Pulse provides intelligent dashboards packed with special features tailored to individual accountants’ needs. It offers tools that transform simple raw data into meaningful forecasts. Whether you track sales, costs, or business aims, Pulse has all the features to make the process easy and effective. 

Financial Forecasting vs. Budgeting: Understanding the Difference 

Financial forecasting is often confused with budgeting, but they serve different purposes. Think of forecasting as setting your expectations and budgeting as setting your goals. 

Financial Forecasting 

A financial forecast is an educated guestimate based on both existing and historical data. This is not really a guess. It is a realistic projection if one considers current economic trends, company performance, and other factors that may affect the outcome. The objective is to create a roadmap of sorts that says, “This is the direction this business is headed,” so you can prepare for what’s going to happen. 

Budgeting 

On the other hand, budgeting involves setting targets. It’s the plan that you come up with based on your analysis of the financial situation, reflecting what your business would like to achieve. Normally revised yearly, the budget is used for benchmarking. You compare the actual results with this to see how well the company is doing and where adjustments are needed. 

Pulse: Your Go-To Dashboard for Planning Ahead 

Pulse provides everything you need to construct accurate forecasts with the help of smart dashboards. Let’s explore the features designed to give users intelligent decisions. 

Sales and Turnover 

It becomes easy to trace your sales and turnovers with Pulse. The dashboard draws data from your transaction history, elaborating on it in a very easy way to understand. This, therefore, helps you see trends over time and adjust your strategies accordingly. Be it the last quarter or the last year, Pulse gives you the insights needed to confidently forecast future sales. 

Costs 

Knowing your costs is key to high-confidence forecasts. With Pulse, track all your costs in one place. From recurring to one-off payments, see exactly where your money goes and how it is impacting your bottom line. Armed with this information, you can better forecast how much money is going out of your business and plan more effectively for future expenses. 

Gross Margin 

After accounting for costs, Pulse calculates your gross margin automatically so you can see how much profit you’re making. This is a key element of any kind of forecasting as it helps the user understand the effect changes in sales and costs have on overall profitability. The ability to keep a tab on your gross margin will let you adjust accordingly to maintain or improve your profit levels. 

Trend Analysis 

Pulse’s trend analysis feature is a game-changer. It gives a user the ability to identify trends within their financial data, as it helps to find where in the business those particular trends may make an impact. It could be that seasonally, sales go down, or maybe costs will continuously rise—whatever the case may be, Pulse keeps you ahead of the game, forecasting what those trends mean for your business. 

Business Goals 

You can set and track three business goals using Pulse. From increasing sales to cutting your costs or just improving gross margin, Pulse helps you focus on exactly what is important to you. It shows on the dashboard how near you are to hitting your targets and changes you may want to make. 

Business Snapshot: A Quick Overview of Your Finances 

One of the highlight features within Pulse is the Business Snapshot. This gives you an instantaneous, high-level view of your company’s financial health. It’s great for accountants on the go who just want to get a feel for their finances without getting into too much detail. 

Total Sales and Total Costs 

The Business Snapshot shows your total sales and costs in a simple, straightforward format. This helps you quickly assess whether your revenue covers your expenses and how much profit you generate. 

Gross Margin and Business Goals 

From the Business Snapshot, you can also see your gross margin and how much closer you are to reaching business goals. This feature makes it easy to track one’s financial health and remain in line with strategic objectives. 

Credit Score and Invoice Management 

It also tracks your credit score so that you have a definite picture of where you stand regarding your finances. On the dashboard itself, you can manage expenses, receivables, and payables; be sure that no invoice is missed, which one has to clear off. This will keep a healthy cash flow on the basis of correct forecasting. 

Management Accounts: A Close Look at Financial Health 

It will also give you detailed management accounts that accountants can use to examine the numbers in greater detail. This will help present an all-inclusive view of your financial performance, thus helping you project future outcomes. 

Profit & Loss 

Using the Profit & Loss feature, one gets a clear, detailed view of a company’s income and expenses. This is very useful during forecasting since it allows you to know where your money is coming from and where it is going. With the ability to set up forecasts as real as your company’s financial position in Pulse, you can clearly understand your money inflows and outflows. 

Balance Sheet 

It also allows for detailed balance sheeting so you can get a snapshot of your company’s assets, liabilities, and equity. This is important for financial planning and long-term forecasting. Knowing the financial position of your business will help you make better decisions regarding investments, financing, and opportunities pertaining to growth. 

Conclusion: Pulse – The Future of Financial Forecasting 

In finance, forecasting is more than just a guess – it’s a science. And just like every other science, it requires the appropriate tools. Pulse equips accountants with intelligent dashboards that change raw data into clear, actionable forecasts. Be it sales, costs, or business goals, Pulse keeps you ahead of the curve and guides informed decisions that move your business forward. 

Start forecasting with confidence. Start with Pulse.