Top 10 problems solved by Infor SunSystems Cloud in Not for Profit.
Problem #8: Poor Cash Flow Visibility
This is the eighth in our series of blogs highlighting ten common problems addressed by Infor SunSystems Cloud in not-for-profit organisations. In this blog, we focus on the subject of poor cash flow visibility.
The Problem
For not-for-profit organisations, cash flow is often more important than profit. A charity may have healthy income overall but still face cash shortages because grant payments are delayed, funding is received in stages, or expenditure occurs before reimbursement.
Some typical challenges include:
Spreadsheet Jungle
Many organisations can see their bank balance but struggle to answer a more important question: how much cash is actually available to spend? When grant tracking, budgeting, forecasting, and programme reporting are managed in spreadsheets, finance teams spend valuable time reconciling information instead of planning for the future.
Spreadsheets also suffer from another problem commonly associated with manual systems: they increase the likelihood of errors. And errors erode confidence in forecasts.
Poor Visibility of Funding Receipts
Grant payments are rarely received as a single lump sum. Instead, funding may be released against programme milestones, paid quarterly, subject to reporting requirements, or received in arrears.
Many accounting systems are effective at reporting on past financial activity but often provide limited visibility into when future income is expected. As a result, finance teams spend significant time manually tracking anticipated grant receipts alongside their accounting records.
Limited Cash Flow Analysis Across Multiple Dimensions
A finance director may want to analyse cash requirements by grant, project, department, geography, and funding source. This level of complexity is beyond the scope of many accounting systems. They require additional reporting tools or spreadsheets to deliver the required level of detail.
How SunSystems Cloud Improves Cash Flow Visibility in Not for Profit
LAKE solutions based on SunSystems Cloud gives not-for-profit organisations complete visibility of their cash position, funding streams, and grant expenditure in real time. Finance teams can move beyond spreadsheets, improve forecasting accuracy, strengthen governance, and ensure every pound is directed where it delivers the greatest impact.
Improve Visibility
Rather than waiting for month-end reports, finance teams can see current cash positions, outstanding commitments, and incoming funds in real time.
Automated bank reconciliation ensures reported cash balances reflect reality rather than assumptions. Reconciliation can also highlight transactions that have been recorded but not yet cleared through the bank. This provides a clearer picture of committed versus available cash.
Centralised Tracking of Funding Income
SunSystems enables organisations to record and track funding receipts against specific grants, donors, funding streams, projects, programmes, and cost centres. This provides a single view of funding awarded, received, outstanding, and spent. With SunSystems, finance teams can quickly identify which receipts are overdue and which funding sources are performing as expected.
Multi-Dimensional Reporting
SunSystems allows transactions to be analysed across multiple dimensions such as project, grant, funding source, cost centre, department, and programme. This means finance leaders can easily track key metrics such as:
- Cash expenditure by project.
- Remaining grant balances.
- Future funding requirements.
- Which programmes are consuming cash most rapidly
Take the Next Step
These are just some of the ways in which SunSystems can help your organisation. To learn more, visit the not for profit sector page on this website. Alternatively, download a copy of our SunSystems Cloud Beginner’s Guide – Not for Profit.
In the next blog in this series, we highlight the importance of scalability.
By Jon Isherwood