7 Signs Your Company Needs to Upgrade from Excel to Sage Intacct

Using Excel to manage the budgeting and planning process is common practice across many organizations – but this doesn’t mean it’s the best solution for handling sensitive processes. Regarding financial planning, construction businesses often require advanced budgeting tools to accommodate growth and expand financial capabilities.

One of the best solutions for your budgeting and planning process is Sage Intacct Construction, a construction accounting platform designed to meet your financial needs in ways that Excel isn’t capable of. But what are the signs that your company has outgrown Excel and is ready to upgrade to Sage Intacct for construction? Read more to find out!

1. Your Team is Updating the Wrong Spreadsheets 

One of the biggest problems of Excel vs. Sage Intacct is the former’s complexity. When a company uses Excel for budgeting and planning, they typically have several saved versions of spreadsheets over a long period. The more versions of a spreadsheet you have, the likelier it is that users will update the wrong ones – a mistake that can cause your company’s financials to suffer.

A tailored budgeting and planning solution like Sage Intacct Construction eliminates the need for disjointed spreadsheets and reduces the risks associated with manual data entry. This solution prevents wasted time and can save you significant costs associated with improper financial planning in the long run.

2. Your Budgeting and Financial Forecasts are Inaccurate 

Accurate financial planning is critical to the success and longevity of your construction business. With construction budgeting, Excel isn’t always capable of providing accurate information because of the risks associated with manual calculations and data entry. When there are anomalies or issues with your budgeting and forecasting, you might not always be able to identify what’s wrong. You can overlook key issues that cost you significantly in the long term.

Eliminating the use of Excel and opting for a solution like Sage Intacct Construction is essential to provide more accurate financial forecasts using intelligent accounting software that can determine financial trends, provide accurate forecasts, and identify anomalies so you can take action. Implementing Sage Intacct is crucial to ensuring your budgeting is always accurate and reflects your organization.

3. You’re Spending Significant Time on Budgeting and Planning 

Budgeting and planning take significant time away from other important tasks without an advanced solution. Without advanced budgeting tools, you can work overtime and get off schedule with your other tasks. Among the many tasks you have to manually complete using Microsoft Excel include:

• Emailing files to employees
• Updating financial forecasts
• Downloading CSVs
• Updated links and formulas

Budgeting and planning tools like Sage Intacct Construction eliminate the need to spend significant time on budgeting, allowing you to integrate a new solution with your financial journey to automate the budgeting and planning process steps. You can improve your organization’s efficiency tenfold by choosing an upgraded financial solution.

4. Excel Seems Too Complicated 

You might have chosen Excel because you thought it would be a relatively easy solution to handle your budgeting processes. However, if you’ve noticed that Excel seems more and more complicated, it might be time to consider cloud solutions for budgeting.

When you rely on Excel sheets, noticing problems and finding solutions is incredibly difficult. Having piles of disparate spreadsheets makes it feel impossible to organize your thoughts and determine a healthy budget to sustain your business.

With solutions like Sage Intacct Construction, there’s no need for confusion with your budgeting process. An overly complicated spreadsheet doesn’t allow you to see how your company is performing financially – but cloud-based accounting platforms like Sage Intacct Construction can provide clear insights into financial performance in a simplified overview.

5. You Have Old, Out-of-Sync Data 

Preparing an accurate budget isn’t possible without crucial financial data, including project information, payroll, and financial numbers for preceding years. When you use Excel, you store ample confusing data that needs to be provided manually, and when all is said and done, your data might already be old and out-of-sync. This issue complicates key financial processes and can make budgeting for the future feel impossible.

Switching to a solution like Sage Intacct Construction eliminates this issue, preventing old and out-of-sync data from complicating your budgeting process. Data stored in Sage Intacct Construction is always available and up-to-date, ensuring accurate budgeting and planning to promote future success and guarantee that your data remains useful.

6. You’re Worried About Security 

Security is a top priority for nearly every business, and construction businesses are no exception. Because cyberattacks increasingly threaten the construction industry, modern solutions are critical to guaranteeing organizational safety. Safety is especially important when budgeting, as your budgets contain sensitive financial information that should only be accessible to authorized parties.

A unique budgeting and planning tool like Sage Intacct Construction provides a secure, cloud-based solution that protects sensitive data and prevents unauthorized access. When you upgrade from Excel with a solution like Sage Intacct, you guarantee that all financial processes are safe and secure – and protect your company from financial damage.

7. You Have Too Many Files With Similar Names 

Disorganization is too common when companies rely on Excel spreadsheets for budgeting and planning. Organizations relying on Excel for their financial processes typically consolidate various Excel Workbooks requiring frequent updating. The more you update your files, the more confusing version control becomes, meaning you might regularly send out the wrong files or lose access to specific files.

Solutions like Sage Intacct for Construction remove the need for large amounts of files with similar names that confuse budgeting. Sage Intacct promotes greater accuracy in financial management, providing access to all the information you need within a single platform.