Solutions

Group reporting the finance team runs itself.

Drop a file in the browser, define a number once, build any report, chart or dashboard from it, consolidate any set of entities in any currency, and trace every figure to its rows. Five problems of group reporting, and how the platform removes each of them.

See the five problemsWhat sets it apart

The five problems

What goes wrong in group reporting, and what the platform does about it.

  1. The problem

    Data enters only through IT.

    In most group reporting tools a new source is a project: a custom integration owned by the IT department, or an Excel add-in that two licensed people may use. Adding a dataset that the template did not foresee is close to impossible, so the extra data stays in spreadsheets next to the tool.

    With Meulenbase

    Drop the file in the browser.

    A trial balance, a movement schedule, hours, headcount or purchase orders: upload the file, map its columns once with rules, and every later file follows the same path. Scheduled pulls from source systems land the same way. No add-in, no integration project, no ticket.

    • Drag and drop
    • Excel templates
    • Scheduled pulls
    Data in

  2. The problem

    The tool lives on two desktops.

    A desktop client and a per-user licence mean that only a few people can open the figures, and the rest of the company receives a PDF or a spreadsheet. Nobody outside finance ever sees a live number.

    With Meulenbase

    Every user, every device, one browser.

    Everything runs in the browser, on a laptop, a tablet or a phone, under one permission model. A controller, a managing director and an auditor open the same report with the rights of their own role. Nothing to install and nothing to refresh by hand.

    • No desktop client
    • No Excel add-in
    • Phone layouts
    Browser first

  3. The problem

    Nobody can build a fourth report.

    Companies live for years with the three reports a consultant set up, because adding a report or a chart needs skills nobody in the finance team has. The questions change every month; the reports do not.

    With Meulenbase

    Define a number once, use it everywhere.

    A measure is a named number with its filters. Reports, charts and dashboards are layouts over measures and formulas, built in the browser by the person who owns the figures. Statement templates for IFRS and US GAAP are a start, not a limit: three measures, a blank line, a coloured heading, a ratio.

    • Measures and formulas
    • Excel-like layouts
    • Templates
    Self-service reports

  4. The problem

    The monthly pack is a fragile spreadsheet.

    Each month someone refreshes a hand-built workbook linked to the reporting tool, hopes the links hold, and rebuilds the slides. When the two people who can run it are away, the pack is late.

    With Meulenbase

    Reports are live; files are exports.

    Open a report and it is current, cached until the data changes, served in one request. Change entity, period, scenario or currency and it answers again. When you need a file, export the live result: Excel with its formatting, PowerPoint with editable tables and charts, an image, or paste into a slide.

    • One request per change
    • Excel and PowerPoint
    • Copy and paste
    Live, not refreshed

  5. The problem

    A number nobody can explain.

    A consolidated figure comes out of a black box. To explain it, finance rebuilds the calculation in Excel, line by line, and still cannot say which journal, which rate or which mapping moved it.

    With Meulenbase

    Every figure opens.

    Click a number and see the rows behind it, the journal that posted it, the rate that translated it and the version of the definition that produced it. A measure shows its live rows while you define it. A cell that lacks data says so instead of showing zero.

    • Drill to rows
    • Lineage per cell
    • Unknown is never zero
    Explainable figures

What sets it apart

Ten things group reporting tools do not do this way.

The established consolidation tools are good at the arithmetic. The differences are in how the data gets in, who can open a figure, who can build the next report, and whether a number can explain itself. Each point below is a property of how the platform is built, not a setting a consultant switches on.

  1. Scope is a parameter, not a configuration

    Pick any set of entities, any reporting currency, eliminations on or off, and the figures follow with one request each. Two subsidiaries together show only their mutual eliminations. Nobody sets up a sub-group first.

  2. Eliminations driven by the rows

    Every row carries its entity and its counterparty, so the elimination is a mirror of the data rather than a rule somebody maintains. Differences are shown per pair and month before anything is posted.

  3. Finance and operations on one coordinate system

    A measure over hours and a measure over the ledger return values on the same cells. Revenue per manhour is one formula line: no cube build, no join, no second tool.

  4. The rows behind a number, while you define it

    The measure editor shows the live value and the exact rows that remain after its filters, straight from the analytics store, over millions of rows.

  5. One definition for grid, chart and dashboard

    A chart binds to the same definition as the report; it never carries a second formula. The same entity has the same colour on every page.

  6. Unknown is never zero

    A cell without data carries a count of what is missing and renders as incomplete, in the grid and in every export. A total never hides a gap.

