Platform

Vena allows Cumming to produce reports the same day of the financial close, leading to significant time and resource savings, and allowing the organization to implement proactive business strategies. Automating the financial close and reporting process is a priority for virtually every company. But global project-based firms like Cumming face unique challenges, stemming mainly from the need to manage numerous projects at different stages and different locations across the country and around the world. “Saving 4 weeks allows us to get in front of issues and be proactive rather than reactive.“ Challenges: Manually creating, distributing and consolidating spreadsheets Complex and time-consuming financial close process, involving countless emails and phone calls for management oversight Not enough time for analysis and proactive decision-making Results: Reduced reporting cycle from 4 weeks to same business day as the close Annual savings of $55k, or the equivalent to a full-time hire Freed up time for better analysis and decision-making, leading to better organizational strategies. About Cumming Corporation Cumming Corporation is an international project and cost management consultancy that provides effective and cost-efficient solutions to ensure projects in multiple sectors—including hospitality, government, education and healthcare—are executed on time and within budget. The post How Cumming Cut their Reporting Cycle from 4 Weeks to 1 Day appeared first on Blog | Vena Voice | Vena Solutions.

Reading time - 1 min If Bruce Nolop isn’t an expert in corporate finance, it’s hard to say who would be. As if being the former CFO of both eTrade and Pitney Bowes wasn’t enough, Nolop is also the author of The Essential CFO: A Corporate Finance Playbook. No wonder the Wall Street Journal recently asked him to offer his personal picks for the top 10 technologies that have changed our working lives. While some of Nolop’s choices haven’t aged well (fax machines), or are so common we take them for granted (like air conditioning), others are enduring and arguably more important than ever. This includes his No. 3 pick, office software, which he breaks down into spreadsheets (of course), word processing and presentation tools. When you combine what he says about these products with his No. 1 choice, search engines, you get an insightful look at the future of finance. “Software skills are now de rigueur, requiring continuous adaptation to evolving technologies,” he writes, adding that search engines are taking these IT-driven workflows to new heights. “Combining digital technologies with human insights can produce results previously unimaginable. By enabling immediate, targeted access to boundless sources of information, they have indelibly transformed our analytical, marketing, and e-commerce horizons.” Back to the Future Nolop was focusing on technologies from the past 50 years. So what about the next 50? How do finance departments take those “boundless sources of information” and continue the process of business transformation? According to Ajay Kumur, the answer is cloud computing and corporate performance management. Writing in the Economic Times of India, the Oracle executive suggests that the smartest organizations are creating, in effect, their own internal search engines to stay on top of issues around borrowing, debt exposure, revenue and more: “Companies everywhere are taking measures to make themselves as ‘uncertainty-proof’ as possible – a process that begins with the ability to react with agility to rapid change in the market. (The cloud) allows companies to automatically collect information from a number of different silos and consolidates it into a form that enables management not only report accurately, but also to review quickly, and crucially make well-founded predictions to inform future decisions.” If you find it a bit hard to picture the full impact and proven benefits of cloud-based CPM, here’s a creative exercise to help you get started: pretend you’re someone like Nolop, writing in the Wall Street Journal; imagine yourself 10 or even 20 years from now, and cloud-based CPM has become commonplace. How would you crystallize the impact in retrospect? Figure that out, and you’ve already made the business case to take a step toward the future.

