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A budget you compare against actuals every month

We review how it is built, who approves it and where actuals come from, before deciding whether an EPM tool is needed.

Take the assessment (9 min)

34 questions, result at the end, free of charge.

Clipboard with a budget chart
6 dimensionsLevel, gaps and first step when you finish

EPM system: definition and use

EPM or CPM (enterprise or corporate performance management) covers budgeting, forecasting, company consolidation and variance analysis against actuals.

Many mid-sized companies handle it with the ERP and a sound process. A dedicated tool is justified by several companies, many contributors or frequent scenarios.

Signs your planning needs attention

  • The budget is built in Excel with links that break
  • Budget-versus-actual arrives late
  • Consolidating several companies is done by hand
  • Intercompany eliminations are calculated outside the system
  • Price, exchange rate or volume scenarios cannot be simulated
  • Each manager presents figures with different assumptions

Who it is for and when it does not fit

A good fit for

  • Groups with several companies that consolidate every month
  • Finance managers who build the budget with linked spreadsheets
  • Boards asking for price, exchange-rate or volume scenarios
  • Companies whose actual-versus-budget arrives late

Not a fit when

  • A single company with a simple annual budget: the ERP’s analytic budget is enough
  • The books do not close on time: the close is fixed first
  • No area owns its budget

Cost of consolidating in spreadsheets

Gathering spreadsheets, checking links and reconciling versions takes days every month. Work out the cost with your own figures.

Example: two management control analysts at S/ 40 an hour. Replace the values with yours.

Hours a month87 h
Cost a monthS/ 3,464
Cost a yearS/ 41,568

The estimate shows what the manual task costs today. It is not a savings promise.

Budget and consolidation cycle

An EPM system takes each area’s assumptions, builds budget versions, approves them and compares the ERP actuals against the current version every month. Consolidation adds up the companies, eliminates transactions between them and converts currencies.

Odoo 20 covers part of it: the Budget Report compares budgeted, committed and achieved amounts by analytic account. It does not replace an EPM for scenarios or consolidation with eliminations.

Budget cycle

  1. Assumptions by area
  2. Approved version
  3. Actual versus budget
  4. Group consolidation
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget Report pivot with committed, budgeted and achieved per line
Odoo 20 Budget ReportReal screenshot of standard Odoo 20, demo instance with test data.
DMG-RT method

The method applied to budgeting and consolidation

Diego Muñoz leads every assessment: process and data first, then the tool, in short phases you approve.

  1. Current cycle

    We walk through the last budget cycle and a management close: who contributes what, in which format and how many days it takes.

  2. Structures and sources

    We review each company’s chart of accounts, cost centres and data sources to see what can be consolidated without adjustments.

  3. ERP or dedicated tool

    Using your requirements we decide whether the ERP is enough or an EPM tool is worth it, and compare two to four options.

  4. Integration and process

    We design the ERP integration and the variance review calendar. If a tool is chosen, its vendor implements it.

See the full method

Deliverables

  • Map of the budget cycle and management close
  • Mapping table of accounts and cost centres across companies
  • ERP-or-tool decision, with three-year total cost
  • Data integration design with the ERP

Prerequisites and outputs

Prerequisites

  • Chart of accounts and cost centres shared by the group companies
  • Timely monthly close in each company
  • Price, volume and exchange-rate assumptions with an owner
  • List of intercompany transactions and their accounts

Outputs: versioned budget, scenarios and actual versus plan

  • Budget versions with their approval
  • Actual versus budget by area and account
  • Consolidated financial statements with eliminations
  • Compared scenarios for the board
Online assessment

Assessment dimensions

This analysis reviews the budget cycle, assumptions, the common structure across companies, the source of actuals, scenarios and variance follow-up. The questions describe how finance and the areas work today, from the budget template to the monthly results meeting.

What you receive

When you finish you receive a level per dimension of your financial planning and the gaps ordered by priority. Each gap states whether to solve it in the ERP or with a planning tool and the first verifiable action.

