Executive Summary
The first decision is whether one system will hold both the plan and the consolidated numbers that go to the auditors.
Corporate performance management (CPM) software, also called enterprise performance management (EPM), holds a company’s budgets, forecasts and scenarios and produces its consolidated financial results. Choose it on three questions: whether the same system will run the statutory consolidation as well as the plan, how many entities, currencies and accounting standards it must handle, and which ERP, HR and CRM systems it must read from. The IFRS Foundation defines consolidated financial statements as financial statements that present the assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses and cash flows of a parent and its subsidiaries as those of a single economic entity. For a US listed company those numbers end up in the annual report. The SEC’s Investor.gov states that the annual report on Form 10-K provides a comprehensive overview of the company’s business and financial condition and includes audited financial statements.
Financial CPM covers two jobs that pull in different directions. Planning needs models that finance can change quickly: a new driver, a new scenario, a reorganized cost center. Consolidation needs fixed rules, a locked history and numbers an auditor can trace back to the ledger. Some vendors build both on one platform. Others sell planning first and consolidation as a separate application or package.
The eight vendors in this guide fall into six approaches: a planning platform with consolidation as its own application, planning and consolidation in the same models, a planning product with a consolidation package, an EPM suite from an ERP vendor, one platform for close, consolidation and planning, and close and planning combined with global minimum tax reporting. Start from the approach that matches your close, then test the shortlist on your own entities and your own chart of accounts.
Why Does the Consolidation Decide the Shortlist?
A plan starts from actuals, and for a group the actuals are consolidated numbers. The IFRS Foundation states that IFRS 10 establishes principles for presenting and preparing consolidated financial statements when an entity controls one or more other entities. Before the group result exists, each subsidiary’s ledger has to be mapped to the group chart of accounts, balances between group companies removed, and shares held by outside investors calculated.
Foreign subsidiaries add a translation step. The IFRS Foundation states that IAS 21 prescribes how an entity should translate the financial statements of a foreign operation into its functional currency, and translate its own financial statements into a presentation currency if that differs from its functional currency. The IFRS Foundation describes an entity’s functional currency as the currency of the primary economic environment in which the entity operates. A CPM platform has to store rates by type and period, apply the right rate to each account, and report the translation difference as its own line.
If planning runs in a separate tool, it reads the consolidated actuals from the close system each period, and someone reconciles the two. If both run on one platform, the forecast starts from the same numbers the auditors see. One platform is simpler to reconcile. Two products let each be chosen for its own job.
Tax has moved into the close for large groups. The OECD states that the global minimum tax, which is based on the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Model Rules, ensures that large multinational enterprises pay a minimum level of tax on their income in each jurisdiction where they operate. The OECD states that the GloBE rules require in-scope large multinational enterprise groups to calculate their income, and the taxes on that income, on a jurisdictional basis, and to pay a top-up tax where the effective tax rate in a jurisdiction is below 15%. The OECD states that the global minimum tax started to apply from the beginning of 2024 with the introduction of the Income Inclusion Rule (IIR). That calculation runs on entity-level income and tax data by jurisdiction, which a consolidation system already holds.
Sustainability reporting is following the same path in Europe. The European Commission states that EU rules require large companies and listed companies to publish regular reports on the social and environmental risks they face, and on how their activities impact people and the environment. The European Commission states that the first companies subject to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) apply its rules for the first time in the 2024 financial year, for reports published in 2025, and that companies subject to the CSRD report according to European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). If those disclosures sit beside the financial statements, decide whether the CPM platform will collect and report them or a separate sustainability tool will.
Where Does CPM End and the ERP, BI and Tax Tools Begin?
CPM sits between the systems that record transactions and the people who report on them. The ERP holds the ledger. CPM takes each entity’s balances, consolidates them, and holds the budget, forecast and scenarios beside the actuals. BI tools analyze the result. Account reconciliation, disclosure management and tax provisioning sit at the edges, and vendors draw those edges differently.
