UseArdelis
PLAYBOOK Finance 4-6 weeks implementation

Finance Reporting Automation Playbook

Build automated financial dashboards and reports. Cut monthly close time by 50% and get real-time visibility into your business metrics.

What This Playbook Covers

  • • Data source integration
  • • Automated P&L and cash flow reports
  • • Real-time revenue dashboards
  • • Expense tracking automation
  • • Bank reconciliation workflows
  • • Monthly close automation
  • • Budget vs. actual alerts
  • • Investor reporting automation
1

Phase 1: Data Integration

Week 1-2 - Connect all financial data sources

Common Data Sources to Connect

Category Tool Data Integration
Accounting QuickBooks, Xero P&L, Balance Sheet, GL Native API
Banking Plaid, Mercury Transactions, Balances Native API
Revenue Stripe, PayPal MRR, Transactions Native API
Subscriptions Chargebee, Recurly MRR, Churn, LTV Native API
Expenses Expensify, Ramp Spend by category Native/Zapier
Payroll Gusto, Rippling Payroll costs Native/API

Central Data Warehouse Options

Simple (Spreadsheet-based)

Best for: <$1M revenue, small teams

  • • Google Sheets + Supermetrics
  • • Google Sheets + Zapier imports
  • • Airtable with integrations

Cost: $0-50/month

Advanced (Database-based)

Best for: >$1M revenue, complex needs

  • • BigQuery + Fivetran
  • • Snowflake + Stitch
  • • PostgreSQL + Airbyte

Cost: $100-500/month

Implementation Checklist

List all financial data sources (accounting, banking, revenue, etc.)
Choose central data location (Google Sheets, Airtable, or database)
Set up QuickBooks/Xero API connection or export automation
Connect Stripe/payment processor for revenue data
Set up bank feed integration (Plaid or direct export)
Create data refresh schedule (daily/weekly)
2

Phase 2: Real-Time Dashboards

Week 2-3 - Build key financial dashboards

Executive Dashboard Metrics

Revenue Metrics

  • • Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
  • • MRR Growth Rate (MoM)
  • • Annual Run Rate (ARR)
  • • Revenue by Product/Channel
  • • New vs. Expansion vs. Churn

Cash Metrics

  • • Current Cash Balance
  • • Cash Runway (months)
  • • Monthly Burn Rate
  • • Accounts Receivable Aging
  • • Accounts Payable Due

Profitability Metrics

  • • Gross Margin %
  • • Operating Margin %
  • • EBITDA
  • • Net Income
  • • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Efficiency Metrics

  • • LTV:CAC Ratio
  • • Revenue per Employee
  • • Expense Ratio by Category
  • • DSO (Days Sales Outstanding)
  • • Payback Period

Dashboard Tool Recommendations

Google Looker Studio (Free)

Best for Starters

Connects to Google Sheets, BigQuery. Great for basic dashboards. Free forever.

Metabase ($0-85/mo)

Best Open Source

Connects to any database. Self-hosted free, cloud $85/mo. SQL not required.

Fathom ($50-250/mo)

Best for Accounting

Purpose-built for QuickBooks/Xero. Auto-generates financial reports and KPIs.

Implementation Checklist

Choose dashboard tool (Looker Studio, Metabase, or Fathom)
Connect data sources to dashboard tool
Build Executive Overview dashboard (top 5-8 KPIs)
Build Revenue Deep-Dive dashboard
Build Cash Flow dashboard
Set up auto-refresh schedule
Share dashboards with stakeholders
3

Phase 3: Automated Reports

Week 3-4 - Schedule report generation and delivery

Report Automation Schedule

Daily Cash Position

Every morning, 8 AM

Bank balances, AR aging, upcoming payments. Sent to CFO/CEO.

Weekly Revenue Summary

Every Monday, 9 AM

Week-over-week revenue, new customers, churn. Sent to leadership team.

Monthly P&L + KPIs

5th of each month

Full P&L, budget variance, key metrics. Sent to board/investors.

Quarterly Board Pack

Quarterly, week before board meeting

Comprehensive financials, metrics, commentary. PDF export.

Report Automation Workflow

Schedule: Every Monday at 9:00 AM
    ↓
Action: Refresh Google Sheets data
  - Pull latest from QuickBooks API
  - Update Stripe revenue figures
    ↓
Action: Generate PDF report
  - Use Google Slides template
  - Populate with latest data
    ↓
Action: Send email
  - To: leadership@company.com
  - Subject: "Weekly Revenue Report - [Date]"
  - Attach: PDF report
    ↓
Action: Post to Slack
  - Channel: #finance
  - Message: "Weekly revenue: $X (+Y% WoW)"
  - Link to full dashboard

Budget vs. Actual Alerts

Alert: Expense category exceeds budget by 10%

→ Email CFO + Department Head immediately

Alert: Cash runway drops below 6 months

→ Slack alert to #finance + Email CEO

Alert: Revenue exceeds target by 20%

→ Celebratory Slack message to #general

Implementation Checklist

Create report templates (Google Docs/Slides or Excel)
Set up daily cash position email (via Zapier or script)
Set up weekly revenue summary automation
Set up monthly P&L report generation
Configure budget variance alerts
Create Slack notification workflows
4

Phase 4: Monthly Close Automation

Week 5-6 - Streamline month-end close

Month-End Close Checklist (Automated)

Day 1-2: Revenue Recognition

  • • Auto-import Stripe/payment data
  • • Reconcile revenue to GL
  • • Generate deferred revenue adjustments

Auto-task creation in Asana on 1st of month

Day 2-3: Expense Review

  • • Auto-categorize credit card transactions
  • • Flag unusual expenses for review
  • • Accrue outstanding invoices

Auto-alert for uncategorized transactions >$500

Day 3-4: Bank Reconciliation

  • • Auto-match bank transactions to GL
  • • Flag unreconciled items
  • • Generate reconciliation report

80%+ auto-matched with rules engine

Day 4-5: Review & Close

  • • Auto-generate P&L variance analysis
  • • Review flagged items
  • • Lock period and generate reports

Auto-send close complete notification

Close Automation Workflow

Trigger: 1st of the month, 6:00 AM
    ↓
Action: Create close checklist in Asana
  - All tasks with due dates
  - Assigned to finance team members
    ↓
Action: Pull all data for prior month
  - Stripe revenue export
  - Bank transaction download
  - Credit card statements
    ↓
Action: Run auto-categorization rules
  - Match 80%+ of transactions
    ↓
Action: Generate exception report
  - List items needing manual review
  - Send to finance team
    ↓
On completion: Lock period
    ↓
Action: Auto-generate financial reports
  - P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow
    ↓
Action: Distribute to stakeholders
  - Email to leadership
  - Post to Slack #finance

Implementation Checklist

Document current close process (identify manual steps)
Create close checklist template in project tool
Set up auto-close checklist creation (1st of month)
Build transaction categorization rules
Set up bank reconciliation automation
Create close completion notification workflow

Recommended Tool Stack

Accounting

QuickBooks Online or Xero

Dashboards

Looker Studio (free) or Fathom

Automation

Zapier or Make

Data Central

Google Sheets or Airtable

Expense Management

Ramp or Expensify

Reporting

Google Slides + Supermetrics

Total estimated cost: $50-300/month depending on scale

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