This feature is included with Fathom Pro - the plan with access to all of Fathom's features. Companies on Portfolio can be upgraded to Fathom Pro at any time.

What are targets?

Targets tend to be aspirational goals, while budgets are usually based on the expected outcome. You can compare financial metric performance against budgets and targets in the Analysis tools and custom Pro reports.

The unit of measure (%, $, days, etc.) for a target is defined by the KPI that you are applying it to.

Where do the default targets come from?

The default targets for financial KPIs are arbitrary and not based on the imported financial data. They are meant to be changed and tailored to your business.

When non-financial KPI results are first imported for a company, Fathom will set the default targets to be the average of the results. Updating the non-financial KPI results will not recalculate the target.

The default targets for non-financial KPIs and other custom KPIs in a consolidated group will be set to '0' for all. For more details, view our dedicated help article on setting targets in a consolidated group.

How to set targets in Fathom

You can make changes to the Targets you’re tracking in Fathom from a Fathom Pro company’s Settings at any time.

Access the Settings by selecting the Cog/Gear icon for the company from the My Companies page. If you have several companies imported into Fathom, you’ll need to hover over a company to reveal the Cog/Gear icon.

The settings for your Targets flow through to the Pro Reports and Analysis areas of Fathom.

We suggest the following workflow for setting targets in Fathom:

Decide if you want to use the budget to set any of your financial targets.
Determine if you want to set constant or variable targets.

Use the budget to set targets

For financial metrics, you can use the budget you have imported into Fathom to set targets. This is useful if you do not want to have targets that are more aspirational than your budget.

To use the budget as a target:

Go to the company’s Settings and click Targets on the left sidebar.
In the ‘Use budget’ column, click the toggle to turn budget targets on or off.

You may not see the option to use the budget as the target if:

You are viewing variable targets; to access the toggle option, click on the target name.

You have not imported a budget for your company into Fathom.

The metric includes non-financial data or data that falls outside the budget. For example, if your budget data only includes the Profit and Loss or Income statement, then it is not possible to use this budget data to calculate KPIs that are dependent on balance sheet values.

Constant or variable targets

Constant targets will have the same target value each month. Variable targets can have a different value for each monthly period.

In the upper right corner of the Targets settings, you can click the bolded text to choose between using constant or variable targets.

Set constant targets

To enter constant targets:

Click on the target value(s)
Type in a new target for each metric
Click Save

Set variable targets

With variable targets, you can include seasonality or expected performance differences across periods in your targets.

To set variable targets:

Choose the financial year you’re setting targets for in the upper right corner
1. You can set targets for one financial year at a time. You must save before setting targets for another financial year.
Click on a cell. You have the options to:
1. Manually type in a target. Use the ‘Tab’ key to move to the next cell.
2. Click the arrow icon to:
  1. Apply the same target to every month going forward
  2. Copy the existing target to every month going forward
  3. Adjust by a percentage amount each month
  4. Adjust by a constant amount each month
Save your changes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set constant targets for some metrics and variable targets for others?

Yes. If you are using variable targets, you can set the same target value month after month for some targets.

Click on a cell.
Click the arrow icon.
Copy the existing target to every month going forward.
Save your changes.

Can I set annual targets instead of monthly targets?

For most targets, you can only set monthly amounts. Fathom will automatically calculate the target for each quarter (or QTD period) and year (or YTD period) based on the KPI’s aggregation type.

You can set annual growth rate targets for the following metrics:

Revenue Growth
COS Change
Expense Change
Gross Profit Growth
Operating Profit Growth
EBIT Growth
Net Income Growth
Asset Change
Net Debt Change
Equity Change

To view or set annual growth targets for these metrics:

Click the Options icon (Three stacked lines with dots) in the upper right corner of the Target settings.
Toggle on ‘Annual growth rates’

The targets for those metrics will display the annual target values. If you are setting variable targets, you can set an annual percentage change for the growth rates of those metrics.

Can I copy targets from another company?

Yes. You can use the 'Copy Settings' option to copy targets from another company or group. Learn more from our 'Can I copy the settings between companies or groups?' article.

Next steps

Congratulations on setting up targets for your company!

Any decisions you made while setting up your targets in Fathom can be changed at any time, if needed. Continue the 'Get Started Workflow' and finish setting up your company for analysis, reporting, and forecasting by choosing from one of the next steps below:

What you want to do:	Final step in the setup process:
Happy with your targets and ready to set up alerts?	Set Alerts

Learn more