Budget vs actuals (BVA) analysis is one of those finance processes that quietly eats time.

It shows up every cycle.
It requires coordination across teams.
And somehow, it still leaves decision-makers asking follow-up questions.

At Artlist, that reality had become impossible to ignore.

When BVA Becomes the Bottleneck

Artlist runs a complex business across multiple products and revenue models. Like many growing organizations, finance needed to balance speed with accuracy, and flexibility with control.

But the budget vs actuals process was heavy.

Each cycle required pulling data from multiple systems, consolidating it, rebuilding views, and coordinating reviews. The effort was significant, and the output often lacked the level of detail needed to confidently explain what was actually happening in the business.

Finance wasn’t short on data.
They were short on time and usable insight.

Less Effort Was Only Part of the Goal

Reducing effort mattered, but it wasn’t the real objective.

What Artlist needed was better analysis. Not just faster reports, but deeper visibility into performance drivers and clearer answers to questions like:

• Where are variances really coming from?
• Which products are driving profitability?
• What needs attention now, not next month?

That meant planning and analysis had to operate at a much finer level of detail.

From High-Level Views to PO-Level Insight

Once Artlist centralized planning and analysis with fintastic, the nature of BVA changed.

Instead of rebuilding reports every cycle, plan vs actuals became continuously available and far more granular. The finance team could analyze performance down to the purchase order level, making it easier to understand not just what changed, but why.

As effort went down, insight went up.

In fact, Artlist reduced the time spent on budget vs actuals by 70%, while gaining more detailed and reliable analysis than before.

Planning at the Level the Business Actually Operates

Granularity became a turning point.

Artlist’s team can now plan and analyze at any level of detail, which is critical for a multi-product business. Operating expenses are allocated across product-based cost centers, giving finance and leadership a much clearer view of profitability by product.

This level of planning wasn’t practical before. Now, it’s standard.

And because the business moves quickly, Artlist also shifted to weekly planning, giving teams earlier visibility into changes and the ability to act before small issues become large ones.

Giving Budget Owners More Autonomy

Another important change was who could access and work with financial data.

Instead of relying on recurring handoffs, budget owners now work with always-current plans relevant to their roles. They can compare plans to actuals, explore results, and make adjustments without waiting on FP&A.

Finance stays in control of the model.
The business gains speed and confidence.

What Changed for Finance

For Artlist, improving budget vs actuals wasn’t about optimizing a single process. It was about changing how finance supports decision-making across the company.

The result:

• Significantly less manual effort
• Much deeper visibility into performance
• Faster, more confident decisions

When planning and analysis match the complexity of the business, finance stops chasing numbers and starts shaping outcomes.

Want to see what this could look like for your team?

If your finance organization is spending too much time on budget vs actuals and not enough time acting on insights, our team can help.

Connect with the fintastic team to talk through your planning challenges and see how modern finance teams are approaching analysis today.