Course Description:

Integrating Budgeting, Forecasting & Business Planning training course will provide not only the theoretical background but also the necessary skills to build world class standards into your planning, budgeting, performance measurement and reporting system. This training course will concentrate on imparting to delegates how to learn the concepts, processes, and techniques of budgeting and business planning in order to be better able to carry out their budgeting and business planning tasks and responsibilities.

By combining techniques analysis, problems and examples with real case studies the training course provides delegates with key cost awareness and budgetary skills, which is essential in managing and controlling processes/projects in times of increasing global competition where the budgets are inextricably linked with both strategy formulation and cost analysis.

Objectives:

Build an integrated planning, budgeting and reporting process

Understand costs behaviour more accurately

Deliver more timely and useful information to decision makers

Improve you the budgeting/financial skills required for better decision-making

Appreciate the need to link projects within budgets.

Course Outline:

Day 1

Budgets and Strategy in Today’s International Environment

Organizational planning framework

The product / information / decision support cycle

Strategic, tactical and operational forecasts

The strategic approach to business planning

Various strategic and tactical approaches to business planning

The international business environment

Day 2:

The Business Plan and Budget Development

Developing the business plan

Identification of key value drivers

Achieving objectives

Zero base budgeting

Activity based budgeting

Developing the Cash Budget.

Day 3

Analysing the Applicability of Historical Data Using Excel

Problems of forecasting

Using historical data to help predict the future

Forecasting

Development of Time Series Models

Using Regression Analysis as a predictor and estimator

Mastering the use of Exponential Smoothing as a Data Analysis tool

Day 4

Using Activity-Based Budgeting and Cost Analysis Techniques

Cost behaviour and breakeven analysis

Activity based costing

Budgeting for Processes rather than Departments

Defining Key Cost Drivers

Defining Key Activities

Developing the Activity-Based Budget

Day 5

Capital Budgeting and Project Appraisal

Identify the various types of capital projects

Discuss the capital project evaluation process

The impact time has on the value of money

Using WACC and ROIC as benchmarks

Development of the "Hurdle Rate" for capital projects

Evaluate capital projects by applying NPV, IRR, ARR Payback model