Great value in cash flow planning

Overall a great cash flow program for the price. it has many features that programs 10 times the price do not have.

Pros

Plan Guru is a straightforward application for generating cash flow statements. I have used the product since 2003, and have watched it evolve from a simple tool to a more sophisticated application. The company has been receptive to user requests such as increasing the size of database fields to allow larger numbers, adding supplementary schedules, and direct cash flow projections.

Some of the debt amortization wizards are very handy, providing current portion of LTD in addition to amortizing loan balances and interest charges.

They have also included some valuation and ratio analysis work papers that are very handy.

This is a small company (at least it operates as one) where you can actually talk to a real live person.

All in all, it is a very good application for the price.

Cons

The application occasionally will show some instability, but this has been vastly improved over earlier versions. There are recovery routines so most of the data is not lost. The crashes seem mostly due to print driver compatabilities. The developers are pretty good at fixing these issues.

Large, complicated formulas may run into size limits when calculating dollar outcomes. When this occurs, I have created interim formulas in a workbook to get to the final formula.

It's nice that the application has supplementary schedules for the P&L. However there are no such supporting schedules for the balance sheet. Much of the work I do is in the balance sheet. It would nice to have a supporting schedule that would clean up the balance sheet presentation.

The learning curve can be a little steep for the novice user. The application was developed by CPAs for CPAs, although this application is valuable for private companies.

PlanGuru Forecasting Software is the Best

I use PlanGuru to build business forecasts for my clients so that I can provide great service, especially to growth oriented clients who hold themselves accountable to their goals. I have used PlanGuru results (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Valuations) to support my clients with their banking relationships and for providing investors with forecasts that support business models for startups and going concerns too.

Pros

PlanGuru provides upfront training on how to utilize the software using case studies so a new user can learn, practice and see the results of the case studies. This is critical to the user because it allows a new user the opportunity to learn from mistakes in a case study, as well as the opportunity to try different modeling techniques. I learned the importance of thinking through assumptions, KPIs and all drivers that impact forecasting of details on the P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statements in case studies. I continued to learn every time I used PlanGuru. I also used the output many times in serving my clients.

Each and every time I need support of any kind, PlanGuru always got back to me in 24 hours or less and stayed glued to me until my question or issue was completed resolved to my satisfaction. I always had service with a smile via email or on a one on one phone call.

Cons

I was annoyed when I learned that my software was shut down remotely when PlanGuru adopted an annual license fee after several years of no fees, unless you opted in for an upgrade to a new version.

I got over it as I realize that the software and the customer service and support are superb.

Solid product, Feature-Rich, Intuitive Design, Great value for small- to medium-sized businesses.

I am attempting to build budgets for my clients using the PlanGuru software installed on the remote cloud desktop. Overall, the product has met my expectations. I have used several similar large/deluxe budgeting tools built for Fortune 500 companies that cost 10 times as much (or more), and this is a very good "abridged" budgeting software for small businesses that is still very feature-rich. The support I have received from the technical team has been very good; they have been very responsive to my requests. The cloud desktop experience was a little bit more laggy than I expected. I LOVE the Excel add-in. It is a very powerful tool. However, I thought the installation of the add-in was a little more complicated than it should be, especially based on the cost of the cloud subscription. There is room for PlanGuru to improve a few things, but I will be using for future clients, and I highly recommend this product for small- to medium-sized businesses.

Pros

Very intuitive design. Most features/functions are just a right-click away. If you don't understand exactly what you are looking at, the tutorial videos are GREAT, and they have links to the relevant videos built right into the program where you need them.

Excel Add-in is a very powerful tool. A real selling-point for PlanGuru. If you know how to use a pivot table, you will love this tool.

Consolidations. If you have multiple departments, or groups of departments, consolidations is a must-have.

Excel Links. If the myriad of PlanGuru projection methods aren't good enough, just suck in whatever data you want from Excel to the budgeting tool.

Cons

It would be great if this product was built as a web/browser-based product, rather than a local client install. Then the users could also save on the cost of the remote cloud desktop, and installation/connectivity should be easier.

There should really be a "mass-refresh" button/method in the Excel add-in that would refresh every tab at once. A "mass-consolidation" button in the PlanGuru application would be nice, too.