Settle the boundary with the ERP first. Both ERP vendors in this guide sell consolidation and planning beside their own ledger. SAP describes its accounting and financial close software as a suite designed to automate, streamline and orchestrate the entire record-to-report process. Oracle states that its EPM processes for planning, financial close, account reconciliation, tax and reporting work together in one connected suite. Specialist vendors connect to many ledgers instead. OneStream states that it integrates with more than 250 ERP, CRM and other data sources, including SAP, Oracle and Workday.
Building consolidation logic in a spreadsheet or a data warehouse is possible. Keeping it correct through acquisitions, disposals and restatements, with an audit trail, is the hard part, and that upkeep is what a CPM platform replaces. A BI tool can report a consolidated number but does not produce one.
| Need | What it answers | Where it is bought |
|---|---|---|
| Planning and forecasting | Budgets, forecasts, scenarios and driver models | This guide |
| Consolidation and close | Group results across entities, currencies and ownership | This guide, or the ERP vendor |
| Transaction accounting | Journals, subledgers and the general ledger | Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) guide |
| Reporting and analysis | Dashboards and ad hoc analysis of consolidated data | Business Intelligence & Analytics guide |
| Transaction tax | Indirect tax and e-invoicing on each transaction | Tax Compliance & E-Invoicing guide |
| Sustainability reporting | Emissions and other sustainability disclosures | Sustainability & ESG Reporting guide |
What Should You Test in CPM Software?
Test consolidation first, because it is the hardest part to add later. Ask how each product handles intercompany matching and eliminations, partial ownership, currency translation and changes in group structure during the year. Anaplan states that its Financial Consolidation application automates intercompany eliminations, currency translations and ownership calculations. Planful states that it handles intercompany eliminations and currency translation automatically. OneStream states that it offers a consolidation engine and financial intelligence for accounts, currencies, ownership and automated intercompany eliminations.
Accounting standards come next. Pigment offers out-of-the-box Multi-GAAP Starter Kits covering standards such as IFRS, US GAAP, UK GAAP and French GAAP. Whatever the starting content, your auditors will test the rules as configured, so ask who maintains them when a standard changes: the vendor, a partner or your own team.
Planning performance depends on the calculation engine and on how sparse your data is. Anaplan offers two calculation engines, the Classic Engine and the Anaplan Polaris Calculation Engine. Anaplan describes the Classic Engine as a general-purpose multidimensional planning engine for dense data sets, and states that Polaris is designed to store and calculate models with sparse data sets. Anaplan states that a workspace is either a Classic or a Polaris workspace, and that neither can be converted into the other. Workday states that Adaptive from Workday uses Elastic Hypercube Technology (EHT), a multidimensional, in-memory engine. Test each engine with your largest model at your real level of detail, such as product by customer by month.
Source data and hierarchies decide how much work each period takes. Planful states that it pulls data from ERP, HRIS and CRM systems and pushes results to PowerPoint, Excel, Workiva and BI tools. Oracle states that its master data management aligns and manages enterprise hierarchies and dimensions consistently across ERP, EPM and other business applications. Ask how a new entity, account or cost center reaches the CPM platform, and who approves it.
Controls matter as soon as the close runs in the platform. Planful states that it provides role-based access at the entity, account and dimension level, and logs every change. Test AI features on your own data, and check what they can read and what they can change. Oracle states that Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) embeds AI agents across connected planning, financial close, reporting and master data management. Planful states that users can ask questions in Claude and get answers built on their Planful data, that each query inherits dimension security and role-based access, and that this access is read-only by design.
