Cognos Financial Analytics

Overview

Actionable information on your financial performance.

Cognos Financial Analytics, part of Cognos Performance Applications, deliver hundreds of pre-built reports, metrics, and connections to standard data sources to help you understand your financial performance, cash flow, vendor relationships, and more.

Answer key questions such as:

• What are the days sales outstanding (DSO)? How has this changed over time?
• What is the margin for customers, by region?
• How do our profit centers rank? Which has been the most profitable?
• What regions, products, and customers are top contributors to bad debt?
• What money is owed this period? What percentage is past due?
• Which vendors have outstanding invoices? How much money is owed?

With the information found in Cognos Financial Analytics reports and metrics, monitor and report on performance using these key areas:

• Customer credit—understand customer payment patterns, the cost to serve them, and the risk of non-payment in any given period.
• Cash inflow—forecast cash inflow to ensure you have sufficient cash to cover purchases, expenses, financing, and operations.
• Key financial ratios—analyze leverage, liquidity, and profitability to provide an accurate picture of your current financial standing. Compare current performance to past results.
• Financial performance—monitor, manage and communicate financial performance through income statements and balance sheets.
• Vendor accounts—analyze vendor payment history and share results with procurement and inventory. Use as a basis for cash outflow forecasting and managing vendor relationships.

Cognos Financial Analytics draws on these three modules:

• Accounts Receivable Analysis—reports and metrics covering customer credit, cash inflow, organizational effectiveness, and shipping performance.
• General Ledger—reports and metrics covering profit centers, overall income, financial ratios, operational performance, and account balances.
• Accounts Payable—reports and metrics covering cash outflow, supplier relationships, discounts, terms of payment, and overdue accounts.