I wish there was a "help forum" where users could assist one another and help troubleshoot issues. Support is responsive, and the videos are great. But support can't answer you as fast as a forum search would, and the videos don't cover everything. Chances are SOMEONE has had the same question in the past.

Plan Guru for financial consultants

I've been able to help my clients create future plans and look at many what if scenarios and their affect on the balance sheet without having to worry about whether my formulas are correct in excel.

Pros

The flexibility of the application for creating multiple forecasts and budgets using a variety of assumptions and KPI's. the use of excel to integrate and add additional flexibility to the program. The subschedules allow multiple ways to forecast revenue and track other expenses. the integration of the balance sheet and ability to see affect the forecast has on the balance sheet items.

Cons

Some lack of flexibility in reporting. Lack of ability to print reports from analytics.

Budgeting Software Every Business Owner Should Own

I own a manufacturing business and produce an annual budget and a multi-year projection. I am not a CPA nor am I trained as a bookkeeper. When I needed to replace my old budgeting software I was particularly concerned whether it was appropriate for someone who isn't a pro. I wasn't disappointed: once purchased I was up and running within the hour. Anytime I've had a question that I couldn't answer through the help screens or online tutorials I've been able to discuss my problem with tech support! This is huge for me. I've also taken some of the online courses called PlanGuru University, which were invaluable. I wish my CPA used this software.

Pros

1) Functionality.
2) Easy to use.
3) Great help screens.
4) Terrific tutorials.
5) Fantastic customer support.

Cons

I'd like to track 5 years historical data to project a budget analysis.

PlanGuru

Overall great experience and is highly recommended based on our needs, which is a company under $10M in revenue with less than 50 employees.

Pros

PlanGuru makes it easy to build a complete budget and forecast, compare budget to actuals, keep an eye on cash and track KPI's. When getting started and familiar with the software, PG has a very responsive and knowledgable support team. Lastly, for those in management that just want to look at the KPI's they can log into Analytics.

Cons

The one challenge we had as a business was having to move outside of PG during a period of time when cash flow was being managed weekly. PG is limited to monthly.

Easy Starting

Pros

A very good starting package. Not overly complicated yet quite sophisticated with options that can accommodate large enterprises.

Cons

A bit on the slow side when you start putting together multiple divisions or consolidated corporations. Would like to plan on a monthly basis and report on a Qrtly. That can be done, but probably only by using the Advance Reporting Package which adds a little more complexity and time to the process.

Great product. A must have for all forward thinking companies.

Pros

It is easy to use. It is the only product in the market that I am aware of that focuses on the balance sheet and in particular cash.

Cons

Reporting features could be enhanced. Would like to be able to hide accounts that are no longer in use. When reporting condense some categories while expanding others.

Good product but far from the ideal Forecasting software

Plan Guru is an excellent product, specially considering that there are no products out there with this many features at this price level. If you want to have the best products you will have to pay tens of thousands every year, ie. Budget Maestro. However I think PG has some room for improvement, such as 1.- More flexibility in the automatization for the recording of Historical and actual values. Not even copy and paste is possible. 2.- Make it more friendly. PG can only be mastered by someone with a strong background in Finance 3.- Expand reporting capabilities and allow to export reports to excel with up the 36 months instead of only 12 mo. 4.- Develop a Mac version or a web version 5.- Develop Inventory module and allow for supporting schedule on the Balance sheet 6.- Flexibility in putting some values ( ie. interest expense) in the balance sheet for capitalization purposes

Pros

-Once you have all the numbers, projections are very fast and exact.
-Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash flow integration
-Links to excel files

Cons

- The link process is very long and tedious
- No possibility of using formulas in the actual and historical data
- Need an inventory module
- Need Supporting schedule for the Balance sheet

Plan Guru review

Overall our experience with Plan Guru has been pretty good. The price point was extremely appealing and is what pulled us to the software. For the most part the software runs without any major issues. I think our one issue we had may have been specific to just our company. I can honestly say that working with their customer support was pretty easy as well. All communication was handled through email.

Pros

One of the pros to this software is the price point at which features are standard. I worked with our CFO to pick out the software. We review different suites of software and found that Plan Guru offered the most for the price.

Cons

We have had some issues where we setup multiple user accounts and they share some of the same files. I think they may have some glitches in the software as everyone had the same access but certain individuals were not able to create copies or new documents from the same exact file.