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.

How to audit your forecast

Forecasts are only valuable if you're confident in the numbers. Fathom enables you to audit your forecast for full transparency in the calculations.

When auditing your forecast, ensure you are viewing your main forecast or the scenario you want to audit. If a scenario is active, its name will be displayed in the upper-right corner of the forecast.

The tools available to check your forecast calculations depend on the area of the forecast you're auditing.

For clarity around your forecast values, you can audit the:

Profit & Loss
Balance Sheet
Cash Flow Statement
Microforecasts
Driver values

If you want a document showing all of the rules used to calculate your baseline forecast and the assumptions you made, you can download the Forecast Value Audit report.

💡Smart Tip: To make auditing your forecast easier later on, we suggest documenting the assumptions you make while forecasting.

Audit your Profit & Loss Forecast

When viewing your Profit & Loss in the forecasting tool, you can see the breakdown of an account's baseline values and microforecast values.

If you have microforecasts active on the account, you can click on the Microscope icon next to the account name to reveal the baseline values and the microforecast values. You can determine how microforecast values are calculated separately from the baseline values.

If no microforecasts are active on the account, then you will not have a breakdown, as the account's values will only consist of the baseline values.

Audit a Profit & Loss account's baseline values

How you audit a Profit & Loss account's forecast values depends on the account's classification:

Revenue, Cost of Sales (COGS), and Expense accounts
Interest Expense, Interest Revenue, Depreciation/Amortisation accounts
Tax Expense accounts

💡Smart Tip: You can also audit a microforecast's values.

Audit Revenue, Cost of Sales, and Expense forecast values

Accounts classified as Revenue, Cost of Sales, and Expense accounts are calculated with value rules.

You can view all of the value rules used to calculate the baseline values of a Profit & Loss account:

Click on the account name.
In the menu on the right, select Rule Timeline.
In the Baseline Value Rules section, you can see a timeline of all the rules used to calculate the Baseline values.
Hover over a rule to see which periods it calculates. The periods using the rule will be light green.
Click the Three dots icon for a rule to edit, delete, or create a new value rule.
1. Direct entries can only be deleted; they cannot be edited.
  
  💡Smart Tip: For Formula rules, clicking the option to edit the value rule will allow you to better see the formula.

The value rules will be listed in timeline order, with those used to calculate the beginning values of the forecast listed first.

A Formula value rule can reference Profit & Loss classifications, headings, accounts, and driver values.

You can easily view the values for Profit & Loss line items on the Profit & Loss in your forecast. If prior periods are referenced, you're able to view up to 12 months of actuals in the forecasting tool. Actual or historical periods are highlighted in light grey.

You can also determine how driver values are calculated.

Audit Interest, Depreciation, and Amortisation forecast values

Accounts classified as Interest Revenue, Interest Expense, Depreciation, and Amortisation are connected to Balance Sheet accounts. Their forecast values are calculated with schedules and journals.

You can determine the schedules and journals used to calculate an account's forecast values:

Click on a cell for the account.
In the right-side menu, click the Magnifying Glass icon. For each period, you will see:
1. The Opening Balance
2. Movements impacting the account
3. The Closing Balance
Click on a cell for one of the movements.
In the right-side menu, you'll see the journal or schedule used to calculate the value. Click the Three dots icon to edit, delete, or create a new schedule or journal.

Audit Tax Expense accounts

Accounts classified as Tax Expense accounts (e.g. Corporate Income Tax) are forecast according to the Tax Settings.

You can determine the formula used to calculate the value of a Tax Expense:

Click on a cell for the account
In the right-side menu, you'll see the formula used to calculate the tax expense value.
To edit this formula, you'll need to click Manage in Tax Settings.

Learn more about the settings for Tax Expenses from our 'Forecast Tax Expense Accounts' article.

Audit your Balance Sheet Forecast

When viewing your Balance Sheet in the forecasting tool, you can see the breakdown of an account's baseline values and microforecast values.

If no microforecasts are active on the account, then you will not have a breakdown, as the account's values will only consist of the baseline values.

💡Smart Tip: You can also audit a microforecast's values.

Audit a Balance Sheet account's baseline values

You can audit a Balance Sheet account's baseline forecast values by viewing the Balance Sheet Layer Detail:

Click on a cell for the Balance Sheet account.
In the right-side menu, click the Magnifying Glass icon. For each period, you will see:
1. The Opening Balance
2. Profit & Loss movements impacting the account
3. Schedules & journals impacting the account
4. The Closing Balance

💡Smart Tip: You can include the Balance Sheet Layer Detail view as a table in a Pro report.

Profit & Loss movements impacting the account

Timing profiles and account linkages determine the Profit & Loss amounts that impact a Balance Sheet account.

