User Reviews

( 3 customer reviews )

Pros

Budget Maestro is extremely useful in budgeting in forecasting because it allows the user to provide inputs on so many different levels, and this information rolls out through the budget to the correct line items. Adding costs or revenues is easy, and being able to drill down into details to find answers has been priceless. Importing values for the budget also saves a TON of time!
This program is AWESOME!

Cons

With any program that is going to provide so much detail, there is a great amount of set up time to ensure accounts and other items are set up properly. Once this is complete, its just a matter of learning the program to meet your needs. Training time will have to be considered, but I think it is worth the time and the money.

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars. Cant wait to try Planning Maestro!!!!

Pros

1. Very powerful forecasting tool that can handle both simple and complex aspects of forecasting. Handles multiple departments, entities, and the consolidation of them with ease.
2. Very easy to import actual data in order to perform variance analysis.
3. Easy to import almost all information necessary to set up a "plan" the first time.
4. What-if analysis allows you to look at the financial impact of making changes in your business without having to change your primary "plan"
5. All reports can be exported to Excel
6. Report layouts can be customized.
7. Very easy to create a 5 year forecast that allows increase/decrease assumptions to be customized in numerous ways, and using as many timeframes as desired.
8. Handles lines of credit and term loans, both fixed and variable rate, very easily.

Cons

1. Can't run a statement of cash flows based on "actual" data, only on "plan" data.
2. Not very easy to run a "plan" balance sheet for a future year as a stand-alone report, must either start the report on a month just after you have "actual" data or create an "actual/plan" version that houses a combination of data so it can be used for beginning balances.
3. If using Desktop version, additional modules need to be purchased to handle pre-paid insurance automatically and forecast inventory.

Overall

Solid business performance management software package.

Pros

My budgeting task has become much easier in comparison to using spreadsheets. I also appreciate the level of detail that I can enter within Budget Maestro. Also, the Link Maestro product is a great add-on for importing from MAS90.

Cons

My only complaint is the amount of formatting I have to do when exporting a report to a spreadsheet. It would be great if there were more features for report formatting.

Overall

I highly recommend this product to anyone who is ready to move beyond the spreadsheet way of budgeting. I find the product to be a real good investment for not just annual budgeting, but also for tracking against actuals and forecasts.