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Bridging: Priorities & Context

Date: 2026-02-17 Domain: Bridging

Priority Ranking

Bridging is entirely unsolved today. Users manually reconcile in Excel. Three strong customer sources confirm the need.

Top Priority (Confirmed — not started)

1. Bridge direct and indirect cash flow forecasts to explain variance drivers - Sources: Euroports, Personio, Levi's (Confirmed) - Current status: Not solved — all users do this manually in Excel - Why it matters: CFOs ask "why is cash different from budget?" and treasurers can't easily explain. Euroports: "We want to know the deviation of the short term forecast versus the budget... I want to understand the drivers." Levi's: "Knowing those differences between the two numbers helps you manage the business." - 7 unsolved outcomes — timing vs permanent differences, monthly cash burn analysis, FP&A category reconciliation

High Priority (Confirmed — partially solved)

2. Provide timely feedback to FP&A team on actual cash performance - Sources: Personio (Confirmed) - Current status: Partial — Variance Analysis helps but no FP&A-specific export or sharing workflow - Why it matters: The feedback loop between treasury and FP&A. Tom at Personio describes a workflow where variance explanations flow back to the FP&A team.

Why This Is Hard

Bridging requires mapping between two fundamentally different views:

  1. Direct method (treasury) — bank transactions, cash in/out, daily timing
  2. Indirect method (FP&A) — P&L budget, accrual-based, monthly/quarterly

The translation layer is complex: - Collection lags (revenue booked ≠ cash received) - Working capital effects (AP/AR timing) - Non-cash items (depreciation, stock comp) - Timing differences (bonus payments, tax)

Next Steps

  1. Define the bridging data model — what data do we need from FP&A? How does it map to Palm categories?
  2. Start with simple comparison — direct forecast vs FP&A forecast for same period, side by side
  3. Validate with Euroports and Personio — both are actively asking for this