11 Ways of Tracking Monthly Variances in FP&A

Webinar recording
11 Ways of Tracking Monthly Variances in FP&A

In this webinar, you'll learn about all the different visualizations of variances - from the basic to the most advanced.

We will also discuss all the latest time-tested Excel templates to start designing standardized best-practice variance reports for your company.

What's included

						
Full video recording

Excel examples used in the webinar

Enjoy & thank you for watching! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions — write to us at support@zebrabi.com!

Presenter

Andrej Lapajne

Founder & CEO at Zebra BI

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Get Excel Example

You can download the Excel examples that we used at the webinar to check how it's done!

Access the materials

(0:47) Bad examples of reporting
(4:26) Example: Zebra BI monthly reporting – comparison, forecasting
(6:30) The importance of comments
(7:22) Z-chart
(9:53) Visual explanations: Additional insights
(11:04) Different types of charts
(12:30) 1: Displaying integrated variance – bar chart
(14:20) 2: Displaying separated variance – Plus-minus chart and lollipop chart
(19:57) 3: Displaying segmented variance: Forecasts
(23:01) 4: Displaying extended chart – YTD
(24:55) Using the waterfall chart for absolute variances
(27:15) 5: Displaying extended chart – adding the 13th element
(29:22) 6: Displaying the bridge chart
(32:32) Breaking the axis
(34:13) 7: Layout arrangements
(36:14) 8: Combination of charts – bridge chart, previous year, forecasts, absolute and relative variances
(39:52) 9: Displaying multiple charts/units at once
(42:11) Using line charts/area charts
(42:55) Editing chart format
(45:16) Using waterfall charts – emphasizing contributions
(47:44) Editing fonts
(49:37) 10: Displaying month over month/year over year – Difference highlight
(53:27) Displaying integrated variance – area chart
(56:08) 11: Displaying line charts – YTD values
(59:20) Combining charts
(1:01:32) Creating Z-chart
(1:03:23) Zebra BI resources and social media presence
(1:05:00) Q & A

Your Questions

Here are some of the questions that came up during our live session. Thank you for being such a proactive audience. Have more questions? Drop us a note at support@zebrabi.com!

When is it better to use the bar chart vs column chart?

Whenever you have time series (e.g., month, quarter, etc.) use charts with horizontal axes as time round from left to right. If you have any other variance (e.g., customers, cost centres, regions, business units, etc.), you would use charts with vertical axes.

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