Features

Importing Features

Importing in existing spreadsheet models, charts of accounts and actual information, saves you time while also making it easier to change from your existing forecasting methods to WinForecast.

Multi Year Forecasting

Have up to 99 years in a single file to allow data changes in earlier years to automatically flow through to later years, with your reports & graphs covering part or all of the multi year period.

Special year-on-year reports & graphs are available, giving you the ability to quickly view how well you have done this year compared to the previous year.

Consolidation

Do you have difficulty trying to consolidate figures in your spreadsheets or existing forecasting models?

WinForecast enables you to consolidate an unlimited number of forecasts. It can be multi-level, multi departmental, multi-company, multi-currency and with minority interests, to suit different company structures.

Eliminations can be made for inter-company sales, purchases, loans, asset transfers, dividends, and shareholdings, with reports to support the elimination amounts so you know exactly what records and amounts have been eliminated from your reports.

Recalculations can be made to Bank Interest, Provisions, Tax, Dividends, and Capital Position after consolidation to give you more control at the consolidated level.

Network

If you need more than one person to have access to WinForecast, licencing for network and multi user networks can be purchased.

Report Generator

Click here to see a PDF EXAMPLE

By using the report generator, business plans and reports can be created efficiently, as this Word for Windows template enables you to include automatically updated graphs, data and reports from WinForecast forecasts directly into the document.

* Requires a minimum of Word 97 to be installed

Support

To assist you with your new software you have unlimited free access to WinForecast helplines, staffed by accountants and technical experts, for 12 months (Sage cover included with purchase) after your initial purchase.

Specific support questions relating to a specific forecast build may be chargeable.

We specialise in building forecasts and training.

Active Drilldown ™

Just double click on figures in the reports to analyse them in more or less detail allowing you the option to create reports with as much or as little information as needed.

Make changes to the underlining figures by double clicking again and let them automatically flow back through to the updated report.

Customisable

Add your own simple or complex formulas to any report allowing you to highlight specific key information or financial ratios, for example price per unit.

Don't like a default name for a record? Just rename them through this customising feature ie WinForecast will set up the record "Accounts Receivable", when you may prefer "Debtors".

Profit & Loss /Cash Flow /Balance Sheet

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

The P&L, Cashflow and Balance Sheet can all be shown in summary, standard and detailed formats on a monthly, quarterly, yearly, customised basis or with mixed rounding (nearest 0.1 or 1 thousand) option enabling you to customise the layout to suit your requirements.

Funds Flow

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

The funds flow shows total Cash Inflow into the business making it a good report for reconciling your cash balances. For example; - if you have a fantastic P &L for a particular month and the Balance Sheet does not look too good, you can use the Funds Flow to identify where the money has gone, such as paying off a large creditor or the purchase of a new asset.

Ratio & Statistics

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

WinForecast provides an initial set of figures for many common ratios to which you can add your own Key Performance Indicators, giving you a very useful report for basing financial decisions on.

Assumptions & Parameters

Assumptions you have made in your forecast are outlined for you in summary format – another report to add into your growing set of supporting forecast information.

Schedules

Schedules provide you with an "audit type" trail of information. These are very useful for supporting your forecast reports.

For forecasts, the schedules are:

Input Data Report: This can be used in cases whereby the forecast is passed on. The new person is assisted by the comprehensive schedule of how each record has been set up and its underlying assumptions.
Employee Schedule: If you are using the Wages List, this schedule shows the details of each employee entered, allowing you to see the underlying data for totals displayed in reports for wages, group tax/super.
Non-Current Asset Schedule: Similar to a fixed asset register outlining the depreciation schedule for all assets, giving you a single report to keep track of new & existing assets.
Loan Schedules: Shows the capital and interest for all loans received and made in the forecast creating a summary of loans for you to use as a reconciling or supporting document.
GST Schedule: Outlines the movements in the GST accounts each month so you can keep track of how much GST you are collecting, paying and the closing balance.
NPV Schedule: Need to decide whether to purchase an asset outright or through financing? You can request WinForecast to calculate the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forecast or consolidation based on the Economic Value Added model. The calculation can span some or all of the forecast period. You can specify the discount rate to apply and have a number of options for the residual value of the cash flow.

For consolidations, the additional Schedules are:

Details of Recalculations: If you recalculate figures at the consolidated level, this report will let you know exactly what you have done just in case you don’t remember!
P & L Contribution Schedule: Shows you how much is contributed to each record by each forecast or consolidation in the Profit & Loss Report at the consolidated level, allowing you to identify if a particular division is falling behind other divisions in financial performance.

Variance Reports (Actuals Vs Budgets)

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

Once actuals have been entered into a forecast, Variance Reports are available for Profit and Loss, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet and Funds Flow. These reports show actuals, budget, variances and variance percentage (optional), for any two of; month, quarter-to-date or year-to-date representing any major discrepancies from budget to actual, helping to indicate areas that may need to be re-forecasted in the future.

Original Budget Reports/Revised Budget Reports

As you continue to enter in actuals, you can update future projections to a revised budget, ensuring that you keep your original budget fixed. That way you can view variances and budget reports for your revised or your original budget.

Graphs

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

Produce presentations with graphical reference to your financial information easily through the graphing option in WinForecast.

A wide range of graph types are available, with the ability to include up to 14 records per graph. You can graph by Month, Quarter or Year. Pie chart analysis of contributions to heading or sub-heading over specified period can also be created.

Trends, can be inserted to compare your company's performance against your industry standards as an example.

