Reporting tools have become an integral part of many businesses. They offer different features to track performance, find errors, and identify potential problems within your organization.

Some of these tracking apps are free, but most come with a paid subscription or at least a monthly fee. Many people use them regularly so they need to be affordable!

Trending reports are one specific type of internal report that can help you address the three main goals of revenue assurance. These include: detecting fraud, finding compliance risks, and assessing organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

In this article, we will talk about some examples of how trending reports could aid in achieving each of those goals.

Financial health score

Rating agencies have specific guidelines for how they calculate a company’s financial health. The most important of these is what we refer to as the “key performance indicator (KPI) ratio.” This looks at two numbers — one positive and one negative.

The positive number is calculated by dividing net income or profit by revenue. The negative number then comes from subtracting the less favorable measure of gross profit divided by total revenues.

We will use Amazon as an example. If Amazon has a high KPI ratio, it means that even though their profits are growing, they are still making enough money per sale to be considered healthy.

By comparison, if the KPIs show that Amazon is struggling to make enough money per sale, this indicates that they may need to make changes to ensure their business remains stable.

Recent credit report

Credit reports are essential documents that contain information about you, your financial history, and your debt. Most major credit reporting agencies (CRAs) offer users their credit scores for free to determine credit worthiness.

By looking at your credit report from all three of the most well-known CRAs — Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian — we can get an overall picture of how likely it is that you will fail to pay your bills or go into bankruptcy.

These trends reports check not only whether you have filed for bankruptcy but also look back several years to see if there are any indications of fraud. They assess whether you have opened new lines of credit and what kind of credit you have – like mortgages or credit cards.

By comparing these reports with each other as well as your own personal notes, employees can identify potential risk factors for loan and investment opportunities.

Year-end audit

When an organization does not have enough internal information to perform their normal duties, they hire external consultants to help them close out for the year. These consultants are called auditors or tax experts who are paid by the business to look over your books!

Most large companies have internal teams that handle these annual audits, but small businesses may need outside assistance when trying to assess whether or not everything is correct.

These third party firms will frequently work with you directly, or through an intermediary like Deloitte which has accountants on staff that coordinate with the auditor.

By having this back channel set up, it helps ensure things run smoothly as well as getting quality reports.

Past performance

Recent trends for past behavior are some of the most powerful predictors of future actions. By looking at how people acted in the past, we can get an idea of what they will do in the future. With that information, you can determine if there is predictive value in these reports or not!

It’s important to remember that correlation does NOT imply causation. For example, while it may be common for people with heart disease to have high cholesterol, high cholesterol alone doesn’t mean someone has heart disease.

Likewise, just because two things happen together often doesn’t prove one causes the other.

It’s true that individuals who use poor quality products probably won’t spend lots of money on them, but it doesn’t explain why they spent less on their current product unless you also know about their budget.

We cannot make any definitive claims about cause and effect from this study. It only gives us clues that need to be interpreted carefully.

Equipment qualification

An equipment qualification (EQ) report is an assessment of your organization’s equipment inventory. This type of report looks at all items in your inventory, not just those that are actively used, to determine if they meet certain requirements for use.

For example, let’s say you have ten pieces of heavy machinery in your warehouse. One of these machines costs $10,000 and is stored outside during inclement weather. Is this machine considered “in-use equipment” or “non-active equipment”?

Technically speaking, this item counts as non-active because it isn’t being put into active service. However, we would include this cost in the EQ report since it can be needed at some time in the future when maintenance becomes necessary.

This article will talk more about why and how EQ reports work. But first, here are two examples of an EQ report: one from our team and one our competitors.

Procedures qualification

The procedures qualification process typically begins with an internal audit or external consulting firm conducting qualitative assessments to determine if the employee’s actions meet company policy and/or regulatory requirements. These audits look into whether certain policies were properly followed, as well as whether there are any laws broken.

Next, the internal auditor will perform quantitative tests to verify that these policies are actually being adhered to in practice. For example, they may test how frequently these policies are used in comparison to what is considered standard operating procedure. If necessary, they can also do random inspections to ensure proper use of these policies.

Once this has been completed, the internal auditors will compile all of their findings into a report which will be presented to both the individual(s) under investigation and their superiors. This gives them enough information about their behaviors so that they can make sure such unethical practices don’t occur again but at the same time allows them to understand why things went wrong in the past.

Procedures review

Procedure reviews occur when an employee or group of employees are questioned about their procedures or practices. This is typically done as part of an internal audit, but it can also be conducted for other reasons, such as performance issues or complaints.

During procedure reviews, auditors will look to determine whether there’s consistency with company policies and procedures, as well as if everything is documented properly.

If changes are found, then they may need to be revised or even terminated depending on what was being practiced before and what is stated in policy.

This, of course, impacts how much revenue the organization collects which can result in significant losses.

Procedures test

Procedure tests determine if an internal process, system or framework is working properly. These procedures are typically done as audits to verify that something is being done correctly.

Procedure testing was first used during the Industrial Revolution when engineers would check their designs against past techniques to make sure they were correct. Since then, it has been adapted for use in many areas, including revenue assurance.

A procedure test looks at whether an internal process, system or framework is functioning effectively. More specifically, it evaluates how well things work, if there are any gaps or flaws in the process, and whether someone is performing their job adequately.

These procedure tests can be conducted randomly or intentionally to evaluate performance. Randomly conducted tests occur without anyone planning them, while intentional tests are planned ahead of time.

This article will talk about some examples of procedure tests and what you can do to ensure your organization is performing these tests consistently.