The shift to smarter financial planning: key trends and insights for 2025

In a rapidly changing business landscape, effective annual planning and forecasting are more critical than ever. Yet, as businesses prepare for 2025, our recent survey of over 80 financial professionals, accountants, and business owners reveals that the majority are still heavily reliant on outdated tools—primarily spreadsheets—to manage their budgets, forecasts, and annual plans. This dependency on manual systems creates significant pain points that prevent businesses from making quick, informed decisions.

This article explores the current state of financial planning, diving deep into the key insights and trends uncovered in our survey and how Fathom offers an innovative, automated solution to these challenges. From time-consuming processes to lack of scalability, we will break down the critical issues facing businesses today and explore how modern tools can overhaul these pain points into opportunities.

The challenge: Time-consuming and error-prone processes

One of the most consistent findings from our survey was that 75% of respondents consider manual processes in Excel to be a significant pain point in budgeting and forecasting. While spreadsheets are widely used and are often seen as a 'safety blanket tool,' they can come with significant drawbacks:

• Time-Intensive Workflows: Gathering data, updating figures, and ensuring accuracy is often overwhelming. Creating, reviewing, and adjusting budgets and forecasts can take hours or even days, and accuracy is not guaranteed. ‍
• Manual Data Entry: Spreadsheet-based forecasting involves tedious data entry, which takes time and leaves room for errors. 60% of respondents reported that manual data entry led to critical errors such as broken formulas or version control issues, which can have cascading effects on decision-making.

This inefficiency prevents financial professionals from focusing on higher-value activities, such as strategic analysis or client advisory, and limits their ability to adapt to real-time business changes.

The strain of scalability: spreadsheets are not built for growth

As businesses grow, so does the complexity of their financial forecasting needs. Excel spreadsheets may suffice for small, simple businesses, but as firms expand and need to produce more forecasts, the scalability of Fathom vs Excel facilitates that expansion much more:  

• Difficulty Scaling Operations: Spreadsheets need help keeping up with accounting firms managing multiple clients or SMBs with expanding financial portfolios. 45% of survey respondents noted that spreadsheets become unmanageable as the number of variables and financial data points increases. ‍
• Lack of agility: A spreadsheet's static nature limits the ability to quickly adjust forecasts in response to new data, market changes, or internal shifts. Businesses need the flexibility to experiment with different scenarios and assess their potential impact.

Many accountants and business leaders report that forecasting feels like a "fantasy"—a theoretical exercise that doesn't capture the nuances of their dynamic business environment. As a result, companies often make decisions based on outdated data or incomplete insights, risking poor outcomes.

The client communication gap

Another significant challenge that 70% of survey respondents identified was the difficulty of communicating financial data to clients. While businesses may have access to detailed financial reports, conveying those insights to non-financial stakeholders clearly and understandably is a significant hurdle.

• Client Engagement Challenges: Clients—especially SMBs—often lack the financial literacy to interpret complex reports or see the value in long-term forecasting. 60% of businesses report that clients struggle to understand the details of their forecasts, leaving them disengaged and skeptical about the value of financial planning. ‍
• Visual Tools as a Solution: Clear, actionable insights are essential for building client trust. Visual tools such as graphs, charts, and scenario-based models can make complex financial data more accessible and relatable. Our survey revealed that 70% of respondents agree that visual tools are crucial for improving client understanding and engagement.

By presenting financial data in a more digestible format, businesses can strengthen their client relationships, offer more proactive advisory services, and position themselves as trusted partners in long-term growth.

Moving beyond static budgets

Traditional budgeting is static—a snapshot in time that quickly becomes irrelevant as the business environment changes. Scenario forecasting, on the other hand, allows businesses to simulate multiple possible outcomes and adjust their plans based on changing conditions. This shift is becoming increasingly important:

• Real-Time Adaptability: In an unpredictable world, businesses must be able to pivot quickly. Scenario forecasting allows companies to model different financial scenarios (e.g., high/low variations) to assess the potential impacts of decisions. 80% of survey respondents agreed that scenario forecasting offers a much more dynamic approach to financial planning than traditional budgeting. ‍
• Better Decision-Making: With scenario forecasting, businesses can evaluate a range of outcomes—whether optimistic, pessimistic, or base cases—and make decisions based on a broader understanding of future possibilities. This helps mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities that might have otherwise been overlooked.

Fathom's scenario forecasting tools enable businesses to visualize the impact of different scenarios in real-time, empowering leaders to make informed, confident decisions.

The solution: Fathom's approach to financial planning

Fathom directly addresses the pain points identified in our survey by offering a modern alternative to Excel-based forecasting. Through automation and visualization, Fathom streamlines financial planning, improves accuracy, and increases client engagement:

• Automated Financial Reporting: Fathom automates the tedious tasks associated with data consolidation, budget updates, and cash flow forecasting, saving businesses time and reducing the risk of errors. This allows accountants and financial professionals to focus on more strategic, value-added activities. ‍
• Visual representations : Fathom's intuitive visual tools change complex data into clear, easy-to-understand reports. Whether it's a simple bar chart or a multi-dimensional scenario forecast, Fathom's visual tools help businesses easily communicate their financial insights. ‍
• Scenario Forecasting: Fathom's automated forecasting capabilities allow businesses to run multiple scenarios and adjust their plans as needed, offering the flexibility that traditional budgeting methods cannot match.

The Future of Financial Planning

The survey data paints a clear picture: businesses that want to stay agile and make data-driven decisions need more than traditional financial planning tools, such as spreadsheets. The need for modern, visual, and automated solutions is undeniable.

Fathom's suite of tools—ranging from scenario forecasting to automated workflows—addresses the key pain points businesses face today. By reworking static, error-prone financial processes into dynamic, insightful tools, Fathom empowers businesses to plan smarter, scale faster, and communicate more effectively.

As we look toward the future of financial planning, it's clear that businesses must embrace these changes to stay competitive. Fathom is here to lead the way, helping organizations unlock clarity, confidence, and productivity in financial decision-making.

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