RunSmart

Jirav

A Jirav Alternative for QuickBooks Advisory Firms

Jirav is built for firms and finance teams that want a full FP&A platform for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, dashboarding, and planning. RunSmart is built to help QuickBooks-focused firms turn month-end close work into forecasts, risk alerts, financial health insights, and client-ready advisory reports.

How Jirav and RunSmart Are Fundamentally Different

The Core Question:

Do you need a full FP&A planning platform, or a simpler way to turn completed QuickBooks close work into forward-looking advisory insights? That distinction explains many of the differences between Jirav and RunSmart.

Who Each Platform Is Built For

Each platform supports a different advisory workflow. Understanding who it is built for is often the fastest way to determine which one fits your firm’s needs.

When Jirav Is the Better Fit
Jirav is best suited for users who:
Want a full FP&A platform for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and dashboarding
Need driver-based financial models and structured planning workflows
Build annual budgets, rolling forecasts, and what-if scenarios across departments
Work with accounting, workforce, and operational data inside a broader planning process
Have finance, FP&A, or CFO advisory users who want deeper modeling flexibility
Jirav excels at:
Full-cycle FP&A workflows
Driver-based financial modeling
Department-level planning
Budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and dashboarding
Workforce planning and structured planning processes
If your firm is building a more advanced FP&A advisory practice with deeper planning, modeling, and implementation needs, Jirav may be the better fit.
When RunSmart Is the Better Fit
RunSmart is better suited for users who:
Serve QuickBooks clients and want to turn month-end close into advisory insights
Need automated forecasts, health scores, risk alerts, budgets, and client-ready reports
Want to quickly identify which clients need attention after close
Help clients evaluate decisions around hiring, spending, financing, pricing, payroll, and growth
Want to reduce manual spreadsheet work around forecasting, planning, reporting, and monthly review
RunSmart emphasizes:
QuickBooks-based advisory forecasting
Automated financial health insights
Client risk alerts and financial signals
Operational planning and decision modeling
Client-ready reports after month-end close
If your firm wants a simpler way to turn QuickBooks data into repeatable advisory conversations, RunSmart is typically the better fit.

Key Difference: FP&A Platform vs Advisory Workflow

Jirav and RunSmart both support forecasting and planning, but they are built around different levels of complexity.

Jirav
Jirav’s Orientation
“How should we build the budget?”
“What drivers should power the forecast?”
“How should departments contribute to the plan?”
“How do we manage a more complete FP&A process?”
RunSmart
RunSmart’s Orientation
“Which clients need attention after month-end close?”
“What financial risks are starting to emerge?”
“How may hiring, spending, financing, or growth decisions impact future cash flow?”
“What should we discuss with the client next?”
Both approaches involve planning, but they are designed for different workflows.

Operational Planning Is Where the Tools Diverge Most

One of the clearest differences is how each platform supports real-world client decisions.

Jirav
Jirav
Strong FP&A planning and budgeting framework
Supports driver-based forecasts, budgets, scenarios, and reporting
Useful for firms or finance teams that want deeper model structure and planning flexibility
Helps manage planning inputs across departments, assumptions, and financial statements
Primarily answers: “How should the plan be built, managed, and reported?”
RunSmart
RunSmart
Includes planners and forecasting tools for:
Workforce, hiring, and payroll impact
Expenses and spending plans
Loans and debt
Pricing and revenue assumptions
Growth initiatives
Models how those decisions affect:
Cash flow
Profitability
Margins
Financial health over time
This makes RunSmart useful when firms need to help QuickBooks clients understand what may happen next without building or maintaining separate planning models manually.

Business Health: Metrics vs Interpretation

Another difference is how insight is delivered:

Jirav
Jirav
Jirav provides a broader FP&A environment for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, dashboarding, and driver-based planning.
This is useful for firms and finance teams that want more control over planning structures, assumptions, and financial models.
RunSmart
RunSmart
RunSmart translates QuickBooks data into financial health assessments, risk alerts, forecasts, budgets, and reports that indicate where performance is improving, stable, or weakening over time.
This is useful for firms that want to quickly identify which clients may need attention and turn monthly financial review work into clearer advisory conversations.

Summary Comparison

Decision Factor

Choose Jirav If…

Choose RunSmart If…

Primary User

You are an accounting firm, CFO advisor, or internal finance team building a deeper FP&A process

You are an accounting, bookkeeping, or advisory firm serving QuickBooks clients

Main Goal

Full FP&A planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and dashboarding

Turning month-end close into forecasts, insights, alerts, budgets, and advisory reports

Comfort with Finance

Your team wants deeper modeling, planning structure, and FP&A workflows

Your team wants automated insights that reduce manual review and spreadsheet work

Planning Structure

You need driver-based models, departments, scenarios, and broader planning inputs

You primarily need practical decision planning for QuickBooks clients

Output Style

FP&A plans, dashboards, reports, budgets, and forecast models

Client-ready advisory reports, forecasts, health scores, and risk alerts

Planning Focus

Building and managing a more complete FP&A process

Helping clients understand risks, decisions, and future financial impact after close

Two men shaking hands during a meeting while two others watch in a modern office setting.

