Building a Better Budget in a Time of Uncertainty

Overview

Most financial leaders would agree that budgeting is easy when business and the economy are stable. When revenues and expenses are expected to remain the same, the process becomes merely an exercise in carrying over what was done before to the current year. However, what happens when we are not sure about how the market will react to our product? What happens when the competitive landscape changes? In this course, we will discuss budgeting techniques and considerations when business lacks stability. Through a combination of theory and real-world examples, we will explore how to build flexibility into our budget - so that it can inform and drive decision-making when we don’t quite know what is ahead. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.

Highlights

The major topics that will be covered in this class include:

Budgets vs. Forecasts
Cyclicality
Core Earnings & Sustainable Growth
Identifying Key Forecast Drivers
Reasonableness in Forecasting
Approaches to Budgeting
Budgeting Variances
Horizontal Analysis
Flexible Budgeting

Prerequisites

Must be a CFO or on track to become CFO, must understand basic budget processes

Designed For

CFOs & Controllers who are involved in the budgeting process.

Objectives

After attending this presentation you will be able to...

Recall the difference between a forecast and a budget
Identify the difference between top-down and bottom-up budgeting
State the key elements of a flexible budgeting approach
Identify key cost drivers
State how behavioral biases may affect the budgeting process
Identify how headcount efficiency may be measured
Determine scenario planning
Recognize best practices and controls for managing budget changes