17 scored questions and 12 context questions (type of operation, size, current system). Context questions are not scored: they let us read the result against similar operations.

Take the assessment (9 min)
  1. Budget cycle and assumptionsIt looks at whether the annual budget follows a calendar with a common template, single assumptions and each manager's participation in their own part.
  2. Common structure and consolidationIt looks at whether each company's accounts map to the management report lines, whether intercompany transactions are eliminated and how currency is translated.
  3. Actuals and operating dataIt looks at whether actuals and sales, production and headcount volumes arrive from the ERP and source systems without spreadsheet adjustments.
  4. Scenarios and full-year forecastIt looks at whether the budget lives in a tool with comparable price, volume and exchange rate scenarios, and whether the forecast incorporates closed months.
  5. Variance follow-up by areaIt looks at whether each owner reviews actual against budget every month, explains the variance and commits to a dated action.
  6. Model versions and changesIt looks at whether the approved version is locked, whether each change goes through a recorded request and whether more than one person can maintain the model.

Market options

We do not implement EPM platforms. We help decide whether you need one, choose on your own criteria and connect the data to the ERP.

Diagram of systems connected to an ERP

Odoo

Odoo Accounting offers analytic budgets and multi-company support, enough for many mid-sized companies with a sound process.

Odoo 20 technical modules

  • account_budget
  • analytic

It is assessed on the same criteria as the other options.

Other options

Financial planning and consolidation platforms for groups with several companies, many contributors or scenario models.

  • Oracle EPM Cloud
  • Anaplan
  • OneStream
  • Workday Adaptive Planning
  • SAP Analytics Cloud
  • Planful

Internationally used EPM platforms; the list shows no preference.

Selection criteria

  • Consolidation with eliminations tested on two real companies
  • ERP connector that reads balances without manual export
  • Versions and scenarios the finance team maintains on its own
  • Licences per planning user and per viewing user

Limits of the standard product

  • EPM implementation

    How it is handled

    We do not do it: the chosen vendor does, with our coordination

  • Budget in Odoo without scenarios

    How it is handled

    It serves for control by analytic account; scenarios are modelled elsewhere

  • ERP data of uneven quality across companies

    How it is handled

    Accounts and cost centres are harmonised before connecting

Peruvian localisation

  • Financial statements under PCGE and under IFRS when the group requires it
  • SUNAT or closing exchange rate per group policy
  • Reports to the SMV for supervised companies

Assessment, selection and integration

01

Budget cycle assessment

Walk-through of the cycle, data structures and management close times.

02

Tool selection

ERP or EPM platform, compared against your requirements and budget.

03

ERP integration

Design of the flow of actuals and operational data into the plan.

04

Vendor coordination

We support the implementation done by the chosen vendor, with your requirements in hand.

Diego Muñoz, process and technology consultant
Scope, in Diego’s words

I assess your budgeting and consolidation process, help you choose between solving it in the ERP or with a planning tool, and design the data integration with the ERP. Implementing an EPM platform is done by its vendor.

Systems that connect with budgeting and consolidation

Planning takes accounting actuals, projected demand and the cash forecast, and returns targets by cost centre. The links lead to each system’s assessment.

Enterprise performance management

Before you start

Not always. With one or two companies and few contributors, the ERP and a sound process are usually enough. The assessment tells you which case you are in.

No. We assess, help you choose and connect the data to the ERP. The platform vendor does the implementation.

Yes. The assessment measures the process and data structures, with any ERP.

The online assessment and the 30-minute review are free. Later work is quoted by phase.

Only Diego Muñoz, to prepare the review. They are not shared with third parties.

Start with the online assessment

At the end you see your level and where to start. If you like, we review it in a 30-minute video call with Diego Muñoz.

Take the assessment (9 min)Message on WhatsAppBook 30 minutes

WhatsApp +51 919 488 260 · damunoz@dmunozgroup.com