An MIS (management information system) report is a regular summary of a business’s financial and operating data, such as profit against budget, cash flow, receivables, inventory and sales, prepared for management decisions. Regi Tom Antony & Associates (RTA), Chartered Accountants in Kochi since 1997, builds monthly MIS packs and Power BI dashboards for businesses in India and the GCC, with receivables, inventory, e-commerce marketplace and NBFC portfolio analytics, always reconciled to the books before they are reported.
By Regi Tom Antony, FCA, CISA · Updated 3 November 2026
An MIS report turns accounting and operating data into a short set of numbers management can act on. A useful monthly MIS pack for an Indian SME usually has the eight reports below, each compared with budget and the previous period.
| MIS REPORT | WHAT IT SHOWS | FREQUENCY | MAIN USER |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit and loss against budget | Revenue, gross margin, expenses and profit against budget and last year, with variances | Monthly | Promoter, CFO, board |
| Cash flow and 13-week forecast | Cash in and out, closing cash and the next 13 weeks | Weekly or monthly | Promoter, CFO, bankers |
| Receivables ageing | Debtors by age bucket and customer, collections and overdue trend | Weekly | Sales, credit control |
| Payables ageing | Creditors by age and supplier, payment schedule | Monthly | Finance, purchase |
| Inventory ageing and turnover | Stock by age, slow and non-moving items, days of inventory | Monthly | Operations, finance |
| Sales analysis | Sales by product, customer, channel and region; price and volume | Monthly | Sales head, promoter |
| Branch or segment profitability | Contribution by branch, product or business line after direct costs | Monthly or quarterly | Promoter, board |
| KPI dashboard | A one-page view of 8 to 12 key numbers and their trend | Monthly | Everyone |
The format matters less than three rules: the numbers tie to the books, they arrive within a fixed number of days after month-end, and every variance has a reason and an owner.
Each build starts with the question the owner needs answered, then the data, then the dashboard. Not the other way round.
The eight core reports above, closed and delivered on a fixed date each month, with written commentary.
One page for cash, margin, receivables, inventory and KPIs, refreshed from your accounting system, readable on a phone.
Budget by month, product and branch, with price, volume and mix variances explained.
Ageing, days sales outstanding, customer risk, promise-to-pay tracking and collection efficiency by salesperson or branch.
Ageing, slow and non-moving stock, reorder signals, shrinkage and book-to-physical differences, alongside physical verification.
Amazon, Flipkart and other marketplace orders, settlements, returns, fees and GST TCS reconciled to the bank and the books, with SKU and channel profitability.
Overdue buckets, roll rates, collection efficiency, cost of funds and loan book reconciliation. See NBFC CFO and internal audit.
Bank, GST input credit, intercompany and control account reconciliations, automated where the data allows and exceptions reported.
Marketplace settlement gaps, unclaimed returns and fee overcharges, and true SKU profitability after ads, fees and returns.
Portfolio quality, collection efficiency, branch profitability and board-ready reporting on reconciled loan data.
Inventory ageing, product costing, margin by customer and working-capital cycle.
Receivables by dealer and salesperson, scheme and discount leakage, and route profitability.
Department and doctor-wise revenue, insurance receivables and pharmacy stock.
Branch MIS, stock reconciliation and daily sales dashboards.
Agree the 8 to 12 numbers that matter and who acts on each one.
Extract from your accounting system, ERP, marketplace or loan system; fix ledger mapping and master data.
Tie every figure to the books and bank, so the dashboard and the balance sheet tell the same story.
Power BI or Excel, with drill-down from summary to transaction.
A fixed close date, written commentary and a short review meeting on variances and actions.
| DASHBOARD-ONLY BUILD | FINANCE-LED BUILD | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Available data and chart types | The decisions management needs to make |
| Numbers | Taken from the system as they are | Reconciled to the books and bank first |
| Commentary | Left to the reader | Written each month, with reasons and owners |
| Ownership after launch | Often stops being updated | Run monthly as part of the finance close |
| Links to compliance | Separate | Same data supports GST, audit and lender reporting |
Regi Tom Antony, FCA, MBA (Australia), ACMA (UK), CGMA (USA), CISA (USA), ran group finance as CFO/COO for OSRAM/Siemens and Westcon Group across the Middle East and Africa, where monthly MIS and dashboards drove the business. As a CISA, he also reviews how data is accessed and protected.
RTA’s analytics team works on e-commerce platform data, inventory, receivables, reconciliations and NBFC portfolios, building Power BI reports alongside the firm’s accountants, so analysis and accounting stay in step.
Send us a month of your data, or tell us which system you use. We will show you what your MIS pack and CFO dashboard would look like. Each month Regi also writes The CFO Desk, a LinkedIn newsletter for owners running businesses in the Gulf, overseas and India.