Year on Year Reports

Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE

Like to know how well your company performed this year compared with the previous year? Profit & Loss, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet and Funds Flow year on year reports compare any two of; month, quarter-to-date or year-to-date for the specified year to the previous year with the option to show percentages

Consolidated Reports

As well as the consolidated Profit & Loss, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet, Funds Flow and Ratios & Statistics reports, Non-Current Asset, Loan and NPV schedules, Variance and Budget reports, several other useful reports are available with consolidations. These include:

Summary Profit & Loss Report: Can be used as a contribution summary when departmental or product line budgets are consolidated. Click here for a PDF EXAMPLE
Details of Files Report: Gives the file path and date/time stamp, the headings, the currency and exchange rate of the filesin the consolidation so you know exactly what, where and how files have been included in your consolidation.
Elimination Reports: When you have selected records for elimination, three Elimination Reports are accessible, showing the effects of the eliminations on the Profit & Loss, Cash Flow and Balance Sheet. These reports can be used to identify where eliminations do not balance and for audit purposes.

General

WinForecast is compatible with Windows 98/ME, Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista
The maximum data size in WinForecast is 999,999,999
You can have up to 5 Departments/Profit Centres in P & L (unlimited with the Consolidation option) allowing you to show different gross profit amounts on your Profit & Loss Statement.
With a collapsible/expandable record list, move easily about your chart of accounts from the main data entry screen of WinForecast.
You are effectively unlimited by the number of records you can create in WinForecast, larger forecasts may do better with more RAM
You can split your records to include sub-totals with any number of sub-items, giving you the option to show more or less details on your reports as required.
Save time by using any existing forecasts as a template for a new forecast, which will provide all the records and options, with only the new figures needing to be entered. Templates are useful when setting up Consolidations as it ensures that the same accounts will be correctly consolidation together.
Setting up spreadsheet Hot Links will automatically update your forecast with the latest saved spreadsheet data, giving you a permanent link between them.
If you need to work with different currencies, exchange rates can be applied to your Sales, Costs, Investment Income, Current Assets/Liabilities and Non Current Assets
You have the ability to enter your Opening Balance Sheet at any month. For example if you were starting the forecast part way through your financial year, you can have your first data month be specified as a future month.

Record Types

In WinForecast there are 27 different types of records to choose from including Wages, Stock, Non Current Assets and Loans.

Wages: Can be one of the biggest costs to any business, therefore it’s important to project them as accurately as possible. WinForecast has the option to enter Employees individually and have their group tax and super automatically calculating.
Stock Management: Can easily be entered through the powerful WinForecast feature of having linked stockrooms with multiple sources and uses.
Non Current Assets: Allow users to enter in all information to do with your Non Current Assets, such as the depreciation method you use, any sales/purchases of assets, and any gains/losses on the sale of assets as well as any financing relating to existing and future assets.
Loans: Can be entered in on a calculated basis when all your terms are known, or on a manual entry type loan when they are not.

GST

Since the introduction of GST into Australia, it has become more important to correctly project your cashflow to ensure that you have enough funds to firstly pay off existing creditors etc but also to make any necessary payments to the tax office.

WinForecast allows you to nominate whether or not particular records are to be GST exempt or applicable, and there is no limit to the number of different rates that can be created.

Accrual & Cash Method Schemes are available as well as being able to nominate whether you will be making monthly or quarterly payments or the flexibility to manually key in a payment schedule that is applicable.

Data Specification Options

There are numerous ways to enter in data into your records such as units with a price per unit, as a percentage of other records, manual entry, employee lists, depreciation methods and many more, making WinForecast a flexible solution for your forecasting requirements.

If you can't find a data entry method to suit your requirements, WinForecast allows you to “Hotlink” out to another source. When that source is updated and changed, WinForecast's information will update accordingly.

Flexing (What If…?)

Flexing is a technique which allows you to investigate various alternative "what if?" scenarios without changing the underlying data of the forecast. You can consolidate flexed forecasts to see the effect at the consolidated level, or use the Consolidation Flex option within a consolidated forecast.

Once you have completed your "what if?" analysis, you can quickly convert the flexed data to be the base forecast data if you require, giving you another method of re-forecasting.

Exporting/Emailing Reports

Send your reports to the appropriate people, who may not have WinForecast, by exporting them into Word/Excel or as an email attachment. The benefit is having your hard work protected from changes that they may want to make.

Evaluation Process

Find you don’t have a lot of time to evaluate WinForecast? Think that having someone show you through the software will help you to decide whether WinForecast will benefit you and your company?

To save you time and to help you evaluate the software more efficiently, the team at WinForecast are available to give you a guided tour of the software over the telephone.

This obligation free tour has been designed to highlight all the features of the software, from set up right through to entering your actual results. It generally takes an hour of your time and is customisable to suit your organisation, making it a great way to achieve an understanding of what WinForecast can do for you.

Onsite demonstrations can be arranged if preferred.

We can set up a company specific template in WinForecast to get you started – just ask us how!

Ordering

Click here to visit the Ordering Page.

To ensure that you order the correct package to suit your requirements, our friendly staff can talk you through the different options you have from what type of configuration you would need, training, support and implementation services.

Once you have placed an order with payment details, we will courier you your software within 3 business days.

Training / Implementation

Eden Computers is more than willing to assist you with training, consulting/implementation services.

We are available on 09 638 8188 or 0274 939017 from Monday to Saturday, 9am - 8pm NZST for all of your WinForecast support queries and available for onsite assistance from Taupo North.

International - remotely +64 274939017 Distance is no problem.

Lower half of the North Island contact Easi Tech (NZ) Ltd.

In Australia contact +64274939017

We are able to provide remote support also.