Investment managers, whether running a wealth advisory practice, a venture fund, or a private equity portfolio, face a version of the same problem: performance data scattered across portfolio companies, funds, and reporting systems, with limited ways to see it as one picture. Spreadsheets can hold a handful of entities together, but they start to break down once a portfolio spans dozens of companies, multiple currencies, or investors who each expect a different level of detail.
This guide compares Fathom, a financial reporting, consolidation, and forecasting platform serving investment management clients, with four other alternatives. The right choice depends on which problem you're trying to solve in your firm.
Quick comparison snapshot
Finance-led reporting, consolidation, and forecasting across a portfolio of entities
Accountants and finance teams needing high-volume, multi-currency consolidation
Wealth and advisory firms needing branded, benchmarked multi-entity reporting
Accounting and advisory firms wanting a spreadsheet-like reporting workflow
Accountants and business owners needing cash flow forecasting alongside consolidation
Polished, board- and investor-ready reports with AI-powered commentary
Visual, template-driven reports with AI-generated commentary
Customisable management reports with AI-assisted Executive Summary
Customisable reports and dashboards
Reports and dashboards built for advisory conversations
Multi-entity consolidation
Up to 300 entities (single-currency) or 50 (multi-currency, 97 currencies), with intercompany eliminations
Unlimited entities, 170+ currencies, intercompany eliminations
Consolidates with multiple currencies via Spotlight Multi
Multi-entity consolidation with drill-down
Consolidates across connected entities
Three-way forecasting with scenario modelling
Four-way cash flow and budget forecasting
Three-way cash flow forecasting module
Three-way budgeting and forecasting
Three-way, daily cash flow forecasting plus HR forecasting
50+ KPIs, custom formula builder, AUM and non-financial KPI tracking
KPI graphs and dashboards, AI-powered insights
Financial and non-financial KPI scorecards
Monthly 360-degree analysis, FP&A variance navigator
Business performance insights across P&L, staff, and trends
Built for finance teams, fast onboarding
Designed to be accessible
Familiar spreadsheet-like environment
Plug-and-play setup once connected
Investment management fit
Purpose-supported vertical
Detailed feature comparison
Reporting for investment management
Investment managers reporting to LPs, boards, or family office principals need output that's fast to produce, consistent period over period, and easy for a non-finance audience to read.
- Fathom: Fathom's management reporting software produces polished, board- and investor-ready management packs combining financial data, charts, and AI-powered commentary in a branded output that refreshes each period. Commentary Writer adds AI-generated narrative alongside full number transparency, so every insight in a report is traceable back to the underlying data.
- Syft Analytics: Provides pre-built report templates covering P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and ratio analysis, with branding, visual dashboards, and PDF or link-based sharing.
- Spotlight Reporting: Consolidates client organisations with multiple currencies into a single report, supported by a customisable chart gallery, white-labelling, and an auto-generating Executive Summary that can use AI to draft or reformat commentary.
- Reach Reporting: Built around a spreadsheet-like editor, letting finance teams use familiar formulas while producing branded, customisable reports and dashboards. Report templates include a Monthly 360-Degree Analysis and Quarterly Visual Analytics, with automated AI analytics summarising liquidity, cash flow, and ratios.
- Futrli: Reports and dashboards are described as built for accountants to elevate strategic discussions with clients, teams, boards, or investors, and are fully customisable. Futrli's Performance Insights area surfaces historical, present, and future performance in one place.
Multi-entity consolidation
For investment managers overseeing a portfolio of companies or funds, the ability to see each holding individually and rolled up into one view is core infrastructure.
- Fathom: Consolidated reporting supports up to 300 entities in a single-currency group, or up to 50 entities across 97 currencies in a multi-currency consolidation, with intercompany eliminations handled within the platform.
- Syft Analytics: Supports unlimited entities and 170+ currencies within a consolidation, with intercompany eliminations and elimination balance checks.
- Spotlight Reporting: Spotlight Multi consolidates client organisations with multiple currencies, automating intercompany transactions, with group-level dashboards and entity drill-down for advisors managing several client portfolios at once.
- Reach Reporting: Automates financial consolidation from multiple entities and currencies, with drill-down from the consolidated view to company, class, and department level for root cause analysis.
- Futrli: Its consolidations product merges multiple entities with multi-currency support.
Financial analysis & KPI visibility
Investment managers track metrics that go beyond a standard P&L, such as assets under management, portfolio company growth, and fund-level performance indicators.
