Contents:

Reporting on a forecast

Once you’ve created your forecast in Fathom, you’re then able to integrate it (and any scenarios) into your custom reports and management packs to incorporate future looking data with the actuals flowing through from your source system.

The additional forecasting components include,

Forecast financial statements
Forecasting tables
Forecasting charts
Predefined report templates

Tables & Financial Statements

The tables & financials section of the report editor allows you to:

Add forecast financial statements to your custom reports
Add forecasting specific tables to your custom reports

Financial Trends Tables

The Financial Trends tables in Fathom have been outfitted with additional capabilities for reporting on your main forecast and scenarios. You can add a table showing up to 12 months of actuals, forecast (main or scenarios), or budget data to a report. You can also combine up to 12 months of your actuals and your forecast or your actuals and your budget in a Financial Trends table.

To add forecast or budget values to a financial trends table from within a Fathom report:

Hover over the table and click on the green ‘Pencil’ icon in the upper right corner of the table
In the ‘Columns’ section of the ‘Properties’ menu that opens, select to show ‘Actuals’, ‘Forecast’, or ‘Budget’. If you choose ‘Forecast’, you can choose between your main forecast or your scenarios in the ‘Projection’ drop down. If you chose ‘Budget’, you can choose the Current, Next, or 3rd financial year of your budget if the budget data have been imported into Fathom in ‘Step 1 - Update Data’.
To show actuals and forecast or actuals and budget values in the same trends table, you’ll need to select ‘Actuals’ and then choose the forecast/scenario/budget in the ‘Projection’ drop down menu.

💡Pro Tip: We suggest changing the page orientation to 'landscape' when adding a financial trends table to your report for the best spacing. To change from portrait to landscape mode, hover over the section title and the option will appear on the right.

💡Pro Tip: If you check the ‘Allow report viewers to export to Excel’ option in the table’s ‘Properties’ menu, then anyone viewing the report will be able to download the table to Excel.

KPI Trends Tables

The KPI Trends tables enable you to add a table showing up to 12 months of actuals, forecast (main or scenarios), budget, or target data to a report. You can also combine up to 12 months of your actuals and your forecast, budget, or target in a KPI Trends table.

To add forecast values to a KPI trends table from within a Fathom report:

Hover over the table and click on the green ‘Pencil’ icon in the upper right corner of the table
In the ‘Columns’ section of the ‘Properties’ menu that opens, select to show ‘Actuals’ or ‘Forecast’. If you choose ‘Forecast’, you can choose between your main forecast or your scenarios in the ‘Projection’ drop down.
To show actuals and forecast or actuals and budget values in the same trends table, you’ll need to select ‘Actuals’ and then choose the forecast/scenario/budget in the ‘Projection’ drop down menu.

❗Note: Non-financial KPIs will not display projected results or results beyond the actuals.

Forecasting tables

Several new tables have also been added to Fathom reports specifically for reporting on your forecast, microforecasts, and assumptions you’ve made when building your forecast.

To access these new tables,

Select ‘Tables and Financials’ in the left-side navigation bar in a Fathom report.
Click on the second bolded word option at the top of the menu that opens.
Choose ‘Forecasting from the drop down menu.

Here is a detailed list of the forecasting tables available, with links to screen recordings showing the customisation and editing options for each table type:

Type of table	Data presented in the table	Screen recording detailing the customisation options
‘This Year’ or ‘Next Year’	Display this year’s or next year’s forecast for any classification, heading, or account from the P&L or Balance Sheet, including values from microforecasts contributing to the account.	📽️ This Year or Next Year Recording
Assumptions	Displays any P&L, Balance Sheet, microforecast, and drivers notes that have been selected to be included in the Assumptions report. A tax summary can also be displayed.	📽️ Assumptions Recording
Drivers Grid	Displays the values for all drivers or a specific category of drivers for the main forecast or any scenario to report on any non-financial metrics or data outside of the Chart of Accounts that underpin the forecast values	📽️ Drivers Grid Recording
Balance Sheet layer detail	View the opening balance, all impacts, and the closing balance for any classification, heading, or account on the Balance Sheet. Impacts from the P&L, journals, schedules, and/or microforecasts can be displayed to show how forecast values for an account were calculated.	📽️ Balance Sheet layer detail Recording
Microforecast	Select a microforecast and view all of the financial impacts of that microforecast for a selected date range.	📽️ Microforecast table Recording

Charts

The report editor allows you to add charts to your reports that:

Compare forecast results for a metric across multiple scenarios
Compare forecast results across multiple metrics
Display your planned microforecasts in your business roadmap

Scenario Comparison Charts

The scenario comparison charts allow you to easily compare one metric across as many as 6 scenarios.