| Area | What to test | Evidence to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Consolidation | Eliminations, partial ownership, currency translation and changes in group structure | One month of your close rebuilt and tied to your reported numbers |
| Accounting standards | Each standard and local GAAP you report under | The configured rules, and who maintains them |
| Planning engine | Model size and calculation time at your real level of detail | A timed recalculation of your largest model |
| Data integration | Connectors to your ERP, HR and CRM systems, and how often each loads | A live load from your own systems |
| Hierarchies | New entities, accounts and cost centers, with approval | A reorganization made by your team, not the vendor |
| Controls | Access by entity and account, change logs and close sign-offs | The audit trail for one changed number |
| AI features | What an assistant or agent can read, and what it can change | The permission model and the change history |
Vendors in Enterprise Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Software
Representative vendors include Anaplan, CCH Tagetik, OneStream, Oracle EPM Cloud (Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM), Pigment, Planful, SAP (SAP Analytics Cloud) and Workday Adaptive Planning (Adaptive from Workday). The list is alphabetical, is not a ranking, and is not for sale. How we choose vendors
The approaches below separate vendors by where planning and consolidation live: in one set of models, in two applications from one vendor, in a suite tied to an ERP, or on a platform built around the close.
Ownership has changed at two of these vendors. OneStream announced on April 1, 2026 the completion of its acquisition by Hg, and its Class A common stock ceased trading on the NASDAQ. Anaplan announced the completion of its acquisition by Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction, after Anaplan stockholders approved it on June 21, 2022. One product has a new name. Workday states that Adaptive from Workday is the new name for what was previously known as Workday Adaptive Planning.
Planning-first vendors added consolidation in different ways. Anaplan announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fluence Technologies, a cloud native solution for financial close, consolidation, disclosure management and reporting. Pigment describes itself as a French enterprise software company providing a business planning and performance management platform, founded in 2019. Pigment states that it handles multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation and links the results to FP&A models. Pigment states that customer data is stored in the region the customer chooses: Frankfurt, Germany, or Oregon, USA. Workday describes Adaptive from Workday as a cloud-based enterprise planning platform for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, analysis and scenario modeling across finance, workforce, sales and operations. Workday sells a Workday Adaptive Planning Close & Consolidation package that combines planning and consolidation.
The two ERP vendors build on their own stacks. Oracle lists Connected Planning, Financial Consolidation and Close, Profitability and Cost Management, Account Reconciliation, Tax Reporting and Enterprise Data Management. Oracle’s documentation describes the EPM Automate Utility for performing tasks remotely within EPM Cloud environments. SAP states that SAP Analytics Cloud combines analytics and planning in a single cloud solution. SAP describes SAP Analytics Cloud as the analytics and planning layer within SAP Business Data Cloud. SAP states that its planning connects SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Integrated Business Planning and third-party data across lines of business. SAP states that its group close reporting lets users drill down from consolidated reports to transactional data.
Three vendors put close, consolidation and planning on one platform. OneStream states that it primarily competes with providers of financial consolidation, reporting, planning or analytics software, including Oracle and SAP and point product providers such as Anaplan, Blackline, Wolters Kluwer and Workday. Planful connects planning, close, consolidation and reporting in one financial performance management platform. Wolters Kluwer states that CCH Tagetik brings financial close, planning and reporting together on a single foundation. Wolters Kluwer states that CCH Tagetik Global Minimum Tax streamlines BEPS Pillar 2 data collection, calculations, reporting, CbCR, planning and performance management according to OECD guidance, and harmonizes the new tax requirements with local financial close and group consolidation processes. Wolters Kluwer describes itself as a provider of information solutions, software and services for professionals in healthcare; tax and accounting; financial and corporate compliance; legal and regulatory; corporate performance and ESG.
