Compared: Reach Reporting
A Reach Reporting alternative for monthly management accounts from any export
Reach Reporting suits US accounting and advisory firms that want spreadsheet-style report building, three-way forecasting, consolidation and a client portal, live from QuickBooks or Xero. If the deliverable is a monthly reporting package for clients on many systems, paid per report, Magic MIS is the narrower, simpler tool. Magic MIS wrote this page.
Free to create. No subscription.
What Reach Reporting does well
From its own site:
- Live data connections to QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Xero, MYOB, Digits, Gusto and Google Sheets, plus Excel and CSV.
- Spreadsheet-style report building, with templates and detailed formatting control.
- Three-way budgeting and forecasting, with multi-year projections and budget variance analysis.
- Consolidation across entities and currencies, with eliminations, and drill-down by company, class and department.
- A client portal, and white-labelled branding as an add-on.
- Non-financial data and SaaS metrics such as MRR and churn, and unlimited users on every plan.
Side by side, as of October 2026
| Item | Reach Reporting | Magic MIS |
|---|---|---|
| How data gets in | Live connections plus Excel and CSV | The trial balance you export, from any system |
| Report building | A spreadsheet-style builder and templates | A standard monthly pack, changed by asking in chat |
| Budgeting and forecasting | Three-way, multi-year | Budget against actual and a simple projection |
| Consolidation | Multi-entity, multi-currency | No: one company at a time |
| Client sharing | A client portal | A read-only board shared by link; Present with the client's logo |
| Users | Unlimited | One login per account |
| AI | AI analytics and insights | Words only; the engine fills every number, each opening to its ledgers |
| Excel | Exports | A checked Excel workbook with live formulas |
| Pricing model | Subscription per connected company per month, tiered | Prepaid credits, no subscription |
We don't quote Reach's prices.
When Reach is the better choice, and when Magic MIS is
Reach fits when most clients are on QuickBooks or Xero and you want live data; when you build bespoke, heavily formatted reports; when budgeting and three-way forecasting are part of what you sell; when you consolidate or report by class and department; and when your team and your clients all need logins.
Magic MIS fits when clients are on mixed systems (Sage 50 desktop, Zoho or DATEV are as easy as QuickBooks); when the deliverable is the same monthly package, where month two is a refresh on the same mapping; when per-company pricing doesn't fit a book with seasonal, paused or quarterly clients, who cost nothing in the months you don't run them; and when you need numbers you can defend, each opening to its working and ledgers.
Magic MIS's AI drafts commentary as sentences with blanks, and the calculation engine fills each blank from the ledgers; a draft containing a figure of its own is rejected. Where to act gives suggestions to consider, not tax, legal or audit advice.
What a US monthly reporting package should include, whichever tool you use
- Headline numbers: revenue, gross margin, net income and cash, against last month and last year.
- Income statement: the month, year to date, and the comparison the owner cares about.
- Balance sheet, with A/R, A/P and inventory visible.
- Cash: where it came from and went, and runway if the business is burning.
- KPIs: six or so, the same every month.
- Flux commentary: for each material movement, the number, the comparison and the reason.
- What deserves attention: a short list the owner can act on.
Keep the shape the same month to month, so clients learn to read the trend.
Where the Reach information came from
Read on 29 October 2026 from reachreporting.com: the home page, /features, /feature-integration, /feature-budgeting-and-forecasting, /feature-consolidations, /feature-client-portal and /pricing. Check their site for changes. Reach Reporting is a trademark of its owner. Magic MIS is not affiliated with or endorsed by Reach Reporting.
What firms comparing them ask
Does Magic MIS do three-way forecasting like Reach?
No. It gives budget against actual and a simple projection for the rest of the year. If forecasting is your service, Reach or a dedicated forecasting tool fits better.
Can Magic MIS replace a client portal?
Partly. You can share a read-only board by link, which opens on a phone, and withdraw it at any time. There are no client logins.
Does it work with QuickBooks Desktop?
Yes, from the trial balance you export from QuickBooks Online or Desktop as Excel or CSV.
How is it priced?
Prepaid credit packs, no subscription. Each action shows its standard price before it runs.
Is my client data safe?
Each file is encrypted under a key belonging to that company alone, no person on our side can open it, and every opening is recorded where you can see it.
Read next
- The monthly financial reporting package, built from the trial balanceWhat goes in a monthly financial reporting package — balance sheet, income statement, cash flow, KPIs, flux analysis and A/R aging — and how to build one from a trial balance.Read
- Fathom alternative: management reports on prepaid credits, no subscriptionAn honest Fathom comparison: Fathom syncs, forecasts and consolidates on a monthly subscription; this builds a checked monthly report from raw exports, paid per report from prepaid credits.Read
- Management reports from QuickBooks: what to export for a monthly packWhat to export from QuickBooks Online or Desktop for a monthly reporting package: the trial balance, P&L, balance sheet and A/R and A/P aging, and where each report lives.Read
Run one client's month and compare it with yours
Create an account, load last month's trial balance, and get the report — paid per action.
Prepaid credits, no subscription.