The challenge
The CFO and finance team relied on manual accounting-data extracts, spreadsheet lookups, and repeated manipulation to prepare corporate financial reporting. They needed a reporting capability that could refresh accounting data automatically, incorporate budgets and multiple forecasts, and accommodate changing account groupings.
My contribution
I evaluated integration and reporting options, selected the solution, and personally implemented the core financial reporting stack. The work covered data connectivity, modelling, reporting, permissions, documentation, training, and handover.
The approach
Acterys extracted Xero accounting data into Azure SQL Server, providing a structured source for Power BI. I incorporated budget and forecast inputs, configured flexible account mappings, and implemented Zebra BI financial visuals. The reporting supported actuals, budgets, multiple forecasts, and prior-year comparisons, with breakdowns by department and other relevant dimensions. Scheduled nightly refresh and on-demand refresh kept the reporting data up to date.
Implementation
The core implementation took approximately six weeks. I configured the reporting environment and trained the CFO, finance team, and a BI support resource to use and maintain the solution.
Results
The finance team gained a shared corporate financial reporting capability that replaced manual file-based preparation with automated data retrieval and refresh. Flexible mappings allowed reporting categories to evolve as requirements changed, while integrated budget and forecast data supported broader financial analysis.