# Why FP&A leaders choose Centage over Vena

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the Centage vs Vena matchup:

- Enterprise-grade functionality
- Cost-effective
- Formula-free = Error-free
- Drag & drop FP&A
- Ongoing expert support

## Centage  
## Vena

| Feature  | Centage                                     | Vena                                    |
|----------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| Speed    | Speeds up budgeting process                  | Budgeting, forecasting, and variance reporting |
| Data Import | Import data from Excel                    | Create customized reports shareable via Excel |
| Error Reduction | Reduces manual errors from Excel sheets | —                                       |
| Flexibility | Can be used without spreadsheets              | —                                       |
| Automation | Automates financial logic without formulas    | —                                       |
| Adjustments | Drag & drop adjustments on the fly           | —                                       |
| Integration | Integrate with any combination of GL/ERP      | Limited                                 |
| Support | Ongoing, in-house expert support & advisory  | —                                       |
| Permissions | User-based permissions & security            | Customized reporting dashboards          |
| Maintenance | No need for dedicated IT resources for maintenance | —                                       |
| Fees     | No hidden fees for updates                    | —                                       |
| Scalability | Budgets and models scale easily when adding new business unit, location, etc | —                                       |
| Experience | Trusted FP&A solution for >20 years          | —                                       |

# What real users are saying

> "We use Centage to prepare annual budgets but also for monthly reporting package. We have a complex business with multiple locations and departments across the locations. We budget at a very granular level. We use a lot of drivers and calculations when preparing budgets. Centage tool offers a lot of flexibility to set up the budgets to match the business specific needs."

> "We use Centage's Planning Maestro for Annual Budgeting and Reforecasting purposes. It's really good as all the inputs entered by all the budget holders get consolidated in our income statement in real time. We can manage access to specific accounts, cost centers and project codes to each budget holder, which makes the process more efficient and minimizes errors. We also use the allocation methods, which are very useful in our case. There is also the possibility of managing different versions of Budgets and reforecasts."

## **Vena = Excel-based, difficult to maintain the tech**

Vena users leave their financial models in Excel and then program language on top of the Excel models – this process becomes inflexible as they need to make additional changes.

Vena users **need** a dedicated IT/Engineering resource to implement and maintain it. Centage, by contrast, offers free implementation and ongoing expert support from our in-house team of dedicated Advisors.

On the technical end, Vena cannot be maintained by the finance team, but Centage can.

### **Centage = Formula-free, drag & drop functionality with no hidden costs**

Vena comes with a lengthy learning curve, and it involves a slow and cumbersome editing and creation process for financial reports. Centage is easy to use and maintain after initial implementation.

Vena requires regular updates that they charge for, so it contains hidden costs in future years. Centage has no such hidden costs.

### The FP&A solution that best fits your needs

We know there are a lot of FP&A software solutions out there — you’re here looking for the one that best fits your needs.

On one side, some of our competitors offer a less robust feature set (basically an Excel add-on) and a quick “set it and forget it” implementation with little to no follow-up support. If you’re a small business with no plans for major growth, these may work better for you.

On the other side, there are high-cost, high-maintenance enterprise software solutions — this will be a better fit if you’re a major company with a huge workforce.

Centage delivers powerful budgeting, forecasting, and data analysis typically only enjoyed by large enterprises, at a price point that makes it accessible for growth-stage businesses. It’s the only formula-free FP&A software.

## We’ve helped hundreds of global companies

More of my time is spent focusing on analyzing the data rather than spending time entering the data.

**Shelly Golly**  
Price Family Vineyards & Estates

**Joan Edelman**  
CFO, Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation  
I can change forecasts and get new information faster and without extra headaches... Centage lets us be smart about what we will do in the future.

**Scott Coleson**  
CFO, Four Star Freightliner  
We are able to spend less time talking about the numbers in the budget and spend more time on how we’re going to get there.

**Peter Welch**  
CFO, Heartland  
We used Centage to do some worst-case scenario planning, such as losing 50% of our revenue and planned hours. It was a huge benefit to forecast the impact on our revenue.

**Lesley Delaney**  
CFO, Carroll County Memorial Hospital  
Because this solution is so easy to use, we have a lot of ownership from the directors. They can easily go in and review and really own their own budget numbers.

**Nate Walters**  
CFO, The Wildlife Gallery  
It’s made the process much easier when we go to build the budget year-over-year – it’s been a huge help.

**Jodi Norris**  
Controller, The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh  
I look at the numbers and quickly have so much more confidence in them… It’s really just a push of the button now.