Business Central has more reporting built in than most people who run it realise. There are three layers: the standard reports plus Financial Reports (the feature that used to be called Account Schedules), which cover the financial statements, budgets and ageing; Excel with the Business Central add-in and the in-product analysis mode for ad hoc questions; and Microsoft's own Power BI apps, nine of them (Finance, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Inventory Valuation, Projects, Manufacturing, Subscription Billing, Sustainability), which are free to install and were open-sourced with the 2025 release wave 2 on 1 October 2025, so the semantic models behind them can be customised. Most businesses should install the relevant apps before building anything custom. The three cases where you still need a custom model are: joining Business Central to a system that isn't Business Central (a CRM that isn't Dynamics, a web shop, a spreadsheet of targets), KPIs and definitions that differ from Microsoft's, and a report designed around your one question rather than around a module.
What does Business Central's built-in reporting cover?
Standard reports. Trial balance, aged accounts receivable and payable, customer and vendor statements, inventory valuation, sales and purchase analysis, VAT return. They print, export and schedule.
Financial Reports (formerly Account Schedules). The tool for building the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow layouts you actually want: row definitions map G/L accounts and dimensions to reporting lines, column definitions give you net change, balance, budget, comparison period, variance. With G/L Budgets loaded, budget vs actual is a column. It's powerful and under-used; a lot of "we need Power BI for the P&L" is really "nobody set up Financial Reports".
Dimensions. Up to eight global and shortcut dimensions on every posting: department, project, cost centre, region, whatever you define. Every report and every Power BI app slices by them.
Analysis mode and Excel. Any list page can be turned into a pivot-style analysis in the product, and the Excel add-in edits and refreshes Business Central data from a workbook.
For finance users answering ledger questions inside Business Central, that's a complete answer.
What do the free Power BI apps cover?
This is the layer people miss. Microsoft publishes Power BI apps for Business Central that connect to your environment, install a semantic model and a set of reports in your Power BI workspace, and can be embedded back into Business Central's role centres.
| App | What it covers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | P&L, balance sheet, budget vs actual, aged receivables and payables, cash, by dimension | The one most businesses want first |
| Sales | Sales by customer, item, salesperson, region; orders, backlog, top customers | |
| Purchasing | Spend by vendor, item, purchaser; open orders | |
| Inventory | Stock levels, turnover, movements, by location | |
| Inventory Valuation | Value of stock over time, by location and item | Separate app because of the calculation |
| Projects | Job budgets vs actuals, WIP, utilisation, billable vs billed | Business Central's Projects (formerly Jobs) |
| Manufacturing | Production orders, output, capacity, consumption | Needs the Manufacturing module |
| Subscription Billing | Recurring revenue, contracts, deferrals | Newer module |
| Sustainability | Emissions and sustainability ledger | Newer module |
Source: Microsoft Learn, "Power BI apps for Business Central" and the 2025 release wave 2 plan entry "Access open-sourced Power BI apps", read 21 September 2026.
Facts about them worth knowing:
- They're free to install. The requirement is a Power BI licence: the person who installs, the account that refreshes, and everyone who views the reports needs Power BI Pro (or the workspace sits on Fabric or Premium capacity). Pro is £10.80 per user per month on Microsoft's UK page as of September 2026.
- They're open source as of 1 October 2025. The semantic models and reports are published so a partner or an in-house developer can change the definitions, add measures and re-deploy, instead of starting from nothing.
- They connect natively. Business Central has a native Power BI connector, and the apps use it. No third-party subscription.
- Refresh is up to eight times a day in a Pro workspace, forty-eight on capacity.
The honest recommendation: install the Finance app and the app for your main module before you commission anything. For a lot of businesses the Finance app plus Financial Reports is the whole answer, and I'd rather say that than sell a build.
When do you need a custom model on top?
Three cases, and they come up often enough that I'll be specific.
1. A second system that isn't Business Central. HubSpot or Salesforce instead of Dynamics 365 Sales; a Shopify or Magento web shop; a field service or job app; a spreadsheet of targets or headcount. The apps only see Business Central. Joining the second system means a model with one customer list, one calendar and both sources. This is the most common reason.
2. Your definitions differ from Microsoft's. Gross margin including or excluding certain costs; revenue recognised versus invoiced; a "customer" that's a group of Business Central customers; a fiscal calendar the app doesn't understand. The open-source apps let you change this, but if the changes are extensive it's often quicker to build the model around your definitions from the start. The reconciliation still has to tie to the trial balance either way, and I've written about what happens when it doesn't at Why Your Power BI Report Doesn't Match Business Central.
3. One question, designed to be read. The apps are module-shaped: here's everything about sales, here's everything about finance. A managing director asking "which customers are worth having?" or a credit controller asking "who do I ring today?" wants one page designed around that question, on a phone, with row-level security so each person sees their own. That's a different artefact from an app, and it's what a First Report is.
What does it cost, and where do you start?
Start with the apps. They're free, they take an hour to install with the right permissions, and they'll tell you quickly whether the built-in definitions match yours.
If they don't, or if there's a second system, or if what you want is one question on one page: a single-source First Report on Business Central is £1,950 fixed, one report answering one written question, the headline number reconciled back to Business Central to the penny, ten working days, published to your workspace (see the First Report; Business Central is one of the named systems). Business Central plus a second system is a Reporting Sprint. If existing reports are producing numbers that don't match, that's a Health Check first.
Common questions
Does Business Central have Power BI built in?
It has a native Power BI connector and Microsoft publishes nine free Power BI apps (Finance, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Inventory Valuation, Projects, Manufacturing, Subscription Billing, Sustainability) that install into your workspace and can be embedded in Business Central. You need Power BI Pro licences for installers, refreshers and viewers, or a Fabric/Premium capacity.
Are the Business Central Power BI apps free?
The apps are free. The Power BI licences aren't: Pro is £10.80 per user per month on Microsoft's UK page as of September 2026, for everyone who views the reports in a Pro workspace.
What does "open-sourced Power BI apps" mean for Business Central?
From the 2025 release wave 2 (GA 1 October 2025), Microsoft publishes the source of the apps' semantic models and reports, so they can be customised, extended and re-deployed rather than used as-is. Your partner or developer can change measures and add your definitions.
What are Financial Reports in Business Central?
The feature previously called Account Schedules: row and column definitions that build the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow layouts you want from G/L accounts and dimensions, with budget, comparison and variance columns. It's the built-in answer to "I need our P&L format", and it's often overlooked.
Can Business Central do budget vs actual?
Yes. Load G/L Budgets (by account, date and dimension, multiple named budgets) and use Financial Reports with a budget column, or the Finance Power BI app, which includes budget vs actual pages.
When do I need a custom Power BI model instead of the apps?
When you need to join Business Central to a system that isn't Business Central, when your definitions differ from Microsoft's more than a light customisation covers, or when you want one report designed around one question rather than a module's worth of pages.
Why doesn't my Power BI report match Business Central?
Usually posting date versus document date, filtered dimensions, a missing journal type, or a measure that doesn't handle credit memos the way the trial balance does. The fix is a reconciliation page that shows the model's totals next to the trial balance every refresh. I've written it up at Why Your Power BI Report Doesn't Match Business Central.