Conclusion

Jirav and RunSmart are not substitutes in the traditional sense. They reflect two different planning workflows.

Jirav helps firms and finance teams build a more complete FP&A process around budgeting, forecasting, reporting, dashboarding, and driver-based planning.
RunSmart helps firms turn completed QuickBooks month-end close work into forward-looking forecasts, financial health insights, risk alerts, budgets, and client-ready advisory reports.

Understanding that difference usually makes the choice clear. If your firm needs deeper FP&A infrastructure, department-level planning, driver-based modeling, and a more complete planning process, Jirav may be the better fit. If your firm wants a simpler way to identify which QuickBooks clients need attention, refresh forecasts after close, surface financial risks, and prepare advisory reports without building spreadsheets manually, RunSmart may be the better fit.

Disclaimer

This comparison is based on publicly available information and our understanding of each platform’s intended use cases. Product features, pricing, packaging, and capabilities may change over time. Please review each provider’s website for the most current information.

Frequent Asked Questions

More asnswers to common questions about how RunSmart works and what you can expect.

How do you compare against other financial planning & analysis (FP&A) software?

Many FP&A platforms are built for dedicated finance teams and require significant setup, configuration, and ongoing financial modeling. RunSmart is designed to give business owners powerful financial intelligence and planning capabilities without the complexity of traditional FP&A software.
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Simply connect your QuickBooks account and RunSmart automatically analyzes your financial performance, generates forecasts and insights, monitors your financial health, tracks budgets, and produces professional reports without requiring you to build or maintain complicated financial models.

Do I need a strong background in finance or accounting to understand RunSmart's results?

No. RunSmart is designed to make complex financial information easier to understand, even if you don't have a background in finance or accounting.
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Plain-language insights, helpful tooltips, and an extensive library of help articles explain financial concepts and results throughout the platform. RunSmart also includes an AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions and explain unfamiliar financial concepts in simple terms whenever you need additional help.

Does RunSmart use AI to perform financial analysis or generate forecasts?

No. RunSmart's financial analysis and forecasts are powered by custom-built statistical algorithms and deterministic financial logic—not generative AI.

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This ensures consistent, repeatable financial calculations grounded in your actual business data rather than AI-generated interpretations or predictions.

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What makes RunSmart’s forecasts more reliable than other tools?

Unlike financial planning tools that rely on fixed growth assumptions or manually maintained models, RunSmart uses advanced statistical forecasting algorithms to identify historical trends, seasonality, and patterns in your financial data.

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RunSmart automatically evaluates multiple forecasting methods and selects the best-fitting model for each financial line item, delivering sophisticated, data-driven projections that automatically update as new financial information becomes available.

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Can businesses with less than 2 years of history use RunSmart?

Standard and Premium plan users can begin using RunSmart with less than 24 consecutive months of QuickBooks history. While financial forecasting will not be available until 24 months of historical data are available, you can still analyze your historical financial performance, monitor your business's financial health, review key financial metrics, compare your performance against industry benchmarks, and generate professional reports depending on your plan.


Once your business reaches 24 consecutive months of historical QuickBooks data, financial forecasting is automatically enabled. This allows RunSmart's statistical forecasting models to better identify longer-term trends and seasonal patterns, helping produce more reliable forecasts. The more historical data you have for RunSmart to work with, the more reliable the results.


Pro plan users require at least 24 consecutive months of historical QuickBooks data before using RunSmart. The Pro plan is designed for businesses that need advanced forecasting, scenario planning, budgeting, workforce planning, automated reporting, and other forward-looking financial planning capabilities, all of which depend on sufficient historical data to produce reliable results.

Does RunSmart support consolidations or class tracking for budgeting?

No. RunSmart currently supports financial forecasting and planning for individual business entities. It does not support consolidating multiple companies into a single financial model or budgeting by QuickBooks class.

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You can manage multiple businesses as separate projects, with each company's financial information analyzed and forecasted independently.

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Does RunSmart work without QuickBooks Online?

No. RunSmart requires a connection to QuickBooks Online, which is currently its only supported accounting platform. RunSmart automatically uses your QuickBooks financial data to generate forecasts, financial health insights, and reports without manual data entry.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Put your financial data to work with a platform built to forecast performance, evaluate decisions, and gain clearer financial direction for your business.

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Dashboard for Bayside Construction showing seasonality, growth, health grade A, trends, KPIs, and revenue charts.Dashboard for Bayside Construction showing seasonality, growth, health grade A, trends, KPIs, and revenue charts.