Business Central reporting: get the numbers your board actually asks for.
A complete guide to reporting in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, from built-in financial reports to Power BI dashboards, what is available out of the box, what to extend, and where Copilot fits in.
Most businesses build the dashboard before the data is clean.
The biggest Business Central reporting mistake we see is businesses jumping straight to Power BI before they understand what data their ERP system is actually capturing. Advanced reporting on messy, unstructured data does not give you insight. It gives you wrong answers, faster.
Business Central includes hundreds of standard financial reports from day one. The real question is not "which reporting tool do I need?" but "is my finance data structured well enough to get value from it?"
For most SMBs moving from Sage or Xero or QuickBooks, the out-of-the-box reporting in Dynamics 365 Business Central already covers what the board asks for each month. The advanced layers are worth adding, but in the right order.
Four reporting layers in Business Central. Build up when you're ready.
Truly SMB introduces Business Central reporting tools in the right sequence, so each layer delivers real value rather than adding complexity before the foundation is solid.
Standard Business Central reports
Hundreds of built-in financial reports covering profit and loss, balance sheet, aged debtors, aged creditors, cash flow forecasts and VAT returns. Available immediately at go-live with no additional setup. Most SMB boards get everything they need from this layer alone.
Role centres & dimensions
Role-based dashboards give each team member a personalised view of the KPIs that matter to their job. Dimensions let you slice financial data by department, project, region or any custom category without changing your chart of accounts. Getting dimensions right early is what makes Power BI reporting powerful later.
Power BI dashboards
Business Central has a native live data connection to Power BI, with no exports and no manual refreshes. Once your data is clean and dimensions are configured, Power BI delivers genuinely powerful board packs, pipeline visibility and margin analysis by project, all built from real-time ERP data.
Jet Reports & Microsoft Copilot
Jet Reports delivers Excel-based management reporting directly from Business Central data for finance teams who need precisely formatted outputs. Microsoft Copilot, embedded natively in Business Central, lets users query their data in plain English without building a report at all.
Standard financial reports your board gets from day one.
Standard Business Central reports cover everything a growing SMB needs to run proper financials. Here is what is included without any additional reporting tools or configuration.
Profit & loss and balance sheet
Full statutory financial statements with comparative periods. Export to Excel or schedule for automatic distribution to your board.
Cash flow forecast
Projected cash flow based on open sales orders, purchase orders and bank transactions. Updated in real time as transactions post.
Aged debtors & creditors
Who owes you money and who you owe, broken down by age bucket. Essential for credit control and payment run planning.
Budget vs actuals
Set budgets at general ledger account level and track actuals against them. Variance reporting for board packs is built in.
VAT returns and Making Tax Digital
MTD-compliant VAT submissions direct from Business Central to HMRC. No third-party bridging software required.
Sales & purchase analysis
Revenue by customer, item and salesperson. Cost analysis by supplier and category. Slice any report by the dimensions you have configured.
The best Power BI dashboards are built on well-structured Business Central data. Get the standard reporting layer right first, set up your dimensions, agree your chart of accounts and get the team using the system properly, and the advanced layer becomes genuinely powerful. Our 90-day implementation guide shows how that sequencing works.
Copilot in Business Central: ask, don't build.
Microsoft Copilot is embedded natively in Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is not a separate tool or a paid add-on, it is already there. Users type questions in plain English and get answers from their own live ERP data, without knowing which report to run or how to configure a filter.
- "Which customers are more than 60 days overdue?"
- "What was our gross margin last quarter compared to the same period last year?"
- "Which items are below reorder point right now?"
- "Show me all open sales orders for customer ABC Ltd."
No report builder. No filter configuration. Just an answer from your live data.
Business Central reporting questions, answered.
Does Business Central include reporting as standard?
Yes. Business Central ships with hundreds of standard financial and operational reports, including profit and loss, balance sheet, aged debtors and creditors, cash flow forecasting and VAT returns. These are available from go-live with no extra licence or configuration.
Do I need Power BI with Business Central?
Not initially. Most SMBs find the standard reports and role centres cover their monthly board reporting. Power BI becomes worthwhile once you want visual dashboards, cross-system reporting or deeper margin and pipeline analysis, and once your dimensions and chart of accounts are clean enough to support it.
What are dimensions in Business Central?
Dimensions let you tag transactions with attributes such as department, project, region or cost centre, then filter and analyse any report by them. They avoid bloating your chart of accounts and are the single most important thing to set up correctly for good reporting later.
Can Business Central handle Making Tax Digital VAT returns?
Yes. Business Central submits MTD-compliant VAT returns directly to HMRC from within the system. No bridging software or manual spreadsheet upload is required.
Can I report on Business Central data in Excel?
Yes. Business Central has native Excel integration, so you can pull live ERP data into any spreadsheet. For heavily formatted management accounts, Jet Reports adds a dedicated Excel-based reporting layer on top.
Find the right reporting tools for where you are today.
Truly SMB will help you work out which Business Central reporting layer fits your business right now, and how to grow into the others as you scale.
