Insightful Financial Reporting Features of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

• Reading Time: 8 Minutes
• Published: July 14, 2023
• Last Updated: February 15, 2025

Financial reporting is a vital aspect of any business that drives its success. It offers insightful data on the company’s financial performance, enabling decision-makers to make informed choices regarding future investments and growth opportunities. Subsequently, the information derived from financial reports can be used to create reports to illustrate long-term trends or compare current figures against industry benchmarks, aiding businesses in identifying areas where they need to reduce costs or allocate more resources to increase profitability.

Apart from internal benefits for businesses, financial reporting also helps them comply with tax laws and regulations by maintaining accurate records of their finances. Furthermore, it plays a critical role in building investor and stakeholder trust. By presenting transparent and detailed financial information through reports, companies demonstrate their commitment to responsible governance and accountability. Effective financial reporting is essential for any business looking to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. With the right tools and strategies in place, organisations can leverage this powerful toolset to drive growth while maintaining fiscal responsibility at every step.

One such tool is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. In this blog, we will discuss the financial reporting capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and how they can empower your business. Let us immediately delve into how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central elevate your financial management game and take them to new heights!

Key Features of Business Central’s Financial Reporting

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that provides businesses with comprehensive financial management tools. Let us look at key features of Business Central’s financial reporting capabilities –

• Pre-built Reports: Business Central comes with various pre-built reports that cover a wide range of financial topics, such as income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements.
• Customisation Options: You can easily customise the pre-built reports to meet your specific needs. You can add or remove columns, change the layout, and even create your own custom reports from scratch.
• Data Drill-Down: Business Central’s financial reports allow you to drill down into the data to get a deeper understanding of your financial performance. You can view detailed information about individual transactions, accounts, and other financial data.
• Real-Time Data: Business Central’s financial reports are updated in real-time, so you can always access the latest information. This allows you to track your financial performance over time and identify trends.
• Multi-Dimensional Analysis: With Business Central, users can perform multi-dimensional analysis to gain insights into various aspects of their finances. They can define custom dimensions such as departments, projects, or locations and analyse financial data based on these dimensions. This feature helps businesses identify trends, spot anomalies, and make more accurate financial forecasts.
• Consolidated Financial Reporting: Business Central offers consolidated financial reporting capabilities for organisations with multiple subsidiaries or divisions. Users can consolidate financial data from different entities and generate comprehensive reports that provide a holistic view of the organisation’s financial position. This simplifies the reporting process and improves visibility across the entire enterprise.
• Mobile Accessibility: Business Central is designed to be accessible anywhere, anytime, using any device. The mobile app enables users to access financial reports, dashboards, and key financial information on their smartphones or tablets. This mobility empowers decision-makers to stay informed and make critical financial decisions on the go.
• Interactive Dashboards and Visualizations: Business Central includes interactive dashboards and visualisations that provide a graphical representation of financial data. These visually appealing charts and graphs make it easier for users to interpret complex financial information at a glance. Interactive dashboards allow users to drill down into specific details and explore different perspectives of their financial data.
• Integration with Microsoft Power BI: Business Central seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Power BI, a powerful business intelligence tool. Power BI enables users to create interactive reports and dashboards with advanced data visualisation capabilities. By combining data from Business Central with external sources, users can gain deeper insights into their financial performance and create comprehensive reports encompassing a broader range of business metrics.
• Automation and Efficiency: Business Central saves time and improves efficiency by automating financial reporting processes. The system can automatically generate and distribute financial reports based on predefined schedules. This eliminates manual effort and reduces the risk of errors associated with manual data entry and report generation.