To add a scenario comparison chart to your report:

From the ‘Charts’ area of the content library, use the bolded filter to navigate to the ‘Forecasting’ options.
Select one of the trend chart options to add it to your report.
Once the chart has been added to the report, you can hover over it and select the green 'Pencil' icon in the top right corner of the chart to edit it. The editing options for the chart include:
- Selecting a different metric to compare across scenarios
- Choosing the scenarios to compare
- Changing the trend line colors
- Selecting the results frequency (month, quarter, year)
- Changing the date range

Trend Projection Charts

In addition to the scenario comparison trend charts, some of the existing Trend Charts in Fathom reporting have been given new capabilities for forecast reporting. Once you have added a trend chart from the ‘Charts’ section of the content library, you can edit the chart to display a projection of your forecast or one of your scenarios.

To add a forecast projection to a trend chart:

Hover over the chart and click the green ‘Pencil’ icon in the upper right corner of the chart
In the ‘Properties’ menu that opens, click the ‘three dot’ icon next to the metric you want to show a projection for
From the drop down menu, choose ‘Advanced settings’
Scroll down to the ‘Projection’ section and check the box to ‘Show a future projection’
Select ‘Forecast’
From the drop down menu, choose to display the metric’s projected trend for your main forecast or one of your scenarios

Business Roadmap Chart

From the 'Forecasting' charts section, you can also select to include your Business Roadmap in your reports. You can select the roadmap for your main forecast or for your scenario views.

To add a Business Roadmap chart to your report:

Select 'Charts' for the left-side content library in the report editor
Click on the bolded word at the top of the menu that opens to reveal a drop down menu
Select 'Forecasting'
Select the 'Business Roadmap' chart

Once added you can hover over the chart and click the green ‘Pencil’ icon in the upper right corner of the chart to open the ‘Properties’ menu. From this menu, you can filter the chart to view only one of your categories on the Business roadmap and select the date range to view.

There are two additional options which allows you to highlight the current period with a light gray, and show the primary quick metric set up in your forecast.

❗Note: To change the primary metric displaying on the Business Roadmap, you’ll need to edit your Quick Metrics bar in the ‘Forecast’ section of Fathom.

❗Note: To change the colors of the microforecast bars in the Business Roadmap chart, you’ll need to edit the microforecast categories in the ‘Forecast’ section of Fathom.

Predefined Report Templates

If you prefer to build from or use a Predefined Template for your reporting needs, there are the 'Forecast Analysis' and 'Advanced Forecast Analysis' templates.

To access this template:

Go to the 'Report Centre' for the company by clicking 'Reports'
From the left side menu, select 'Predefined' under the green ‘Templates’ heading
Scroll down to the 'Forecast Analysis' or 'Advanced Forecast Anlysis' report and hover over it
Select the 'Create Report' option that appears to the right of the report name
Choose to create the report as a 'Draft' or 'Published' report in the menu that opens.
Choose the reporting period, acknowledge the warning, and select 'Create Report'
Depending on the option you chose, you will be taken to your 'Draft' or 'Published' reports where you can hover over the report and select to 'Edit' the draft report or 'View' the published report

The 'Forecast Analysis' report includes the following reporting components:

A ‘Cash Flow Analysis’ section with forecasted 'Cash Flow', 'Cash v Receivables', and 'Profit v Cash Flow' charts
Trend projection charts displaying 'Revenue v Expenses', 'Fixed v Variable Expenses', and 'Cash on Hand' trends for the forecast
A rolling 12 month forecast P&L
Actuals and forecast financial statements for the current financial year, including the Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
An ‘Assumptions’ section with detailing the forecast assumptions and any adjustments made to the company's actuals

The ‘Advanced Forecast Analysis’ report includes all of the above reporting components and:

A ‘Business Roadmap’ chart displaying all of the microforecasts planned for the current financial year
A ‘Microforecast’ table displaying the values for a microforecast for the current financial year
Two ‘This Year’ tables showing the values for ‘Revenue’ and ‘Cost of Sales’ classifications, including any microforecast contributions, for the current financial year
A scenario comparison chart forecasting Total Revenue across the main forecast and two scenarios
A P&L with actual and forecast quarterly totals for the financial year
A P&L with 2 years of actuals and 3 years of yearly forecast totals
A ‘Balance Sheet layer detail’ table displaying the monthly forecast opening values, all impacts on the Balance Sheet account from P&L movements, journals, & schedules, and the closing values for the main cash account across the next 6 months

Next steps

Congratulations on completing the 'Forecast Creation & Setup Workflow'! If you want to change any of the decisions you made while setting up your forecast or customising your report, simply return to the appropriate area in the Forecasting tool or Report Centre.

What you want to do:	Where to go next:
Share your reports with others or enable them to comment on reports	Share and collaborate on reports
Invite others into your Fathom account to share insights	Invite a new user into Fathom
Audit the forecast you've created to ensure everything is set up and calculating as desired	Auditing a Fathom Forecast
Analyse the company's performance with the Analysis tools	Analysis Tools
Ready to consolidate your companies in Fathom or Benchmark them?	Consolidations & Benchmarking
Need to add another company to your Fathom account?	Adding a company to Fathom