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Report on your Forecast

Create a custom report to share your forecast

Updated over a week ago

Pro Reports are included with Fathom Pro - the plan with access to all of Fathom's features. Companies on Portfolio can generate Summary Reports. They can also be upgraded to Fathom Pro at any time.

Report 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 forecast reporting components include:

Tables & Financial Statements

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

The Financial Trends tables in Fathom have been outfitted with additional capabilities for reporting on your main forecast and scenarios. You can customise a Financial Trends table to show a financial statement for:

  • Rolling 12-months
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  • Calendar year
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  • Financial year
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  • Custom continuous period

You can customise the table to show actuals, forecast (main or scenarios), or budget data. You can also display a combination of actuals and forecast or actuals and budget data in a Financial Trends table.

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

  1. Hover over the table and click on the green Pencil icon in the upper-right corner of the table
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  2. In the Columns section of the menu that opens, select to show Actuals, Forecast, or Budget.

    1. If you choose Forecast, you can choose between your main forecast or your scenarios in the Projection drop-down.

    2. 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.
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  3. To show actuals and forecast or actuals and budget values in the same Financial Trends table, you’ll need to:

    1. Select Actuals

    2. Choose the forecast/scenario/budget in the Projection drop-down menu.

💡Smart 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.

💡Smart 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 display a combination of actuals, forecast, budget, or target in a KPI Trends table.

You can customise the periods of a KPI Trends table to show:

  • Rolling 12-months

  • Calendar year

  • Financial year

  • Custom continuous period

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

  1. Hover over the table and click on the green Pencil icon in the upper-right corner of the table
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  2. In the Columns section of the menu that opens, select to show Actuals or Forecast.

    1. If you choose Forecast, you can choose between your main forecast or your scenarios in the Projection drop-down.
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  3. To show actuals and forecast or actuals and budget values in the same trends table, you’ll need to:

    1. Select Actuals

    2. Choose the forecast/scenario/budget in the Projection drop-down menu.

💡Smart 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.

💡Smart 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.

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

Forecasting tables

Fathom has several tables specifically for reporting on your forecast, microforecasts, and assumptions you’ve made when building your forecast.

To access these tables,

  1. Select Tables and Financials on the left sidebar in a Fathom report.
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  2. Click on the second bolded word option at the top of the menu that opens.
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  3. Choose Forecasting from the drop-down menu.

Balance Sheet Layer Detail Table

For any classification, heading, or account on the Balance Sheet, display the:

  • Opening balance
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  • All inflows and outflows from the P&L, journals, schedules, and/or microforecasts
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  • Closing balance

This table shows exactly how the forecast balance for any account was calculated.

This Year or Next Year table

Display this year’s or next year’s forecast for any:

  • Classification
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  • Heading
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  • Account from the P&L or Balance Sheet

The table will display baseline values (derived from value rules and timing profiles) and values from any microforecasts.

Microforecasts Table

Select a microforecast and view all of the financial impacts of that microforecast for a selected date range.

Assumptions Table

Displays any P&L, Balance Sheet, microforecast, and driver notes that have been selected to be included in the Assumptions report. A tax summary can also be displayed.

Learn more about documenting and reporting on forecast assumptions from our 'Document your forecast assumptions' article.

Forecast Drivers Table

Displays the values for all drivers or a specific category of drivers for the main forecast or any scenario, reporting on any non-financial metrics or data outside of the Chart of Accounts that underpin the forecast values.

Forecast Charts

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

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:

  1. Select Charts from the left sidebar in the Report Editor.
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  2. Click the second bolded word at the top of the Charts menu and select Forecasting.
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  3. Choose one of the chart options to add it to your report.
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  4. 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:
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    • Select a different metric to compare across scenarios
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    • Choose the scenarios to compare
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    • Change the trend line colours
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    • Select the results frequency (month, quarter, year)
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    • Change the date range

Trend Projection Charts

In addition to the scenario comparison trend charts, Trend Charts have 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.


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To add a forecast projection to a trend chart:

  1. Hover over the chart and click the green Pencil icon in the upper right corner of the chart.
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  2. In the Properties menu that opens, click the Three Dots icon next to the metric for which you want to show a projection.
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  3. From the drop-down menu, choose Advanced settings.
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  4. Scroll down to the Projection section and check the box to ‘Show a future projection’.
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  5. Select Forecast.
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  6. 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:

  1. Select Charts from the left-side content library in the report editor
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  2. Click on the second bolded word at the top of the menu that opens to reveal a drop-down menu
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  3. Select Forecasting
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  4. Select the Business Roadmap
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  5. Once added, you can hover over the chart and click the green Pencil icon in the upper-right corner of the chart to edit it. You can:

    1. Filter the chart to view only one category of microforecasts

    2. Change the date range

    3. Highlight the current period

    4. Show the primary (top) metric on the Quick Metrics bar

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

📝 Note: To change the colours 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:

  1. Go to Reports for the company
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  2. From the left side menu, select Templates form the left sidebar
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  3. Click Predefined
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  4. Hover over the 'Forecast Analysis' or 'Advanced Forecast Analysis' report
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  5. Click the Create Report icon that appears to the far right of the report name
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  6. Choose:

    1. To create the report as a Draft or Published report.

    2. The reporting period

    3. Select Create

The Forecast Analysis report includes the following reporting elements:

  • A Cash Flow Analysis section with forecasted charts showing:

    • Cash Flow

    • Cash & Receivables

    • Profit vs Cash Flow
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  • A Forecast Projection Charts section with trend projection charts displaying:

    • Revenue v Expenses

    • Fixed v Variable Expenses

    • Cash on Hand
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  • A rolling 12-month forecast P&L
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  • Actuals and forecast financial statements for the current financial year, including the Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
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  • An Assumptions section with tables displaying:

The Advanced Forecast Analysis report includes all of the reporting elements in the Forecast Analysis report and:

  • A Business Roadmap chart displaying all of the microforecasts planned for the current financial year
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  • A Microforecasts & Accounts Detail section that includes:
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    • A Microforecast table displaying the values for a microforecast for the current financial year
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    • Two This Year tables showing the values for ‘Revenue’ and ‘Cost of Sales’ classifications, including any microforecast contributions, for the current financial year
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  • A Scenario Analysis section with:
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    • A scenario comparison chart forecasting Total Revenue across the main forecast and two scenarios
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    • A P&L with actual and forecast quarterly totals for a scenario
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  • A Forecast Annual Summary section with:
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    • A P&L with 2 years of actuals and 3 years of yearly forecast totals
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    • A ‘Balance Sheet layer detail’ table displaying the monthly details of the main cash account across the next 6 months

Next steps

🎉 Congratulations on completing the 'Get Started with Forecasting' workflow! 🎉

If you want to change any of the decisions you made while setting up your forecast or customising your report, return to the appropriate area in the Forecasting tool or report.

Learn more

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