Course Content

Budgeting and Forecasting in Excel Training Course This training course teaches you essential skills in using Excel for budgeting and forecasting purposes.

Budgeting and Forecasting in Excel Training Course

This training course teaches you essential skills in using Excel for budgeting and forecasting purposes.

Course Overview

If you are new to the budgeting and forecasting process, this practical course will cover issues such as using budgets to measure staff performance, linking budgets to the strategic planning process and a comparison of budgeting techniques. We will explore the difference between budgets and forecasts, and you will learn how to create your own budget, rolling forecast, variance report and budget scenarios in Excel.

Course Agenda
Optional Pre-Course Workshop: Essential Excel for Finance

Day One: Budgeting and Forecasting Theory

Cost Management Concepts
Overview of accounting theory critical for the budget manager
Financial Accounting vs. Management Accounting
General ledger accounting for budgeting
Budgeting for marginal, opportunity and sunk costs

Budgets and Strategic Planning
How budgeting fits into your organisation's strategic planning process
Linking Budgets to business objectives
Budgeting to achieve organisational objectives
How to turn measurement into management

Using Budgets as Performance Management
What gets measured gets done!
The impact of budgets on organisational performance
Successfully integrating forecasting and budgeting as essential tools for measuring performance
Translating the organisation's values into measures and targets

Financial Statements
Consolidating the detailed budget into financial statements
Creating a Profit & Loss statement and Balance Sheet budget
Measures such as NPAT, EBIT and EBITDA
Budgeting cashflow
Capital Expenditure and depreciation budgeting

Financial Ratio Analysis
Learn to calculate and analyse commonly used ratios to test your budget prior to approval
Profitability ratios, e.g. RONA, Net Profit Ratio
Liquidity ratios e.g. Quick ratio
Efficiency ratios e.g. Asset Turnover, Debtor and Creditor Days
Inventory analysis
Practical exercise: Calculate set of financial ratios in Excel from a pro-forma P&L and Balance Sheet.

Reporting
Using budget reporting for management and decision making
Using reporting to promote accountability
Variance analysis
Budgeting and forecasting as a planning and management tool
Assessment and selection of appropriate systems

Budgeting Techniques
Discussion and overview of different budgeting systems and methods
Historical-based versus Zero-based budgeting
Top down vs bottom up
Activity Based Budgeting
Flexible budgets
Rolling forecasts
Differences between a static, flexible and rolling budget
Budgeting for capital expenditure vs. operational expenditure
Contingency planning

Limitations of budgets
What s wrong with how we do budgets?
Critique of the traditional budget process
Estimations and rigidity
Staff perceptions and changing environments
Dysfunctional budgeting behaviour

Budgeting "Soft" Skills
Non-financial skills required for the budget manager
Achieving buy-in from stakeholders
Involving non-financial management of the organisation
Techniques in getting your budget approved
Managing conflicting priorities and demands
Setting timelines

Day Two: Budget and Forecast Modelling

Budget Modelling
Turn your budget theory into a practical and dynamic financial model
Fixed vs. variable costs
Drivers in budget modeling; e.g. industry forecasts, growth rates, market share
Key factors and considerations for a reliable forecasting
Modelling for Stepped costs
Using goal-seek to perform break even analysis
Practical exercise: create a model in Excel which will calculate volume-dependent "step" costs. Calculate break-even point using goal-seek.

Historical Data Analysis in Excel
Learn advanced excel ways of analysing historical data in Excel
Overview of Data Analysis tools in Excel
Development of Time Series Models
Using Regression Analysis as a predictor and estimator
Qualitative vs. Quantitative forecasting methods

Determination of business trends, cycles & seasonality
Utilisation of trends, cycles of the current market situation in the forecasting process
Understanding the inter-relationship among trends, cycles and seasonality
Identifying and calculating business trends, business cycles and seasonality in historical data
Using the seasonality factor in interpreting the forecast variances
Practical exercise: Forecast a sales cycle in Excel based on historical data by calculating the seasonality index and adjusting the forecast accordingly.

Scenarios, Sensitivities and Stress-testing
Dealing with economic uncertainty
How sensitive is your business to changes in budget drivers?
The difference between scenarios and sensitivities
Stress-testing and validating your budget model integrity
Performing a what-if and sensitivity analysis
Creating and displaying budget scenarios

Practical Reporting Exercise:
Creating an actual vs budget variance analysis forecasting reporting model

Together, we will create a dynamic template into which actual and budget can be compared and analysed quickly and efficiently. Instead of a large report showing every month in the budget period, we will create a concise report that shows only the current month depending on the month selected by the user, and forecast for the full financial year. Automatic alert flags tell the user when the budget has been exceeded by a pre-defined amount.

Selected Course Date

14th October 2010, 9:00AM - 15th October 2010, 5:00PM

Cost

USD $2,898

Location

Singapore (Singapore)
6 Raffles Boulevard Marina Square Singapore 039594.

Course Instructor

Danielle Stein Fairhurst