Method and system of financial spreading and forecasting

• US 6,249,770 B1
• Filed: 01/28/1999
• Issued: 06/19/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Citibank NA (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Citibank NA (Citigroup Incorporated)
• Inventors: Erwin, Austin, McGuinness, Christian, Fotheringham, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Downs, Robert W.
• Application Number:
  US09/238,307
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 705/10, 705/36
• US Class Current: 725/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A method and system for financial spreading and forecasting provides a computerized system for automatically spreading and analyzing historical financial statements and generating financial forecasts. The system receives and stores information about a company, forecast parameters, including, for example, inflation adjustments, exchange rates, last historic year, and historical account data for the company, and automatically generates financial forecasts for the company. Information can be imported to the system and exported from the system, for example, over a network.

Claims

1. A method for performing financial spreading and forecasting for an entity, comprising:

receiving information about the entity;

receiving entry of a selection of a forecast assumption for the entity selected from a group of forecast assumptions consisting of an input forecast assumption, a calculated forecast assumption, a forecast assumption based on another account, and a forecast assumption using assumption data for another account;

receiving historical account data for the entity; and

automatically generating a financial forecast for the entity based at least in part on the selected forecast assumption and the historical account data, the financial forecast for the entity being selected from a group of forecast scenarios consisting of a base case forecast, a management forecast, an upside forecast, a downside forecast, and an other forecast.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information further comprises receiving the information by an application program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the information further comprises entering the information on the application program.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein entering the information further comprises entering at least one of a company ID which uniquely identifies the entity and a company name of the entity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein entering the information further comprises entering the information by a user at a computer.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein entering the information by the user further comprises automatically prompting the user to enter the information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information further comprises automatically displaying a company information panel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the information further comprises entering the information on the company information panel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein entering the information further comprises entering at least one of a company ID which uniquely identifies the entity and a company name of the entity on the company information panel.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein entering the information further comprises entering the information by a user at a computer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein entering the information by the user further comprises automatically prompting the user to enter the information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving forecast parameters by an application program.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the forecast parameters further comprises entering the forecast parameters on the application program.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein entering the forecast parameters further comprises entering at least one of last historic year parameters and inflation adjustment parameters.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein entering the forecast parameters further comprises entering the forecast parameters by a user at a computer.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically displaying a parameters panel for a user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein displaying the parameters panel further comprises entering forecast parameters on the parameters panel by the user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein entering the forecast parameters further comprises entering at least one of last historic year parameters and inflation adjustment parameters.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein entering the forecast parameters further comprises entering the forecast parameters by the user at a computer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein entering the forecast parameters by the user further comprises automatically prompting the user to enter the forecast parameters.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving historical account data further comprises retrieving the data by a computer application.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the historical account data further comprises gathering the data by a user.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the data further comprises retrieving the data from a database.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein retrieving the data from the database further comprises importing the data from the database by a computer application.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein importing the data further comprises importing the data from a computer database by the computer application.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein importing the data further comprises importing the data to an application program.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein importing the data further comprises importing the data over a computer network.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving historical account data further comprises receiving the data by an application program.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein receiving the data further comprises entering the data on the application program.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein entering the data further comprises entering the data on at least one input report of the application program selected from a group consisting of an income statement report, a balance sheet report, and an input cash flow report.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein entering the data further comprises entering the data on a plurality of input reports of the application program selected from a group consisting of an income statement report, a balance sheet report, and an input cash flow report.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein entering the data further comprises entering the data by a user at a computer.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein entering the data by the user further comprises automatically prompting the user to enter the data.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving historical account data further comprises automatically displaying a company window.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein receiving the data further comprises entering the data on the company window.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein displaying the company window further comprises automatically displaying at least one input report selected from a group consisting of an income statement report, a balance sheet report, and an input cash flow report.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein entering the data on the company window further comprises entering the data on the at least one displayed input report.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein displaying the company window further comprises automatically displaying a plurality of input reports selected from a group consisting of an income statement report, a balance sheet report, and an input cash flow report.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein entering the data on the company window further comprises entering the data on the plurality of displayed input reports.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically generating at least one calculated report selected from a group consisting of a calculated cash flow report, a ratios report, and an executive summary report.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein automatically generating the at least one calculated report further comprises automatically displaying the calculated report.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically generating a plurality of calculated reports selected from a group consisting of a calculated cash flow report, a ratios report, and an executive summary report.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein automatically generating the plurality of calculated reports further comprises automatically displaying the plurality of calculated reports.

44. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically generating the financial forecast for a pre-selected number of years.

45. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically forecasting at least one of all accounts in a current report and individual accounts in a current report.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein automatically forecasting further comprises editing inflation preferences in the current report.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically adjusting at least one account for inflation.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically converting a currency.

49. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the financial forecast further comprises automatically displaying the financial forecast for a user.

50. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating a custom report for the entity based at least, in part, on the forecast assumptions and the historical account data.

51. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically generating a combined file for the entity based at least, in part, on the forecast assumptions and the historical account data.

52. The method of claim 1, further comprising assessing operating profitability and cash flow-generating abilities of the entity according to the financial forecast.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein assessing further comprises assessing the operating profitability and cash flow-generating abilities of the entity by a user.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein assessing the operating profitability and cash flow-generating abilities further comprises assessing the operating profitability and cash flow-generating abilities by the user based on the financial forecast.

55. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the selection of the input forecast assumption further comprises receiving the selection from a group consisting of value, growth rate, multiple, percent, and percent of previous year.

56. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the selection of the calculated forecast assumption further comprises receiving the selection from a group consisting of growth rate of previous year, average growth rate of historic years, compound annual growth rate of historic years, moving average growth rate of a predetermined number of years, and moving compound annual growth rate of a predetermined number of years.

57. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the financial forecast further comprises generating the financial forecast for the entity in a currency other than a currency input by a user using an exchange rate input by the user.

58. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the financial forecast further comprises generating the financial forecast for the entity with inflation removed from at least one account.

59. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the financial forecast further comprises generating the financial forecast for the entity with inflation added to a preselected one of an income statement and a balance sheet for at least one account.

60. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the financial forecast further comprises generating the financial forecast for the entity which includes a comparison with a financial forecast generated for a preselected combination of entities.

61. A system for performing financial spreading and forecasting for an entity, comprising:

means for receiving information about the entity;

means for receiving entry of a selection of a forecast assumption for the entity selected from a group of forecast assumptions consisting of an input forecast assumption, a calculated forecast assumption, a forecast assumption based on another account, and a forecast assumption using assumption data for another account, the forecast assumption selection receiving means being associated with the information receiving means;

means for receiving historical account data for the entity, the historical account data receiving means being associated with the forecast parameters receiving means; and

means for automatically generating a financial forecast for the entity based at least in part on the selected forecast assumption and the historical account data, the financial forecast for the entity being selected from a group of forecast scenarios consisting of a base case forecast, a management forecast, an upside forecast, a downside forecast, and an other forecast.

62. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for receiving the historical account data further comprises means for importing the data.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the means for importing the data further comprises a database storing the data.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the means for receiving the historical account data further comprises an application program on a computer coupled to the database.

65. The system of claim 64, wherein the means for receiving the information further comprises the application program on the computer.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the means for receiving the forecast assumption further comprises the application program on the computer.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the means for automatically generating further comprises the application program on the computer.

68. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for receiving the selection of the input forecast assumption further comprises means for receiving the selection from a group consisting of value, growth rate, multiple, percent, and percent of previous year.

69. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for receiving the selection of the calculated forecast assumption further comprises means for receiving the selection from a group consisting of growth rate of previous year, average growth rate of historic years, compound annual growth rate of historic years, moving average growth rate of a predetermined number of years, and moving compound annual growth rate of a predetermined number of years.

70. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for generating the financial forecast further comprises means for generating the financial forecast for the entity in a currency other than a currency input by a user using an exchange rate input by the user.

71. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for generating the financial forecast further comprises means for generating the financial forecast for the entity with inflation removed from at least one preselected account.

72. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for generating the financial forecast further comprises means for generating the financial forecast for the entity with inflation added to a preselected one of an income statement and a balance sheet for at least one account.

73. The system of claim 61, wherein the means for generating the financial forecast further comprises means for generating the financial forecast for the entity which includes a comparison with a financial forecast generated for a preselected combination of entities.