5 Power BI dashboards every CFO needs in 2026

As a CFO you make decisions that affect the whole company. But if you wait until the monthly report is ready, you have already lost two weeks. With the right Power BI dashboards you see important signals in real time. Here are the five dashboards we build for every finance director.

At Excel Department we have created Power BI solutions for CFOs in 40+ Swedish companies. We have seen which dashboards are actually used every day and which are forgotten after two months. This guide shows the five that always deliver value.

Dashboard 1: Liquidity and cash flow

This is the dashboard we build first for almost every CFO. Liquidity determines whether the company survives next month. You cannot wait 15 days for a report.

What it shows

Key metrics (Cards at the top): – Current liquidity (cash + available credit) – Cash flow over the last 30 days – Forecast liquidity 30 days ahead – Days left before liquidity falls below the critical level

Cash flow chart (Waterfall chart): Shows the change day by day or week by week: – Opening balance – + Payments from customers – – Payments to suppliers – – Salaries – – Other costs – = Closing balance

Forecast (Line chart): Three lines: – Actual liquidity (historical) – Forecast liquidity (based on invoices and accounts payable) – Critical minimum level (red line)

Accounts receivable (Table): Sorted by due date: – Customer – Invoice amount – Due date – Days overdue (colour-coded: green <30, yellow 30-60, red >60)

Accounts payable (Table): Upcoming payments: – Supplier – Amount – Due date – Priority (payment terms, criticality)

Data sources

Connections you need: – Accounting system (Fortnox, Visma, Hogia) for invoices and accounts payable – Bank account for the daily balance – Excel file for manual forecast adjustments

Refresh frequency: Daily at 07:00 (before the working day starts)

Why CFOs love it

“Before, I got a liquidity report from the finance department every Friday. Now I see it directly on my phone every morning. When a big customer delayed a payment by three weeks, I saw it immediately and could act.” — Maria Svensson, CFO, industrial company, Stockholm

Practical value: – Identify payment problems before they become critical – Plan large purchases based on actual liquidity – Negotiate payment terms using data – Sleep better (you know exactly where you stand)

Implementation time

With consultant help: 1-2 weeks Do-it-yourself: 3-4 weeks (requires integration with the bank account)

Dashboard 2: Profitability per product/customer/project

Many companies know their total profitability. Few know which products, customers or projects actually make money.

What it shows

Key metrics (Cards): – Total gross margin (SEK and %) – Average margin per product/customer – Number of unprofitable customers/products – Best and worst product group

Profitability matrix (Scatter chart): X-axis: Revenue Y-axis: Margin % Size: Number of transactions Colour: Product category

This quickly shows: – High revenue + high margin = the gold mines – High revenue + low margin = the risk zone – Low revenue + high margin = niche products – Low revenue + low margin = phase out?

Profitability over time (Line chart): Gross margin % per month, broken down by: – Product categories – Customer groups – Sales channels – Regions

Detail list (Table with drill-through): All products/customers sorted by profitability: – Name – Revenue – Cost – Gross margin (SEK) – Margin % – Trend (up/down from the previous period)

Click a row to see the detailed transaction history.

Data sources

Connections: – Accounting system for revenue – ERP or Excel for product costs – CRM for customer information – Time reporting system for project costs (if relevant)

Refresh frequency: Weekly or monthly (depending on business pace)

Why this changes the game

A growth company we worked with in Malmö had one large customer accounting for 25% of revenue. When we built the profitability dashboard, the CFO discovered that this customer had a 4% margin while the other customers were at 35%.

After analysis it turned out that the customer demanded: – Monthly reporting (10 hours of work) – Customised deliveries (extra costs) – 60-day payment terms (liquidity impact) – Constant price pressure

The decision: Renegotiate the contract or phase out the customer. The outcome was a 15% price increase or the customer leaves. The customer chose to stay. Profit increased by SEK 400,000 per year on that customer.

Without the dashboard they would never have known.

Implementation time

With consultant help: 2-3 weeks Do-it-yourself: 4-6 weeks (requires correct cost allocation)

Dashboard 3: Cost tracking and budget variances

The budget was made in December. Now it is April and you are 15% over budget on some items. Which ones? Why? When did you discover it?

What it shows

Key metrics (Cards with colour coding): – Total variance from budget (% and SEK) – Number of cost centres over budget – Largest variance (cost type and amount) – Action alarm (red if critical variance)

Budget vs Actual (Stacked Bar Chart): Each cost centre/department shows: – Budgeted (light grey bar) – Actual (coloured bar) – Variance (shown as colour: green under, red over)

Trend analysis (Line chart): Monthly development: – Budget (dashed line) – Actual (solid line) – Forecast (calculated based on trend)

Detailed variance analysis (Table): – Cost type – Budget (month/YTD) – Actual (month/YTD) – Variance (SEK) – Variance (%) – Cause (dropdown for commenting)

Drill-down: Click a cost type to see all the transactions that make up the total.

Data sources

Connections: – Accounting system for actual costs – Excel file or separate table for budget – Comment field (Power BI service with comment function)

Refresh frequency: Weekly (Monday morning for last week’s figures)

Practical use case

Scenario: The HR department’s consultant costs

Budget: SEK 50,000/month Actual January: SEK 52,000 (4% over, acceptable) Actual February: SEK 78,000 (56% over, alarm!)

Without a dashboard: Discovered at the monthly report in March. Too late to act.

With a dashboard: The HR manager sees the variance in week 2 of February. Investigates immediately. Discovers that a consultant is billing twice (both hourly fees and a fixed monthly cost). Stops the double billing. Saves SEK 26,000/month = SEK 286,000/year.

