It’s time for that report to be assembled, checked, distributed, filed, etc., etc.
Many innovations can help in both the preparing and constructing of a report, both for paper and electronic storage and retrieval.
During the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Not-For-Profit Industry Conference, Eric Fraint, president and founder of Your Part-Time Controller LLC, gave a few tips about shopping for and using design tools.
Making it clear that he considers Excel to be in a class by itself, Fraint offered the following thoughts:
* Different tools have different strengths. Some are good for developing simple charts and graphs, others are better for complex charts and graphs.
* Some are more expensive, some less so.
* Some are better for large enterprise environments, some more suitable for smaller organizations.
* Some are easier to learn how to use, others have a steeper learning curve.
* Some are better for displaying information on a smart phone or tablet, others work well on a full-size screen.
* Some are good at distributing large groups of people statically, others are better doing so dynamically.
* Some are good at connecting to underlying data, others are better at uploading.
* Some are good at building dashboards, others are better at building reports.
* Some are good at displaying geographical information.
* Some are good at drilling down.
* Some are good at slide presentations, some not.