Enterprise-class spreadsheet provider more than doubles quarterly sales – again August 18, 2015 (Albany, NY) – Vena Solutions, the fastest growing cloud-based provider of corporate performance management (CPM) software, today announced its fourth consecutive quarter of record growth. Driven in part by the company’s recently launched Financial Close Management (FCM) application, Vena’s Q2 2015 growth figures include (all figures Y/Y): 120% increase in sales bookings; 270% increase in annual recurring revenue; Increase in deal size (seats) by a factor of 2.2. “Vena’s success stems from letting our customers use their existing Excel spreadsheets to automate complex financial processes,” said Don Mal, CEO of Vena Solutions. “FCM is a particularly challenging one involving numerous detailed tasks, including account reconciliations, consolidation and an ever changing set of regulatory reporting requirements.” In addition to FCM, significant drivers of Vena’s continued record growth include: Significant investments – more than doubling resources – in its Customer Success program to ensure clients continue to get the most out of Vena; Achieving National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) accreditation for the company’s Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit training and educational courses; Building on its regulatory reporting product offering through a strategic partnership with disclosure management leader Certent; Rapidly deploying new applications for a changing regulatory landscape for financial institutions, namely the Dodd-Frank Act Stress Test (DFAST) and Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR); Signing an almost $50-billion a year financial services company onto Vena’s cloud-based solution. Added Mal, “our clients know the role spreadsheets play in the way you get work done, which is why our approach – embracing Excel – is really the way you think.” About Vena Solutions – www.venasolutions.com Vena turns Excel into an enterprise-class business solution with capabilities including a centralized database, workflow, version control and a detailed audit trail. With Vena, hundreds of leading brands are now getting trusted numbers and insights – fast – without sacrificing the Excel spreadsheets they know and use. They use Vena for financial and strategic corporate performance management (CPM) applications including budgeting, forecasting, financial close management, reporting and disclosure, in addition to managing a growing array of operational drivers and KPIs. Vena is the fastest growing cloud CPM vendor, and the only one to embrace – not replace – Excel spreadsheets. And the results speak for themselves.

Pleasanton, CA – July 29, 2015 – Certent, a leading provider of software as a service (SaaS) solutions for equity compensation management, financial reporting for ASC718, and regulatory disclosures with the SEC, announces a strategic partnership with Vena Solutions, a leader in cloud-based Corporate Performance Management (CPM). Vena’s approach to CPM turns Microsoft® Excel® into an enterprise-class business solution with a centralized database, workflow and business rules. As a result, finance leaders can trust the security, accuracy and integrity of their numbers, while benefiting from the flexibility and unmatched computing power of Excel. Certent’s Disclosure Management platform accesses the financial performance data within Vena and allows users to link this data across Microsoft products, updating tables and content from spreadsheets directly into regulatory documents in Microsoft Word and management and board reports in Microsoft PowerPoint. By connecting the reporting process from one step to the next, companies increase efficiency and maintain one version of the truth. Once the data is in the Disclosure Management platform, teams can collaboratively edit, comment on, and review financial disclosures simultaneously – including XBRL tagging. The platform also enables the reporting team to easily generate, present, and exchange data both internally and externally. Users can prepare SEC-compliant submissions, XBRL, and EDGARized HTML based upon a single source document and file directly with the SEC. “The Vena/Certent partnership came about because both companies share the perspective of allowing users to leverage advanced technology in the environment they prefer to work in, Microsoft Excel,” said John Neider, Director of Partnerships and Alliances for Certent. “Trusted, up to date numbers are the cornerstone of effective financial management, nowhere more so than in regulatory reporting and compliance,” said Don Mal, CEO of Vena Solutions. “With Certent, our customers can maintain that trust in the numbers from the earliest planning stages right through to regulatory filings, all within the familiar environment of Excel. And that translates into smarter decisions and more informed stakeholders.” ABOUT CERTENT Certent makes it easier for companies to meet their financial compliance requirements. Certent’s user-friendly, web-based technology streamlines equity plan management, financial reporting for ASC718, and financial filings (in XBRL and HTML) with the U.S. SEC. With technology based on in-depth accounting expertise, an open ecosystem of industry partners, and an expert services organization focused on customer success, Certent has helped more than 1,300 companies worldwide innovate their financial compliance processes. ABOUT VENA SOLUTIONS Vena Solutions has redefined how companies automate their most mission-critical finance, accounting and business processes. Our platform embraces the best of Microsoft® Excel®, extending and evolving its capabilities to create a next-generation enterprise solution that is powerful, yet intuitive. Vena is a first-to-market solution that offers the most comprehensive suite of cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) capabilities with a quick deployment methodology – all without compromising what you love best about Excel. For more information please visit www.venasolutions.com.

