For many finance teams, the month-end pack is still assembled by hand: run each financial report, export it, combine the files, and email the result to the people who need it. Business Central version 29, which started rolling out in October 2026, takes a good part of that work away. The features below are listed by Microsoft as generally available in version 29.
One package, one PDF, on a schedule
You can now define a package of several financial reports and receive it as a single PDF. The package can be run on demand or scheduled, with delivery by email or to the report inbox. A monthly board pack, a weekly cash and debtors view, or a set of entity-level income statements can each become one scheduled package rather than a recurring manual task.
Changes to financial reports are always logged
Changes to financial reports are now logged as standard, with nothing to configure. When a figure in the pack looks different from last month, you can establish whether the report definition changed, and when, instead of relying on memory. For auditors, it is a clear record of how management reports were maintained.
See where a G/L account is used before you change it
Version 29 lets you trace where a G/L account is used across your financial reports. Before you rename, block or restructure an account, you can see which reports depend on it, so a chart-of-accounts tidy-up does not quietly break a report someone relies on.
Documents that look like your business
Report themes let you apply a consistent look to document reports such as invoices, quotes and statements. Defaults can be set globally, per company, per report or per layout, which helps groups that run several companies in one environment. The updated Word add-in supports designing document layouts, reusable header and footer layouts, and conditional visibility, and Microsoft has added controls for the lifecycle of report layouts.
Smaller changes that add up
- Automate report outputs.
- Bookmark list views and analysis tabs, so the views you use every month are a click away.
- Use the system audit fields, such as who created or last modified a record, in analysis mode and in profiles.
- Reduce the complexity of report datasets.
Where to start
- List the reports that make up your current month-end pack and who receives each one.
- Rebuild that list as a single scheduled financial report package in a sandbox, and compare the output with last month’s manual pack.
- Run a G/L account trace on any accounts you plan to change in your next chart-of-accounts review.
- Agree one report theme for customer-facing documents, then apply it at company level.
Built-in reports will not cover every requirement. Where management needs exceptions such as overdue debt or expiring stock surfaced during the month, Power BI and an agreed escalation rule still do that job. Our article “Which Business Central exceptions require management attention?” covers that side.
How Braintree can help
Braintree’s Business Central team can set up your report packages, themes and layouts as part of your version 29 update, and review your financial reporting so the month-end pack runs itself. Contact enquiries@braintree.co.za.
