance dashboard

• Gross profit margin

• Operating profit margin

• Operating cost ratio

• Net profit Margin

• Working capital

• Berry ratio

• Conversion of cash

• Turnover ratio of accounts payable

• Turnover ratio of accounts receivable

The future of forecasting financials

Finance is a fast-moving field. Therefore, modern businesses need to shift from the traditional financial spreadsheet and into more sophisticated BI solutions such as Tableau to perform financial analysis. There is no need for manual methods of making and transforming financial information. The majority of organizations have shifted to Tableau Dashboards to manage financial reports to track and provide reports on financial KPIs.