Karabina Business Technology Solutions has recently launched AnalystView, a software package that performs advanced financial analysis. Developed in conjunction with risk-expert John Stretch, AnalystView calculates more than 60 different ratios and trends, presenting the results in a series of graphical full colour reports, which identify and highlight problem areas.
With the intelligence that AnalystView produces, the finance function can use the hours previously spent populating spread sheets to focus on strategic financial analysis of past performance, assess budgets and forecasts, and help managers to respond rapidly to changing business conditions.
Comparing results to best practice
This cloud-based software analyses five year historic and future income statement and balance sheet data, with an option for a further five years, should the need arise. Once the basic data has been imported, AnalystView applies a sequential process of tests similar to those carried out by a specialist physician. The software enables analysis of multiple companies and scenarios, and is most applicable to companies operating in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
AnalystView’s evaluates the 12 major areas of performance and risk found in any business. Each test compares the company’s results against best practice benchmarks and highlights areas of non-performance. Companies also have the option to set their own targets for each test and the software will automatically highlight where these targets are not met, reached or exceeded.
The results of the 66 tests are presented graphically under the key headings of profitability, asset efficiency, leverage and gearing, liquidity, shareholder value, growth and risk, solvency, value creation and productivity.
Trend analysis
Each graph shows a year-on-year trend analysis, a comparison of performance against researched benchmarks, an explanation of the purpose of the test and the logic behind the calculation. The software thus provides an audit trail with an intelligent commentary on the information contained in each graph, with objective diagnosis and interpretation of deviations and variations
AnalystView summarises and interprets these results in a series of reports, which assist managers and directors who do not have a financial background, to absorb the information quickly and easily. The “First Impression” report compares major aspects of the current year’s financial performance (for example, expense control or debtor collections) against prior years, with colour highlighting of areas of significant change.
Various tools available
Additional reports show combinations of ratios and direct management attention to specific problem areas. The “Vital Signs” report compares seven critical ratios common to all businesses, against minimum survival standards. The “Blood Test” evaluates and ranks a company’s 5 year performance on each of the 66 ratios, from best to worst years. The “Performance Appraisal” mercilessly reports management’s performance against key strategic and operational criteria. And finally the “Statistical Analysis” report highlights areas of the business that tend to be unstable or go out of control, by identifying those ratios that fluctuate significantly against their five year norm.
Business professionals need responsive analytical tools that provide an objective version of the truth. Different ratios and tests appeal more to certain professions than others: bankers, for example, look at different ratios than those favoured by investors or line managers. This software has been developed to cater for all interests, hence the need for 66 different ratios and seven comprehensive reports, combining key ratios in ways that give additional – and original – insight.
A worldwide search identified a number of software packages that calculate the basic ratios found in university textbooks, but no package that tests every aspect of business performance and risk, interprets the results, and presents the information using charts in colour graphics. As such, John Stretch, in partnership with Karabina, created the Analystview software to meet these needs.