List of Some of the Popular Pre-built Reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

FINANCIAL REPORTS

• Income Statement
• Balance Sheet
• Cash Flow Statement
• Statement of Retained Earning
• Trial Balance
• Consolidated Trial Balance
• General Ledger
• Tax Reports

PURCHASE REPORTS

• Vendor Purchase List
• Vendor Order Detail
• Top Vendors Report
• Vendor List
• Vendor Item Catalog
• Vendor Balance Ageing Report

SALES REPORTS

• Customer Sales List
• Customer Order Details
• Customer Item Sale
• Customer Statistics/Profitability
• Customer Top Ten List
• Customer Balance Ageing Report
• Sales by Sales Person
• Salesperson Commission Report

INVENTORY REPORTS

• Inventory Valuation
• Inventory List
• Inventory Availability
• Inventory Ageing Report
• Physical Inventory List

PROJECT REPORTS

• Project Profitability
• Project Actual Vs Budget
• Project WIP Report
• Project Transaction Details

FIXED ASSET & DEPRECIATION REPORTS

• Fixed Asset Register
• Fixed Asset Acquisition List
• Fixed Asset Depreciation

BUDGET REPORTS

• Budget vs. Actuals
• Cost Budgets
• Sales Budget
• Purchase Budget

CASH FLOW REPORTS

• Cash Flow Forecast
• Bank Reconciliation Reports
• Bank Account Register

We have mentioned only some of the popular pre-built reports, and there are more than 500 such pre-built reports that can help businesses save time generating accurate financial statements. To make the most of these reports, it is best to contact a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Navision) accounting services provider who has the relevant knowledge of working on MS Business Central for your industry.

Key Benefits of Utilising Pre-built Reports

One of the key benefits of utilising pre-built reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is that it provides businesses with an immediate snapshot of their financial performance. This allows business owners and managers to quickly identify trends, anomalies and potential issues, allowing them to make informed decisions. By using pre-built reports, businesses save time as they do not have to create custom reports from scratch. The ability to generate these financial statements on demand means business owners can focus on other important aspects of running their operations.

Another advantage of using pre-built financial reports is that they contain industry-standard metrics and KPIs. This means businesses can easily compare their performance against benchmarks set by peers in their respective industries. These standardised templates enable companies to adhere to regulatory requirements such as GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) or IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards). With built-in compliance features in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, organisations can avoid penalties or fines while ensuring transparency with stakeholders.

Useful Read: Automating Your Accounting Functions using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Customizing Financial Reports in Business Central

In addition to the pre-built reports, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers the flexibility to create custom reports tailored to your unique business needs. Customising financial reports in Business Central is crucial for businesses requiring more personalised reports. By doing this, you can create tailor-made reports to cater to your specific business needs and provide better insights into financial data. You can choose specific metrics, add filters, and visualise data in various formats. Customisable reports empower you to dig deeper into your financial data and gain valuable insights that go beyond standard reports.

To begin customising financial reports, users can start by selecting the report they want to customise from the list of pre-built reports available in Business Central. This not only saves time but also ensures that all necessary elements are included in the report.  From there, they can modify the report layout and add or remove data fields as needed. One can also make use of a report designer and create a new report altogether. Users can also set up filters on their customised reports to show only relevant data. This helps them avoid information overload and makes it easier for them to focus on what matters most.

Moreover, customisations made to financial reports are saved within the system so they can be used again without having to recreate them every time. This feature allows businesses to generate consistent reporting across various periods quickly.

Another key benefit of customising financial reports in Business Central is that it enables integration with other Microsoft applications like Excel. Users can export these customised reports directly into Excel for further analysis and collaboration.

Conclusion: Stay Ahead of the Competition with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

By utilising Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, businesses can benefit from a robust financial reporting system that offers pre-built reports and customisation options. The ability to analyse financial data in real-time allows organisations to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. With its comprehensive features and user-friendly interface, Business Central streamlines financial management by automating processes such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger accounting, inventory management, and more.

In today’s rapidly evolving market landscape, where quick decision-making is paramount for success, an efficient financial reporting tool like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central could be the key differentiator between staying relevant and falling behind. So why wait? Take advantage of this powerful tool today and get ahead of the competition!

We strongly recommend that you consider utilising an accounting and bookkeeping service provider combined with the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This will enable you to make the most of the real-time reporting feature of Microsoft Business. Feel free to reach out to our experts today and get further insight into how to make the most of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central reporting features.

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