| Vendor | Approach | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| CCH Tagetik | Close and planning with global minimum tax | Close, planning and reporting, with BEPS Pillar 2 tax reporting |
| OneStream | Close, consolidation and planning on one platform | Consolidation and planning fed from many ERP and other data sources |
| Planful | Close, consolidation and planning on one platform | Planning, close and consolidation with results pushed to Office, Workiva and BI tools |
| Oracle EPM Cloud (Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM) | EPM suite from an ERP vendor | Planning, close, reconciliation, tax and master data in one connected suite |
| SAP (SAP Analytics Cloud) | EPM suite from an ERP vendor | Analytics and planning on SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Data Cloud |
| Pigment | Planning and consolidation in one set of models | Multi-entity consolidation linked to FP&A models, with data held in Frankfurt or Oregon |
| Anaplan | Planning platform, consolidation as its own application | Large planning models, with a choice of engine for dense or sparse data |
| Workday Adaptive Planning (Adaptive from Workday) | Planning product with a consolidation package | Budgeting, forecasting and scenario modeling across finance, workforce, sales and operations |
The six approaches were set out first and the vendors selected for them afterwards; no row here is for sale. Sixteen CPM vendors were checked for this guide, and any of them, named here or not, can make its own case in the Spotlight below.
How Is CPM Software Priced?
The unit you are charged for differs by vendor, and it decides how the bill grows. OneStream states that customers have historically purchased its products and solutions primarily on a platform and seat-based model, and that in 2025 it began enhancing its pricing model to enable customers to obtain them on an individual or bundled basis. Pigment states that there are three license types: Explorer, Contributor and Editor. Under role-based licensing, the ratio of model builders to contributors and viewers drives the total.
Contract length matters as much as the rate. OneStream states that its initial subscription term is typically three years, and can range from less than one year up to ten years. Fix the renewal terms for the whole period you expect to use the platform, including the price of adding entities, users and modules.
Some planning products can be tried before a sales cycle. Workday offers a 30-day free trial of Workday Adaptive Planning. Pigment states that its free trial lasts 14 days from the first log in, that the workspace moves to read-only access after the trial ends, and that no credit card is needed to start. A trial shows the modeling experience. It does not show how the product handles your consolidation.
Implementation is priced separately from the subscription. Ask for the implementation estimate, the partner who will deliver it and the number of finance staff days it assumes, in the same proposal as the license.
| Meter | You are charged for | Grows with | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | Access to the platform and its environments | Environments and data volume | Extra test environments priced after signature |
| Users by role | Each user, priced by what they can do | Model builders, contributors and viewers | Viewers licensed at a modeling role |
| Modules | Consolidation, reconciliation, tax or reporting products | Modules adopted | Modules bought for a later phase that never starts |
| Capacity | Model size, workspaces or data held | Entities, detail and history | An acquisition pushing the model into a larger band |
| Services | Implementation and model building | Scope and number of entities | Partner time quoted apart from the subscription |
How Long Does a CPM Implementation Take?
Start with the process that costs the most effort today, usually the consolidation or the annual budget, and run it beside the current process for at least one period before switching. Then add the next process on the same hierarchies and data.
Agree the group chart of accounts, the entity and management hierarchies, currencies and rate types, and an owner for each. Map every source system and decide how often each one loads.
Build the consolidation or the budget on real data. Configure eliminations, ownership and translation, or the planning drivers, with finance staff working beside the implementation partner.
Run the new process beside the old one and reconcile every difference to the ledger. Switch only when the numbers tie and the audit trail answers your auditors’ questions.
Add forecasting, workforce or sales planning, reconciliation and reporting on the same hierarchies. Retire each spreadsheet once the platform carries the process it supported.
What should you ask vendors about Enterprise Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Software?
Put these questions to each shortlisted vendor in writing, and ask for the answers to be shown on your own entities and data.
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Are most of your entities on one ERP whose vendor also sells EPM?Yes Price that vendor’s EPM suite, and compare one platform that consolidates from many ledgers on the same scope.No Start with platforms that consolidate from many ledgers.
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Is the statutory consolidation complex, with many entities, currencies, ownership changes or accounting standards?Yes Test close-first platforms and the planning vendors’ consolidation products on one month of your real close.No A planning platform with built-in or packaged consolidation may cover it. Confirm on your year-end process.
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Is the group in scope for the global minimum tax or for EU sustainability reporting?Yes Decide whether that reporting will run in the CPM platform or beside it, and test the data handoff.No Leave tax and sustainability reporting out of the first phase.