To see the timing profile that calculates the Balance Sheet movement:

From the Balance Sheet Layer Detail, click on a cell for a Profit & Loss movement.
In the right-side menu, hover over one of the values.
Click the Eye icon. This will open the Cash Timing Preview, which will show a visual of the timing profile used to calculate the movement.
Click the grey Link icon to go to the Profit & Loss account the movement is based on.
Click on the name of the account on the Profit & Loss.
If the amount of the Balance Sheet movement seems incorrect, the timing profile may need to be edited:
1. In the right-side menu, select Timeline.
2. In the Timing Profiles section, you can see a timeline of all the rules used to calculate the baseline values of the Profit & Loss movements on the Balance Sheet.
3. Hover over a rule to see which periods it calculates. The periods using the rule will be light green.
4. Click the Three dots icon for a rule to edit, delete, or create a new timing profile.
If the amount of the Balance Sheet movement seems correct, but the amount should be impacting a different Balance Sheet account, the account linkages may need to be edited:
1. In the right-side menu, select Settings.
2. In the Balance Sheet Linkages section, you can see the Balance Sheet accounts impacted by the Profit & Loss account.
3. Use the drop-down menu to select a different Balance Sheet account.

For more detailed information about timing profiles and account linkages, see our 'Forecast AR, AP, Unearned Revenue, Prepayments & Cash' article.

Schedules & journals impacting the account

Balance Sheet movements from:

Other Balance Sheet accounts
Interest Revenue or Interest Expense accounts on the Profit & Loss
Depreciation & Amortisation accounts on the Profit & Loss
Tax calculations

are determined by schedules & journals.

To see the schedule or journal that calculates the Balance Sheet movement:

From the Balance Sheet Layer Detail, click on a cell for a Schedule or Journal movement.
In the right-side menu, you can see the schedule or journal used to calculate the amount.
1. For a schedule, you can click the Three Dots icon to edit or delete the schedule.
2. For a journal, you can click Edit journal to edit the journal. You can delete a journal from the Balance Sheet Layer Detail by clicking the Three Dots icon next to the journal name.
3. For a System journal, you will need to manage edits in the Forecast Settings. You'll see this option in the right-side menu.

Learn more details about the following:

Audit your Cash Flow Statement Forecast

Fathom uses the indirect method to calculate the Cash Flow Statement. Therefore, the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet movements in the forecast will be used to determine the Cash Flow Statement forecast values.

If your Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet account classifications and forecast figures are correct, then your Cash Flow Statement should be correct.

If you want to determine how the forecast figures for a specific Cash account on your Balance Sheet, then go through the workflow for auditing a Balance Sheet account.

Audit Microforecast values

Microforecast values can be audited from within a microforecast. To open a microforecast:

Click the account with the microforecast on the main grid.
1. You can also open the microforecast from the Microforecast menu, accessible via the Telescope icon on the left sidebar.
Click the microforecast's name.
Click on the cell of an account in the microforecast. You may need to select Edit in the top right of the microforecast if you're viewing a scenario.
Depending on the account, you can see the value rule(s), timing profile, schedule(s), or journal(s) used to calculate the account.
1. For Balance Sheet accounts, the account will expand to display a breakdown similar to the Balance Sheet Layer Detail.

It's important to note that values in a microforecast are based on other microforecast values or drivers. Values from the baseline will not impact a microforecast.

Example: A Formula value rule is used to calculate a Revenue account in a microforecast. The value rule formula references an Expense account as a variable.

Only the microforecast values of that Expense account will be used to calculate the microforecast values for the Revenue account.

Audit Driver values

Driver values can be viewed from the Drivers tab in your forecast. Driver values can differ between your main forecast and a scenario.

To determine how a driver is calculated:

On the Drivers grid, click the driver name.
In the right-side menu, you can see the value rule timeline for the driver.
1. Driver values entered manually in the grid or imported from Excel will be listed as Direct Entries.
Hover over a rule to see which periods it calculates. The periods using the rule will be light green.
Click the Three Dots icon for a rule to edit, delete, or create a new value rule.
1. Direct entries can only be deleted; they cannot be edited. To change a direct entry value, you can type into the cell for the period or import new values from Excel.

Drivers calculated with a formula can reference other drivers as variables. They cannot reference classifications, headings, or accounts from the Chart of Accounts.

Learn more about importing and calculating drivers from our 'Create Forecast Drivers' article.

Forecast Value Audit report

The ‘Forecast Value Audit’ report is a downloadable Excel document and is a complete listing of all of the value rules, timing profiles, schedules, journals, drivers, and notes impacting a forecast's baseline.

To access the Forecast Value Audit report:

From the main forecast grid, select the Cog/Gear icon in the lower left corner to open the Forecast Settings.
Under the General tab, you’ll see a Downloads section.
Select the Forecast Value Audit option.
Choose to download all or some of the following:
1. Value rules
2. Timing profiles
3. Schedules and journals
4. Drivers
5. All notes
  
  ❗Notice: This includes every note made in the forecast, not only those selected to be included in the Assumptions report.
Select the date range.
Select Download Excel.

The report will download with each of the selected options listed on its own sheet in the Excel document. For example, if you selected to download the value rules, timing profiles, and drivers, then the P&L value rules would be listed on the first sheet, the timing profiles on the second sheet, and the drivers on the third sheet.

📝 Note: The value audit report will only include custom journals. System journals can be seen in the Adjustments section of the Settings.

Next steps

What you want to do:	Where to go:
Report on your forecast	Report on your Forecast
Share your reports with others or enable them to comment on reports	Share and collaborate on reports

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Audit your Forecast