What should a CFO ask before approving another reporting tool?

What should a CFO ask before approving another reporting tool?

Andy Rachmiel, CFO + COO at Reportworq, answered this one for Built To Know. His answer is six questions, in the order he would ask them.

1. Does it remove manual work, or create another place to do it?

Not "what dashboards does it have?" Ask whether the tool removes manual work or simply creates another.

2. Does it work with the systems Finance already has?

A useful tool extends the stack. It does not create another reporting destination.

3. Can it automate the reports and presentations Finance already produces?

Today those get rebuilt and formatted by hand. With automation, the same governed outputs come out every time. The value is not another dashboard. It is less reporting work.

4. Can the right people get the right information?

No new license for every recipient. Finance should not need to expand system access just to deliver governed financial content.

5. Does Finance control what is published and who can access it?

Finance controls publishing and access, and AI can safely use the same trusted financial content. Governed financial content should stay governed wherever it goes.

6. What manual process goes away when we buy it?

Finance does not need another reporting destination. It needs less work between the systems it already has and the people who need the information.

Why does a new reporting tool add work before it saves any?

Most reporting tools arrive as one more destination. Finance then owns a new reconciliation: the tool's numbers against the model's numbers, every cycle. The team rebuilds reports that already exist, in a format the new tool understands. Access rules get defined a second time, in a second place.

None of that shows up in the demo. It shows up in the first close after go-live, when the new tool and the old process run side by side.

What this means for your team

If your team already runs three reporting tools, the fourth rarely replaces any of them. It adds a source to reconcile and another login to manage. Your analysts spend the first quarter rebuilding what they had, and the payback date moves out. Next year it adds a renewal you have to defend.

Andy's last question changes the conversation with the vendor. Ask them to name the manual process that goes away, then show it gone on your own reports. A tool that works with the systems Finance already runs adds nothing to reconcile. A tool that automates the reports your team already produces keeps the work they already did.