Method and apparatus providing automated financial plan controls

US7657471B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Lawson Software, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Sarat C. Sankaran · Redwood City, US
• Prashant Fuloria · Mountain View, US
• Rajesh Chandran · Thrissur, IN

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 1, 2001
• Grant date: Feb 2, 2010
• Expiry date: Dec 2, 2026

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q40/12
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques providing automatic control of a distributed electronic financial plan are disclosed. A set of financial statements is created and populated with planned data values that are stored in a database. In certain embodiments, statements in the set are logically linked to facilitate automatic updating as changes occur. The P&L, balance sheet and statement of cash flow are all automatically configured with certain calculated lines and standard lines that maintain proper accounting relationships among the electronic financial plan documents. Spending lines of the P&L are linked meaningfully to constrain spending plans of the corresponding underlying departments so that the P&L becomes conservative in terms of spending. One or more organizational hierarchies may be created and stored, based on departmental organization or revenue flows, and sets of P&Ls, balance sheets, and statements of cash flows are associated with nodes in these hierarchies. A roll-up statement may be created based on any of the hierarchies, enabling a user to rapidly obtain alternative views of lower-level plan data. The user may also prepare multiple different linked groups of P&Ls, balance sheets, and stat…