  7. Excel-like filtering on every table

    Value lists with checkboxes, custom conditions, date filters, sort, search and grouping on every column of every list, not only in a report. Saved filter sets and both exports come with it.

  8. Exports from the browser, into the deck

    Excel with formatting, PowerPoint with native editable tables and charts, images with a transparent background, and copy to the clipboard as an image or a real table. A dashboard exports as a deck.

  9. An assistant that reads your definitions

    Ask why revenue declined and the answer names the measure, its version and the parameters it used, under your own permissions. It never computes a number itself.

  10. Audit by construction

    Immutable versions of every definition, pins on every run, the journal number on every cell, a close board, a lock and an audit trail.

No integration project

From raw file to consolidated report, without involving anyone else.

The whole path from a file to a published, translated and consolidated dataset is designed for the person who owns the numbers. No IT department, no add-in, no consultant. Map once, then send new data in whatever way suits you; every route runs the same pipeline.

  • File uploadDrag and drop, or pick a file, directly in the browser.
  • Excel templateJournals, hierarchies, holdings and rules import from one shared template dialog with a validation report.
  • Scheduled pullsExports from source systems are collected on a schedule, with a watchdog when a feed stops.
  • REST APIPost data programmatically from any system or pipeline.
  1. 01

    Upload and map once

    Drop the file in the browser. Map its columns to the registry with rules, pick the entity, period and scenario. The configuration is saved and applied to every later file.

  2. 02

    Define numbers, build reports

    Create hierarchies and measures once. Compose reports, charts and dashboards from them. Translate currencies and consolidate any set of entities with one switch.

  3. 03

    Keep the data flowing

    Send new data however it suits you. Each route runs the same pipeline, the cache invalidates itself and every report and dashboard is current.

Filter panel

Excel-like filtering on every table, without Excel’s limits.

Every list in the platform is the same table, and every column of it carries the filter you know from Excel: a value list with checkboxes and a search box, custom conditions (contains, begins with, between, greater than), and a date filter with ranges and presets. Journals, holdings, raw files, mappings, report rows: all of them filter the same way.

Stack as many conditions as you need per column. Filters compose across columns, update instantly in the browser, and can be saved as named sets. Sort, search, group with subtotals, pin and reorder columns, and export the filtered result to Excel or CSV.

  • Value list, conditions, dates
  • AND / OR across columns
  • Group, sort, export

Cross-domain reporting

One report. Any domain. Any entity set. Any currency.

Real decisions rarely live in a single dataset. Cost per FTE needs finance and headcount in the same view. Revenue per manhour needs the ledger and the hours side by side. A measure over either returns values on the same cells, so the ratio is one formula line.

The same report answers for any set of entities, grouped or flat, in any reporting currency, with eliminations on or off, for any period and scenario. Scope is a parameter in the bar at the top, never a configuration somebody has to set up first.

  • Finance and operations together
  • Any entity set, any currency
  • Eliminations on or off

Capabilities

From the first file to the closed month.

Read our story

Excel-like tables everywhere

Every list in the app is the same table: a filter on every column with a value list and checkboxes, custom conditions, date filters, sort, search, grouping with subtotals, pinned and reordered columns, and export. Tens of thousands of rows scroll smoothly in the browser.

Hierarchies on any key

Rule-based trees over accounts, entities, cost centres or any column. A statutory and a management chart side by side. Values no rule places stay visible.

Measures and formulas

Named numbers with filters, inspected live on their rows. Formulas across measures and datasets with prior period, prior year and year to date.

Currency translation

Rate sets and a central bank feed, per-flow translation with the evidence behind every rate, a carried translation reserve, exact and indicative reporting currencies.

Group structure and journals

A holdings register with events and purchase price allocation, derived percentages and methods per month, top-side journals with carry and reversal.

Eliminations from the data

A counterparty on a row makes it intercompany. The run mirrors it, the matching report shows both sides, and non-controlling interest, equity method and proportionate follow from the register.

Dashboards as the home page

Tiles of charts, reports and text, laid out per screen size, one filter bar for the page. A dashboard can be the company's landing page and each user's own home.

Close, lock and audit

A close board per entity and month, checks that must be green, a lock above the translation approval, and an audit trail of who changed what and when.

Built by a user

Made by someone who closed the books in a group.

Every rule above comes from a month-end that took too long. Questions about how something works are welcome. Already have an account? Sign in to open your reports.

Sign inAsk a question