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.

Prerequisites

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

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

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