Data Warehouse Design Solutions

9

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Business is a competition; somebody needs to keep score. Because score keeping is a complex task, we have given it over to accountants and large software systems. These systems, as mentioned in Chapter 8, “Budgets and Spending,” are very complex. We do not contend that this complexity is unnecessary, only that it complicates the analytical tasks of business. Sorting out and simplifying the contents of the accounting system is a worthy goal for a data warehouse. Chapter 8 described how to simplify the budgeting world using a family of stars. In this chapter, we apply the techniques of dimensional design to financial reporting.

First, we need to make an important distinction between managerial and financial accounting. Managerial accounting is less demanding than financial accounting, but equally important. Many data warehouses and data marts are designed for managerial accounting tasks. A data warehouse designed for financial accounting is a serious undertaking because of the potential use of its contents.

Key Business Terms

Managerial accounting. Accounting intended for internal consumption, used in planning and operating the organization by managers and employees.

Managerial accounting is timely, and some degree of imprecision is often accepted. Managerial accounting has countless uses and the data may come from many sources, not just the approved, audited ...