Finance departments close, consolidate and report while still using native Excel models, formulas and templates Toronto, Canada, May 28, 2015 –Vena Solutions, the fastest growing cloud-based provider of corporate performance management (CPM) software, is pleased to announce the launch of its new Financial Close Management solution. The new solution leverages native Excel while still handling the complexities of the financial close, the consolidation of financial data and the generation of key financial statements and reports. Vena automates existing close, consolidation and reporting processes and stores them in a centralized database, while using the best-known accounting tool in the world – Microsoft Excel®. Below are just some of the financial processes that Vena automates: Foreign currency translation and related gains and losses The elimination of intercompany balances Accounting for minority (non-controlling) interests Automatic and manual journal entries Mapping of source data to a common, enterprise-wide chart of accounts Auditing of any additions or updates to the data Vena leverages the spreadsheets used in the current financial close management process. Any roll-forward schedule, account reconciliation or supplemental calculations that already exist in Excel spreadsheets can be loaded into Vena and incorporated into the process. “As a CPA and former Chief Financial Officer, I can attest to the value of a world-class financial close management solution,” says Gary Kantz, Vena Solutions’ Director of Close and Consolidate Solutions. “Given the global embrace of Excel, Vena enables users to quickly and easily reduce monthly close cycles from weeks to potentially hours.” Automating these processes frees up accounting staff to perform other, more valuable tasks, such as financial analysis and the creation of more insightful management reports. Accountants will work fewer hours and have a better quality of life; as a result, organizations will experience reduced turnover. Best of all, accountants already know Excel, resulting in minimal training, higher adoption rates and quick implementations. To hear how a customer has benefited from Vena’s financial close solution, watch the following 5 minute video. For more information about Vena Financial Close Management, visit Vena’s website, or register for a demonstration webinar scheduled for Thursday, June 11 at 2pm Eastern time. “We’re not asking people involved in the financial close management process to sacrifice the Excel models, formulas and templates they’ve spent years building,” says Rishi Grover, President, Vena Solutions. “They get to embrace Excel while adding the structure and control they need in an enterprise-class solution.”

Partnership cements commitment to streamlined, low maintenance financial reporting Toronto, Ontario, October 30, 2014 – Today, regulatory bodies are placing as much scrutiny on the process of data collection and financial reporting as they do on the results. However, while the need for transparent communication and accurate data are more critical than ever, companies are still struggling to produce reports without experiencing a significant organizational burden. Vena Solutions, an industry recognized provider of cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) software, is pleased to announce its partnership with Rivet Software, an industry leader in disclosure management that simplifies financial reporting by improving data security and process transparency. Together, the two companies provide an end-to-end solution that streamlines and mitigates the risks inherent in the financial reporting process. “Rivet and Vena are both deeply invested in making financial reporting as easy and stress-free as possible,” explains Don Mal, CEO of Vena Solutions. “Our shared mission is to automate data collection, distribution, consolidation and validation so that companies can easily and confidently report to the SEC and other regulatory bodies without significantly disrupting their regular business cycles.” “The Rivet-Vena solution eliminates the need for report contributors, approvers or reviewers to copy and paste or export data between applications,” notes TJ Tanberg, Vice-President of Sales for Rivet. “This allows organizations to create reports in a fraction of time, and drastically reduces the possibility of user errors.” The joint approach to reporting will enable both internal and external reporting groups to efficiently collect and consolidate data using Vena. The data will automatically be fed into Rivet’s “Crossfire” application, which will allow reporting teams to use Microsoft® Word® to automate the roll-forward process for disclosure documents. XBRL and EDGAR HTML packages can be created and filed directly from within Crossfire. Both solutions leverage native Microsoft Excel® as the user interface, feature a central, secure database, and enable reporting in any language (HTML, XBRL, etc.). ABOUT VENA SOLUTIONS: Vena Solutions has redefined how companies automate their most mission-critical finance, accounting and business processes. Our platform embraces the best of Microsoft Excel, extending and evolving its capabilities to create a next-generation enterprise solution that is powerful yet intuitive. Vena is a first-to-market solution that offers the most comprehensive suite of cloud-based corporate performance management (CPM) capabilities with a quick deployment methodology – all without compromising what you love best about Excel. For more information, visit venasolutions.com. ABOUT RIVET: Rivet Software provides financial reporting systems that improve the way companies create and consume financial information. Founded in 2003 by software and accounting industry veterans, Rivet’s mission remains to revolutionize global financial communications by enabling financial transparency and leveraging global standards. Headquartered in Denver, CO, the firm employs the most experienced XBRL and financial reporting staff in the industry. Rivet was recently acquired by Equity Administration Solutions, Inc., a market leader in stock administration and FAS123R/ASC718 and SEC compliance reporting solutions. Visit the website at www.rivetsoftware.com.