- Fathom: Financial analysis includes 50+ standard KPIs and a custom formula builder. Default KPIs cover Return on Equity, Return on Assets, Net Profit Margin, and Debt to Equity, while non-financial KPIs such as Number of Clients, and Customer Satisfaction Score, and formula KPIs like Client Retention Rate and AUM Growth, are directly relevant to investment management reporting.
- Syft Analytics: Combines KPI graphs with AI-powered insights across every report as part of the Syft Assist add-on, generating conversational, first-pass commentary on financial movements.
- Spotlight Reporting: Offers financial and non-financial KPI scorecards with dynamic rules that automatically recalculate linked account values as base figures change, reducing manual maintenance across a large client base.
- Reach Reporting: KPI visibility is delivered through templates such as the Monthly 360-Degree Analysis and FP&A Variance Navigator, alongside automated AI analytics summarising liquidity, cash flow performance, and ratios.
- Futrli: Business Performance insights surface KPIs and trends across operations, staff, profit, bills, and sales, drawing on all connected accounting data.
Dashboard visibility
- Fathom: The Insights Dashboard provides a real-time view of KPIs and financial performance. Companies can be tagged with custom characteristics, such as industry, investment stage, or risk level, to filter and sort the dashboard by KPI, and results can be compared against the cohort average, displayed in a chosen presentation currency.
- Syft Analytics: Dashboards are interactive and designed to be accessible directly to business owners, stakeholders, and accountants, supporting a collaborative model for exploring data together.
- Spotlight Reporting: The Dashboard module gives business owners and advisors a quick-access snapshot of key metrics between formal reporting cycles, offering lightweight but consistent visibility beyond end-of-period reports.
- Reach Reporting: Interactive dashboards display KPIs, income trends, profit and loss, balance sheet highlights, and cash flow performance in a spreadsheet-native, highly customisable interface.
- Futrli: Dashboards sit within the Performance Insights and Reporting areas, giving instant visibility into current, historical, and forecast performance for a practice or its clients.
Integration & data ecosystem
- Fathom: Connects directly with Xero, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, MYOB, Sage Business Cloud, Sage 50, and FreeAgent. If your accounting system isn't one of these direct integrations, both financial and non-financial data can still be imported via Excel or Google Sheets.
- Syft Analytics: Connects with Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage, with a particularly strong Xero integration following Syft's acquisition by Xero, plus manual import options.
- Spotlight Reporting: Integrates with Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, and Sage 50, along with non-financial data sources.
- Reach Reporting: Connects with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, MYOB, Google Sheets.
- Futrli: Integrates with Sage, Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Excel uploads. Futrli is now owned by Sage, following its acquisition, which is worth noting for firms weighing long-term product direction.
Pricing
- Fathom: Subscription pricing scales with the number of entities connected, with no upfront costs, implementation fees, or long-term contracts, making it accessible for operators ranging from wealth advisors managing a handful of client entities to multi-fund investment managers overseeing a large portfolio.
- Syft Analytics: Pricing is structured around the number of organisations connected, with tiers covering individual businesses through to large accountancy practices, and benchmarking and interactive reporting features included in the standard subscription.
- Spotlight Reporting: Reporting is available as a base product, with Forecasting and Multi (the consolidation and benchmarking module) priced as add-ons, so firms wanting the full suite should factor in the combined cost.
- Reach Reporting: Priced per company connection on a monthly or annual plan, with tiers scaling by the number of connections.
- Futrli: Priced in tiers based on the number of licenses or clients, with every plan including full feature access, including consolidations, forecasting, and reporting.
User experience comparison
Learning curve
- Fathom: Built for finance professionals, most users are producing reports within days of connecting their accounting data, with self-directed onboarding and a Certification Programme for teams wanting structured training.
- Syft Analytics: A clean, no-code interface and guided onboarding make it accessible to business owners.
- Spotlight Reporting: Templates reduce time to a first useful report, though deeper customisation requires more platform familiarity, typically supported through Spotlight's Certification Course.
- Reach Reporting: Teams can be comfortable with formulas due to its spreadsheet-like interface, with minimal implementation time. Training videos and live sessions are available for individuals and groups.
- Futrli: Onboarding is plug-and-play, with data pulling through automatically once an accounting platform is connected.
Support & training
- Fathom: Recognised as “Customer Service Organisation of the Year,” support is available via live chat, email, and a comprehensive help centre, alongside webinars for onboarding and product education, and a Certification Programme for advisors and finance teams.
- Syft Analytics: Support through a help centre, email, and onboarding resources, backed by a large partner network of accountants and bookkeepers familiar with the platform.
- Spotlight Reporting: Offers a help centre, live training resources, a structured certification programme, and a dedicated Partner Success Centre for accounting firms using Spotlight for client advisory work.
