Key Takeaways from Zebra BI Webinar #49: Future-Proof Financial Reporting 

Let's face it: manual reporting is broken. Over 60% of finance teams still spend more time collecting data than analyzing it. Combined with business expectations higher than ever, this leads to putting a lot of pressure finance teams to deliver what used to seem to be the undeliverable. 

As a result, close cycles drag on, KPIs are inconsistent, and reports break when they matter most. 

In the latest Zebra BI webinar, we aimed to help Finance experts flip the script and: 

• Get their time back 

• Focus on analysis, rather than grunt work 

• Deliver reports that are actionable, interactive, and future-proof 

In case you missed it, here’s a quick overview of what Mark and Lili discussed about during the webinar:  

The Challenge with Traditional Financial Reports 

Traditional tools like Excel and PowerPoint, as well as native Power BI visuals, often fall short due to: 

• Limited customization for financial visuals. 

• Lack of advanced variance analysis and dynamic formatting. 

• Challenges with managing financial hierarchies and storytelling. 

Best Practices for Financial Reporting 

The webinar provided a step-by-step guide to building professional-grade financial statements: 

1. Data modeling: Set up a clean, reusable star schema with account hierarchies, calendar tables, and comments for scalability and performance. 

2. Visualization: Use Zebra BI visuals to create income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports. Tables provide clarity and accuracy, while charts highlight trends and variances. 

3. Dynamic features: Add slicers, annotations, and KPIs on the fly to explore and explain data interactively. 

BI Process Overview & Live Demo Highlights 

To exemplify how Power BI can be supercharged for more actionable Financial reporting, the webinar showcased a practical BI process, highlighting every step in building actionable financial reports with Power BI and Zebra BI: 

1. Gather & Connect the Data  

As you may know, Power BI data connectors allow you to quickly connect to a variety of data sources in just one click. While this step is very easy, do make sure your data is clean and ready for analysis before connecting it to your Power BI.  

2. Data Modeling  

Once you have your data in Power BI, it is time to lay a solid foundation by creating a clean, reusable data model.  

• Build account hierarchies and manage time intelligence (MTD/YTD, etc.)  

• Add calendar tables and set up robust star schemas  

• Integrate meaningful commentary for better context  

You can learn more about data modeling from any of our guides and Help pages here, by the way:  

• Actionable Reports in Power BI  

• Star Schema Guide  

• Calendar Table Setup  

• Time Intelligence DAX Guide  

• Switching Time Periods in Power BI 

3. Visualization  

 To drive better insight from your financial reports, in an easier and quicker way, you can use Zebra BI to create advanced tables and charts, going beyond native Power BI visuals.  

• Build flexible financial statements, compare Zebra BI Tables vs. Power BI’s native matrix  

• Use a range of visual types: Waterfall, plus-minus, action dots, small multiples  

• Calculate and display KPIs such as gross/operating margin in real time  

• Efficiently explore and explain data with slicers, view changes, and annotations  

• Collaborate via comments and the formula editor 

4. Share & Collaborate  

 Last but definitely not least, once your report is ready and your data is clearly visualized, it is time to empower teams to interact. Zebra BI enables you to:  

• Use annotations (comments, CAGR), change views, and export results to Excel  

• Collaborate easily with dynamic comments and the formula editor 

These steps—demonstrated live using Power BI Desktop—form a repeatable workflow for creating clear, reliable, and actionable financial reports. For deeper implementation tips, access the full webinar and accompanying guides above. 

Why Zebra BI? 

Zebra BI enhances Power BI with features designed specifically for financial reporting: 

• Actionable Visuals: High-density tables and dynamic charts that combine storytelling with traceable data. 

• Automation: Real-time data refresh and reusable templates to eliminate manual effort. 

• IBCS Compliance: Standardized layouts for clarity and consistency. 

• Collaboration Tools: Dynamic comments, annotations, and slicers for better interaction and decision-making. 

Zebra BI transforms financial reporting into a strategic tool, enabling faster decisions, better collaboration, and scalable solutions. By automating repetitive tasks and integrating storytelling elements, finance teams can focus on driving business impact. 

Want to see it with your own eyes?