Advanced Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting Event, 03.Mar.2025

Introduction

This leading-edge Budgeting, Forecasting, and the Planning Process training provide the theoretical basis and necessary skills to develop world-class strategic planning, forecasting, and budgeting processes. A strategy is a long-term plan of what an organisation is going to do to achieve its overall policy. This Finance & Budgeting training seminar will enable delegates to develop a framework that links strategies to annual budget and targets and aims for world-class levels of management and organisational performance.

A budget is a short-term plan of how an organisation quantifies the operational activities required to achieve its long-term strategy. This Budgeting, Forecasting, and the Planning Process training course will provide delegates with the skills and forecasting techniques to develop a budget as a plan, and use control budgets and analysis of variances to actual to identify areas in which financial performance may be improved.

Course Objectives of Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting 

• Create budget templates and models for their departments or organizations
• Improve their ability to think strategically and participate in the integration of the organisation’s strategic management and budgeting processes
• Use forecasting techniques most appropriate to their organisation’s strategic planning and budgeting
• Apply the techniques that relate to the key principles of financial management: shareholder wealth maximisation; cash flow; time value of money; risk
• Appreciate the behavior of costs and identify the costing methods that may best be used in financial planning, budgeting, and budgetary control
• Use best practice to develop operating budgets, capital expenditure budgets, and cash flow budgets and forecasts in line with organisational strategic objectives

Budgeting, Planning & Forecasting Course Outlines

Day 1

Strategic Management and Financing

• Strategic Analysis, Strategic choices, and evaluation, and strategic implementation
• The Links between Strategy, Forecasting, Planning, Budgeting, Performance Measurement
• Strategic capability and avoiding the Spiral of Death
• Shareholder Wealth maximisation, Corporate and Shareholder value creation
• Financial Strategy, Dividend Policy, the Agency Problem, and Corporate Governance
• Long-term Financing
  • Debt and Equity; Cost of Equity using Dividend Growth and Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
  • Cost of Debt; Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
• Capital Structure Optimisation Models to minimise WACC
• Using Strategy Maps to link strategies to Performance Measurement: The Balanced Scorecard

Day 2

Financial Planning, Forecasting, and Risk Analysis

• The Financial Planning Process and Modelling using Excel
• Statistical Forecasting Tools and Techniques
  • Time series; moving averages; exponential smoothing
  • Pareto Analysis; trend progression; linear regression; correlation
• Forecasting long- and short-term sales revenues, and sales pricing
  • Porter’s generic strategy of cost leadership and differentiation
  • Bowman’s strategy clock; full cost pricing; marginal cost pricing
  • Target cost pricing; life-cycle costing; kaizen costing; value-based pricing
• Using Excel for Optimum Product mix decisions
• Short-term Financing, Working Capital, and the Cash Operating Cycle
• Direct and Indirect Cash Flow Analysis and Cash Flow Forecasting using Excel
• Uncertainty and Risk
• The Choices available to minimise and mitigate risk

Day 3

Cost Analysis Techniques

• Cost Behaviour and Activities
• Fixed and Variable Costs, Direct and Indirect Costs
• Product Costs and Period Costs
• Cost Allocation and Absorption of Overheads
• Absorption or Full Costing
• Marginal Costing
• Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) and ‘what-if’ analysis using Excel
• Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Activity-Based Management (ABM)

Day 4

Budgeting, Budgetary Control, and Performance Improvement

• To Budget or Not – Purposes and Reasons for Budgets
• Stages in the Budget Preparation Process
• Preparation of the Master Budget
• Activity-Based Budgeting (ABB)
• Responsibility Accounting and Variance Analysis
• Advantages, Disadvantages, and Behavioural Aspects of Budgeting
• The Conflict between Performance Improvement and the Costing System
• Lean thinking and integrating continuous performance improvement into the Budget Process

Day 5

Project Appraisal and Capital Budgeting

• The Time Value of Money
• Future Values
• Present Values
• Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)
• Capital investment Project Appraisal
• Project Risk & Sensitivity Analysis
• Capital Rationing
• Capital Budgeting and the Profitability Index (PI)