General Ledger

Overview

Understanding general ledger as part of Financial Analytics.

The pre-built reports and metrics of the Cognos General Ledger Analysis application give you a better understanding of your key financial metrics, budgets, assets, liabilities, and cash flow. You can:

• Accelerate financial reporting and distribution cycles.
• Provide timely access to financial information.
• Identify profitability issues and opportunities.
• Identify shifts in expenses and revenues over time.

Cognos Production Analysis gives you more than 100 key performance indicators and more than 25 reports. These metrics and reports are grouped in four key areas of analysis, answering a variety of business questions:

• Financial Performance
  • What are our revenues, expenses, and net income so far this period? How does this compare to the same time last period?
  • How does this year's revenue per quarter compare to last year's?
• Budget
  • Is our overall actual income in line with projected income?
  • Which business units show the largest income statement variances? Which departments? Where are the variances largest?
  • Which account types have contributed the most to over-budget variances?
• Key Financial Ratios
  • How does company liquidity look in the quick ratio or acid test?
  • What has been our fixed asset turnover this quarter? How does that compare to industry standards?
  • What was our debt-to-asset ratio last month? How does it compare to the same month last year?
• Operational Performance
  • How does income vary among the legal entities over time? How do the balance sheets compare? Which legal entity has the best cash flow?
  • How do profit centers rank? Which have been the most/least profitable?
  • What is the income for each account group and account, and what is the final balance