- Reach Reporting: Offers live chat support, a knowledge center, training videos, and white-glove onboarding included on all plans, alongside phone support.
- Futrli: Provides customer support and a help centre on every plan, along with free webinars and training for firms on Starter tier and above.
Use case scenarios
Choose Fathom when…
- You need consolidated or divisional reporting across a portfolio of entities without spreadsheets: If your reporting cycle involves manually pulling data from each portfolio company or fund entity, Fathom's multi-entity consolidation closes that gap directly.
- You report regularly to investors, LPs, or a board: Fathom's management reporting produces polished, branded packs combining financial data, charts, and AI-powered commentary, ready to share without manual reformatting.
- You want benchmarking built into the same platform as your reporting: Fathom's Benchmark Groups let you segment a portfolio by industry, investment stage, region, or company size, then compare and rank performance.
Choose alternative investment management solutions when…
- Your portfolio has outgrown Fathom's entity or currency limits: If you're managing a very large or highly complex multi-entity structure, Syft Analytics' unlimited entity counts and 170+ currency support may be able to support those needs.
- You need white-labelled reporting delivered across many advisory clients at scale: Spotlight Reporting's white-labelling, Executive Summary automation, and group-wide benchmarking via Spotlight Multi is suitable for advisory firms that need fully branded reports for a large client base.
- You want need more customisable options, or cash flow and HR forecasting built into the same platform: Reach Reporting's formula-based editor suits teams who want the flexibility of a spreadsheet without leaving the reporting platform, while Futrli's daily cash flow and HR forecasting come built into every plan, useful for investment managers or portfolio companies with active headcount and cash planning needs.
Implementation and setup considerations
Getting the most from investment management reporting software depends on a handful of decisions made before going live.
- Standardise your chart of accounts across entities or funds: Consistent account structures are the foundation of any cross-entity or cross-fund comparison. Align this before connecting any reporting layer.
- Define your entity, fund, or portfolio structure clearly: Establish how individual holdings roll up into funds or groups, and how intercompany or inter-fund transactions should be treated, before configuration begins.
- Identify the KPIs each stakeholder actually needs: LPs, boards, and internal teams often need different views. Design templates around those audiences rather than a single generic report.
- Decide how non-financial and portfolio data will flow in: AUM figures, portfolio company KPIs, and non-financial metrics add real value to investment management reporting. Decide early how this data will be imported.
- Build a repeatable reporting cadence: Establish who receives which reports, in what format, and on what schedule, so the goal each cycle is refreshing data and distributing outputs rather than rebuilding reports from scratch.
Example scenario in Fathom
Consider a boutique wealth advisory firm managing reporting for a portfolio of 20 client entities across several currencies. Before consolidating onto a single reporting platform, producing a quarterly portfolio view meant manually exporting data from each entity and rebuilding comparisons in spreadsheets, a process prone to version errors and inconsistent formatting between clients.
Using Fathom, the firm can consolidate entities into benchmark groups segmented by region or client asset band, use the Compare and Rank tools to identify outliers across the portfolio, and generate branded, board-ready reports for each client from templates that refresh automatically each period, rather than being rebuilt from scratch.
To read in detail about how Fathom can support your industry, read our Fathom Tips: Investment Management support page.
Final thoughts
Choosing the best financial reporting software for investment managers comes down to which capabilities matter most for your portfolio. Fathom brings management reporting, financial analysis, consolidation, and benchmarking together on a single platform, making it a strong fit for investment managers and the accountants and advisors who report on their behalf, where financial clarity and consistent, investor-ready reporting are priorities.
Try Fathom today
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Frequently asked questions
1. What is the best financial reporting software for investment managers?
Fathom is a strong starting point for most investment managers, since it includes reporting, consolidation, and benchmarking. However, the right fit ultimately depends on which of these capabilities matter most for your portfolio.
2. What's the difference between Fathom and the other tools in this comparison?
All five tools consolidate financial data and produce management reports, but they differ in scale, specialisation, and what's included by default.
3. Does Fathom support benchmarking across a portfolio of companies or funds?
Yes. Benchmark Groups let you segment a portfolio by industry, investment stage, region, or company size, then use the Compare tool to identify outliers and the Rank tool to compare companies across multiple KPIs. Benchmark Groups can also be anonymised and shared with clients.
4. Does Fathom integrate with the accounting platforms investment management firms already use?
Fathom connects directly with Xero, QuickBooks Online and Desktop, MYOB, Sage Business Cloud, Sage 50, and FreeAgent. If your accounting system isn't one of these, both financial and non-financial data can still be imported via Excel or Google Sheets. There is no need to migrate data or change your existing accounting setup.
