Datadriven.pro works with ReadyViz Power BI custom visuals. One of the more interesting finance-specific ones is Ultimate Sankey for Finance. If you want the official listing, it is also available on Microsoft Marketplace.
Short product video: Ultimate Sankey for Finance for Microsoft Power BI.
The core idea is simple. Financial statements are usually shown as tables, maybe with a waterfall if the story is kind. That works until you want to explain how values split, move and recombine across several layers. Then the layout gets clumsy fast. A Sankey is often the cleaner answer.
What the Power BI Sankey visual is good at
Ultimate Sankey for Finance is built to turn structured finance data into a Sankey diagram in Power BI. The useful bit is not just that it draws flows. It is that it is tailored to financial statements, including cases with negative values, which is where many generic Sankey visuals start to wobble.
- Quick conversion: map the data to the expected structure and the visual builds the flow automatically.
- Automatic node arrangement: the visual places nodes for readability, so you do not have to babysit the layout.
- Custom sorting: useful when finance wants the statement to follow reporting logic instead of default chart order.
- Income statement breakdowns: revenue, cost blocks, margins and profit lines can be shown as connected flows instead of disconnected rows.
- Style control: colors, fonts, node-title position and layout options are there when the default is not enough.
Why this matters in Power BI
A finance report should not need a guided tour. If the reader has to inspect five tables and three bridge charts to understand where the result comes from, the report is doing too much work and too little explaining. A good Sankey can compress that logic into one view.
This is especially useful for management reporting, controlling, P&L walkthroughs, cost allocation stories, business-unit contribution analysis and cases where a classic waterfall is too linear. Some finance stories are not linear. They branch. Better to show the branching than pretend otherwise.
Data model notes for financial statements
The visual still needs clean input. Labels should be consistent, the flow structure should be deliberate and sign logic should be clear. If the source model is messy, the Sankey will not save it. It will just make the mess more decorative.
I would check three things before using it in a real finance report:
- Do the source and target nodes reflect the accounting story correctly?
- Are negative values intentional and understood by the report audience?
- Does the sorting follow the same sequence finance uses in the rest of the statement?
Where it fits best
- Income statement walkthroughs
- Management reporting for controlling teams
- Cost and margin analysis
- Contribution analysis across entities or products
- Finance presentations where tables alone are too dry and too slow
Bottom line
Ultimate Sankey for Finance is not a general-purpose gimmick. It is a fairly specific tool for finance reporting in Power BI, and that is exactly why it is useful. If your reporting story is about how financial values flow through a statement, this can explain it more clearly than another dense table or another overworked waterfall.
If you want to review the original product explanation, start with the Dataviz article and the Marketplace listing. Then check whether your finance model is clean enough to deserve a decent visual in the first place.
FAQ
What is Ultimate Sankey for Finance?
Ultimate Sankey for Finance is a Microsoft Power BI custom visual for showing financial statement flows as Sankey diagrams, including income statement structures and negative values.
Where can I get the visual?
The product information is on the Dataviz product article, and the visual is listed on Microsoft Marketplace.
Does it support negative values?
Yes. Negative values are one of the important finance-specific points, especially for profit, loss and EBT scenarios where a generic Sankey chart can become misleading.
When should finance teams use a Sankey instead of a waterfall?
Use a Sankey when the reporting story branches across several source and target nodes. Use a waterfall when the story is mainly a linear bridge from one value to another.
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