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FISCAL Forward is credit analysis software built for small business lending in community banks and credit unions. With standardized Tax Return and Financial Statement spread templates; consistent reports; and a flexible process throughout, FISCAL empowers you to move beyond Excel spreading. Don’t get forced into rigid, big-bank processes that don’t work for you. Get the Financial Analysis, Global Cash Flow, DSCR reports, and Word-based Credit Memo you need without the burden of a full LOS.
Provider
FISCAL SPREADING
Located In
United States
Foundation
2001
Open API
Unverified
Training
Documentation, In Person, Live Online, Webinars
Community Banks and Credit Unions frustrated with time consuming and error-prone spreadsheets creating inconsistent credit packages, who need a right-sized solution for their small business lending.
Content Source: FISCAL
Green rating bars show the winning product based on the average rating and number of reviews.
FISCAL Reviews
"Financial Spreading Made Easy!"
Overall: We use FISCAL for all our financial spreads and analysis for underwriting our commercial loans. My experience with FISCAL has been extremely positive and for the money, it's the best!
Pros: The ease in which the software is able to be utilized and the immediate functionality of it. I was looking for a financial spreading software that I could literally buy off the shelf and immediately put it to use. FISCAL did exactly that and much more. In addition, the support from FISCAL was the best I had seen and experienced before. Always accessible and always stayed with me via phone or email until my question was resolved.
Cons: The least thing I liked initially was having to set up a separate "entity" name when my borrower was an individual. Once I got the hang of it, it ceased to be any issue at all. With the updates to the software, this is not an issue any longer.
Vendor Response
"FisCAL Software"
Overall: We are able to help our customer banks that lack the expertise to spread their customers.
Pros: Data entry is easy Ability to customize a credit memo to suit our needs Report design
Cons: Color Scheme? Could be a little more cheery or offer the ability to change themes. There are some hidden options available. You have to know they're there in order to use them. I wish we didn't have to download the RMA data each time. It would be really cool is was an automatic update.
Vendor Response
"Great Product "
Overall: If you are looking for a spreading program without all the unneeded bells and whistles then FISCAL is perfect for the price.
Pros: This program is very easy to use and the customer support is very responsive and helpful.
Cons: As an admin it would be better if you could make behind the scene modifications without having to reach out to FISCAL as it is locked down.
"Highly thoughtful and user-friendly platform!"
Overall: Our bank has had an excellent experience with FISCAL SPREADING. We feel that there is a lot of thoughtfulness in the user interface design. The platform feels simple, but it has ability to generate all the results that we need.
Pros: - Platform interface is intuitive and easy for a new user or a more junior individual to learn, particularly true for the basic spreading and reporting functions. This is important so that new employees or junior analysts can quickly learn how to use the platform. - Allows for both personal and business spreads in one platform, and both spreading templates are intuitive to use. - Advanced functionality is also excellent: creating multiple spreads for one entity (which is useful when we receive multiple type of reporting quality, such as co-prep, tax returns, CPA-audited, etc.); being able to quickly create global spreads and DSCR analyses; being able to document adjustments in the system; real estate sensitivity is also simple to complete
Cons: - In my opinion, I think the system-generated reports can be enhanced aesthetically. - I have to click on multiple buttons to get to a report because pop-up windows keep arising such as "do you want to save your changes" and then "the grey letters will get cut off in printing" and then "do you want to select an RMA industry now" kind of messages every time. And they are the same pop-ups every time. - To export a report to PDF (which is our most common output format), there are multiple selections to be made. I believe the default is a .rpt format (which we never use).
Vendor Response
"Fiscal User"
Overall: While I wouldn't call it a problem, the initial software that the Bank was using was high-end and we only used about 5% of the program's capabilities. Further, there was a major learning curve involved in regard to formatting, which could take several hours or days to figure out formatting. With Fiscal we are using all of the program and they will do the initial formatting of the credit analysis report. A couple of phone conversations and the Bank had the format we wanted. Totally different experience from the prior program.
Pros: The best part about the software is the ease of use. Since it is set up much like an Excel file, it is very easy to customize the charts to meet the needs of the Bank. Further, I really appreciate that the financial spreads can be exported into either a Word or Excel format. The export feature allows me to format the credit analysis report to meet the needs of loan committee, but also the Board of Directors and participating banks.
Cons: I would really like to see the Debt Coverage chart incorporated into the actual credit memo. For those loans that are not complex, coping the chart into the analysis isn't a problem However, when the borrower has several businesses and the global cash flow is extensive, coping the excel file into the analysis can present a formatting problem.
Vendor Response
