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QAD Financial Report Writer (FRW) Limitations
Posted on: September 17, 2025 | By: Alexa Leitner | QAD Financials|QAD Business Process
With its release in 2016, QAD’s Financial Report Writer (FRW) became the company’s primary financial reporting tool, officially replacing the legacy General Ledger Report Writer. Designed to modernize the financial reporting process, FRW introduced several features aimed at improving usability, flexibility, and integration—most notably its deep compatibility with Microsoft Excel.
FRW users can export reports to both Excel and PDF formats, but the real power lies in the ability to build reports directly within Excel and import them back into QAD. This workflow enables finance teams to leverage familiar Excel capabilities while maintaining consistency within the QAD environment. FRW supports the use of formulas in both rows and columns and includes a variety of formatting options that allow users to tailor reports to their specific needs. Combined with a more modern and intuitive user interface, these enhancements contribute to a more efficient and user-friendly report-building experience.
Despite its advancements, FRW is not without its limitations, some of which can significantly impact usability, especially for organizations with complex reporting requirements.
Technical Limitations
FRW supports up to 60 columns per report; however, if a report exceeds 16 columns, it typically requires assistance from a developer. This adds complexity and delays to the reporting process, making it less accessible for finance users who prefer self-service capabilities. Additionally, while FRW allows the use of calculations in both rows and columns, it does not support multiple number formats within a single column. For example, a column cannot display both percentages and dollar amounts simultaneously, limiting its utility for mixed-metric reporting.
Formatting limitations also persist. While column headers wrap automatically, users have no control over where or how the text wraps. This can lead to awkward or unclear header displays in reports, particularly when dealing with long or descriptive labels.
Data Integrity and Balancing
Another notable shortcoming is FRW’s lack of built-in balancing controls. Reports must be constructed manually, and there is no automated mechanism to confirm whether they balance correctly. Users must develop their own checks and/or rely on FRW’s basic feature to detect missing or duplicate account codes. However, this feature is not entirely reliable. For instance, if the same GL account code is used across multiple analysis codes—such as different sections of an income statement filtered by cost center or sub-account, it may be incorrectly flagged as a duplicate, even though its use is valid and intentional.
Budget Reporting Constraints
FRW’s limitations become especially apparent in budget reporting. While it allows users to “explode” financial statements, drilling down from summary-level views to detailed level views including cost centers or SAFs, this functionality is restricted to reports based on actuals. When budgeted figures are included, the drill-down capability no longer functions. This inconsistency reduces the effectiveness of comparative reporting, as users cannot analyze budget data with the same depth and interactivity as actuals, ultimately limiting insight into budget performance.
In addition, FRW does not recognize Budget Groups defined in the GL Account master record. This disconnect is often seen as counterintuitive, especially for users who expect the system to group budget data in alignment with how financial accounts are structured. To work around this limitation, users must manually create and assign equivalent Analysis Codes that correspond to their Budget Groups—a process that introduces additional setup and maintenance effort.
Conclusion
QAD’s Financial Report Writer represents a significant upgrade over its predecessor, particularly in terms of user interface, Excel integration, and formatting flexibility. For many customers, FRW provides an adequate solution for day-to-day financial reporting. However, for organizations with more complex requirements—such as large column sets, advanced formatting needs, strict balancing controls, or robust budget reporting, FRW’s limitations can become a significant bottleneck.
Ultimately, while FRW is sufficient for many reporting scenarios, some users find it necessary to supplement or replace it with third-party budgeting and reporting software that offers greater functionality, automation, and control.
Next Steps
If you’re ready to elevate your team’s QAD expertise, we’re here to help. Logan Consulting specializes in QAD training tailored to your organization’s unique needs. Contact us today at info@loganconsulting.com or call (312) 345-8817 to learn more about how we can support your team’s growth and development.
