Let leadership review the business without rebuilding the picture first.
Financial Dashboard
Financial Dashboard is a STAR-centered review surface for WIP, net billings, collections, AR, budgets, and comparative periods. It gives leadership a cleaner path from firm-level signal into office, partner, manager, client, parent client, child client, engagement, and job detail, so review does not begin with stitched exports, side workbooks, and explanation before anyone can decide what the numbers are saying. It is a financial operating layer for firms running on STAR.
The problem is not reporting. It is review readiness.
The financial record exists. Review still starts too far away from it.
In most firms, STAR already holds the underlying financial record. The drag appears between the record and the leadership meeting. Reports are rerun. Exports are pulled. Workbooks are restitched. Someone re-establishes which period is being used, which comparison is current, and how the view in front of the room was assembled before the discussion can even begin.
That preparation work becomes so normal that firms start treating it as part of review itself. It is not. It is the cost of lacking a cleaner review surface.
Too often, too much effort goes into producing the report and not enough into reading it.
What leadership needs from the product
Financial Dashboard gives leadership a stronger way to read the business without rebuilding the picture first.
A dependable period
The room should know whether it is looking at an open month, a frozen close, a prior-year comparison, or a budget view without rebuilding the framing first.
A clean path into detail
A firm-level signal should lead directly into office, partner, manager, client, parent client, child client, engagement, or job detail when the question demands it.
One reading of the number
Review should not break into competing worksheets, private exports, and side interpretations of what the number is supposed to represent.
Usable context while the question is live
The supporting detail should already be there when leadership asks for it, not arrive later as a second reporting exercise.
What Financial Dashboard includes
Core financial views
Financial Dashboard brings together the views firms return to constantly:
WIP
Net Billings
Collections
AR
Net Billings and Collections can also be reviewed with:
Budget
Current Year
Prior Year
Period-to-Date
Year-to-Date through the selected period
Hierarchy and drill path
Start at the firm level, choose the lens that matters, and move directly into the part of the business that needs attention.
The dashboard can follow the structure firms already use to review performance, including:
Office
Partner
Manager
Client
Parent client
Child client
Engagement or project
Job
At broader levels, the lower pane can show ranked views such as top clients by WIP, net billings, collections, or AR. As the review becomes more specific, the view can move into detail grids such as Client Folder Details, then into child-client and engagement or project records.
Period and refresh model
Historical review needs to stay trustworthy, and current-period review needs to stay usable.
closed periods remain frozen
open periods can refresh daily using prior-day data
hourly generation is available where it makes sense
many firms prefer daily frozen review for consistency
Firm-specific structure
Financial Dashboard is configured to reflect how the firm is organized and how leadership reviews the business.
It can use:
standard STAR dimensions
parent and child client hierarchy
employee roles such as partner, manager, and supervisor
industry, office, service line, entity, or franchise views
firm-specific custom STAR fields
Additional reporting in the same environment
The lower reporting area can support custom panels that bring additional reporting into the same review flow.
That makes it possible to compare outside data sources, such as ADP, against STAR measures like net billings while keeping the same period structure and navigation model.
What changes in practice
Operational changes
less manual STAR report assembly
fewer side spreadsheets and one-off workbooks
faster review across WIP, net billings, collections, AR, and budgets
one set of numbers across partners, managers, operations, and leadership
a cleaner path from summary to underlying detail
historical periods preserved as they were
Built on your practice management data
Financial Dashboard starts with the financial data already coming out of STAR and turns it into a fast, frozen reporting environment. STAR remains the system of record. Financial Dashboard becomes the place where the firm reviews, compares, and works through the numbers.
It is built first for firms using STAR, while also allowing financial data from systems such as CCH ProSystem fx Practice Management and IRIS Practice Engine to be incorporated when the underlying data is available.
FAQ
Does Financial Dashboard replace STAR?
No. STAR remains the system of record. Financial Dashboard reduces the manual reporting work built around STAR and gives the firm a faster, more usable place to review the numbers.
Is this just another BI dashboard?
No. Financial Dashboard is built around how firms review and act on financial information: frozen periods, configurable hierarchy navigation, and movement from summary into detail.
Can it match our firm’s structure?
Yes. Financial Dashboard supports standard STAR dimensions, client hierarchies, and firm-specific custom fields.
Can it use our custom STAR fields?
Yes. If a field exists in STAR and helps organize how the firm reviews performance, it can be incorporated into the navigation model.
What does a frozen period mean?
A frozen period preserves the numbers as they were at that point in time, so historical review stays trustworthy even if the firm’s structure changes later.
How current can the data be?
Open periods can refresh daily using prior-day data, with hourly generation available where it is useful.
Can we compare budget, current year, and prior year?
Yes. Budget, current year, prior year, period-to-date, and year-to-date context can be part of the review experience, especially for net billings and collections.
Can users get from summary to detail?
Yes. Users can move from firm-level views into ranked client views, client detail, and engagement or project-level records inside the same workspace.
Is this only for leadership meetings?
No. Executive review matters, but much of the value comes from day-to-day use by partners, managers, operations leaders, finance teams, and others responsible for financial performance.
Can outside data be added too?
Yes. Custom lower-pane views can incorporate third-party data, such as ADP, alongside STAR-centered reporting.
Do we need to change our STAR setup to use it?
Not necessarily. Much of the value comes from making better use of the financial data you already have. Existing custom fields can also be incorporated where useful.