July sees us return from our conference focus to our editorial feature focus. This month, we will be examining Analytical and Reporting Applications that work with our accounting software. Some of these may be just analytical applications performing various datametrics; some may only be reporting applications, and others may be applications that perform both functions.
More than 13 years ago I began a partnership with a PhD who had worked extensively with Microsoft Excel. At the time, Conrad Carlberg already was a noted author with more than 15 books about business analysis, quantitative forecasting and databases. We worked together on a project that became a textbook for Wiley Publishing titled, "Business Analysis with QuickBooks."
While QuickBooks users had volumes of data regarding their finances, they had little in the way of meaningful analysis to help them make better business decisions. There essentially were no "plug in tools" that could connect with QuickBooks to provide the kinds of information standard financial and management analysis most bankers and investors wanted to see about a business.
"Business Analysis with QuickBooks" provided 12 in-depth chapters of instruction on how to pull information from QuickBooks (Desktop) and transform that data into business analytics. Within a couple of years of the book’s release, and shortly after the release of a modernized version of QuickBooks Online, apps began appearing that did in seconds the work that required painstaking computations based upon the steps outlined in our 2010 textbook.
While perhaps one or two of the apps we will cover in this series may date back as early as those initial appearances, most have come a long in the last few years. They have, however, followed the same approach of transforming the fundamental financial data found within QuickBooks (and/or other accounting) software into business analytics consistent standard financial practices.
With this introduction, let’s take a look at our first feature for the month.
Footnote & Reference
Business Analysis with QuickBooks was published in 2010 by Wiley Publishing Inc.. Authored by Conrad Carlberg, PhD; William "Bill" Murphy as Technical Editor.