Implementation time

With consultant help: 1-2 weeks Do-it-yourself: 2-3 weeks (relatively simple if the budget is structured)

Dashboard 4: KPI overview for the board and management

The board does not want 50 pages. They want 10 key figures on one page that show the health of the company.

What it shows

The company’s vital signs (Cards, 2×4 layout): – Revenue (month/YTD) – EBITDA (month/YTD) – Liquidity (today’s balance) – Order backlog (upcoming revenue) – Customer satisfaction (NPS or similar) – Staff turnover (%) – Delayed projects/deliveries (#) – Gross margin (%)

KPI trends (Small multiples – several small charts): A small line chart for each KPI showing: – 12 months of history – Trend line – Target (if applicable)

This gives an overview in a few seconds.

Goal attainment (Gauge charts): Visual “speedometers” for critical goals: – Revenue target (vs target) – Margin target (vs target) – Customer satisfaction target (vs target)

Colours: Green (>100%), yellow (90-100%), red (<90%)

Traffic-light table (Table with conditional formatting): List all departments/business areas: – Name – Budget status (🟢/🟡/🔴) – Profitability (🟢/🟡/🔴) – Project status (🟢/🟡/🔴) – Overall (🟢/🟡/🔴)

Comments and action items: Text fields where the CFO can add: – Explanations of variances – Planned actions – Risks to monitor

Data sources

Connections: – Accounting system (financial KPIs) – CRM (customer satisfaction, order backlog) – HR system (staff turnover) – Project tool (delayed projects) – Excel (manual target values)

Refresh frequency: Daily for operational KPIs, weekly for the rest

Why the board loves it

Before Power BI: – 50-page PowerPoint – 3 days of work to compile – Data 2-3 weeks old at presentation – Hard to ask follow-up questions

With Power BI: – One page with 8-10 KPIs – Always up to date – Interactive (a board member can click for details) – Available between meetings (digital board binder)

Result: Board meetings focus on strategy and decisions instead of reviewing figures.

Implementation time

With consultant help: 2-3 weeks Do-it-yourself: 4-5 weeks (requires many data sources)

Dashboard 5: Forecast dashboard

You know where you are. But where will you be in three months? The forecast dashboard combines actual figures with predictive analysis.

What it shows

Key metrics (Cards): – Forecast revenue Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 – Variance from budget (forecast vs plan) – Confidence interval (best/worst/likely case) – Next milestone (date when the revenue target is reached)

Actual vs Forecast (Combo chart): – Historical months: bars (actual outcome) – Future months: line (forecast with confidence interval) – Budget: dashed line

Forecast components (Stacked area chart): Shows what builds the forecast: – Confirmed orders – Pipeline deals (CRM with probability) – Historical trend – Seasonal patterns

Scenario analysis (Table): Three scenarios: – Pessimistic (worst case) – Likely (base case) – Optimistic (best case)

For each scenario: – Revenue – Cost – Gross margin – EBITDA – Liquidity impact

Forecast adjustment (Slicers): Interactive sliders to test assumptions: – Change the conversion rate (%) – Adjust the seasonal factor – Increase/decrease new leads per month

Data sources

Connections: – Accounting system (historical data) – CRM (pipeline, probability) – Order register (confirmed orders) – Excel (manual adjustments, seasonal factors)

Refresh frequency: Weekly (Mondays for an updated pipeline)

The forecast model

Power BI uses several techniques for forecasting:

1. Time series analysis: Analyses historical patterns (trend, seasonal variation) and projects them forward.

2. Pipeline-based: Sums deals in the CRM weighted by probability. Example: A deal of SEK 100,000 with 60% probability = SEK 60,000 in the forecast

3. Mashup model (recommended): Combines: – Confirmed orders (100% probability) – Pipeline deals (weighted) – Historical growth – Seasonal patterns

Practical example

A B2B company we worked with:

Without a forecast: – Budgeted 12 million for Q2 – Ended at 9.5 million – Was forced to make cuts in July

With a forecast (same year, Q4): – Budget: 15 million – Forecast in October: 12.5 million (based on pipeline) – Action: Intensified sales push in November – Outcome: 14.2 million (close to budget, avoided panic)

The value: Early warning gives time to act.

Implementation time

With consultant help: 3-4 weeks (most complex) Do-it-yourself: 6-8 weeks (requires advanced DAX and integrations)

How to get started

You do not need to build all five at once. Here is our recommended implementation order:

Phase 1 (Month 1): Liquidity dashboard Most critical, relatively simple, immediate benefit.

Phase 2 (Month 2): KPI overview for the board Provides visibility and buy-in from management.

Phase 3 (Month 3): Cost tracking Builds on the KPI dashboard, uses the same data sources.

Phase 4 (Month 4): Profitability per product/customer Requires the most data work, but gives the greatest strategic insight.

Phase 5 (Month 5-6): Forecast dashboard Most complex, but powerful once the others are in place.

Need help?

At Excel Department we build these dashboards regularly. We can:

Package solution “CFO Dashboard Suite”: – All five dashboards – Adapted to your data sources – Training for your team – 3 months of support – Price: Contact us for a quote

Individual dashboards: – Build one at a time – We develop, you learn – Documentation and templates – Price: From SEK 35,000 per dashboard

Coaching: – We guide, you build – Weekly check-ins – Technical support when needed – Price: From SEK 15,000/month

Book a free consultation (30 min) to discuss your needs.

Read more: – Power BI for business: Complete guide – Migrating from Excel to Power BI – Power BI vs Excel: When should you choose which?

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Contact Excel Department: – Phone: 010-264 20 20 – E-mail: info@exceldepartment.se – Address: Slottsbacken 8, 111 30 Stockholm – Google rating: 5.0/5 (26 reviews)