Certificate in Finance and Accounting Courses


Budgeting: Planning, Forecasting, What-if Analysis & Reporting

REF: 2032_245801
DATE: 30 Dec 2024 - 10 Jan 2025
LOCATION:

Barcelona (Spain)

INDIVIDUAL FEE:

8500 Euro



Introduction

A comprehensive approach to financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting is essential for any business that aims to succeed in the modern landscape. A good plan should begin with an accurate forecast, which then informs the creation of a pragmatic yet flexible budget.

Strategy refers to the long-term blueprint of what the company intends to achieve in pursuit of its goal. At the same time, budgeting represents the short-term practical steps necessary to achieve those strategies. It is crucial to quantify these activities to ensure strategies are executed effectively.

Understanding Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting

This financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course offers a deep understanding of the interrelated nature of financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes.

Attendees in the financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course will discover how strategic planning feeds into developing budgets and forecasts, guiding a company's economic and financial trajectory, and enabling practical what-if analysis and scenario planning.

Targeted Groups

  • Financial professionals, finance controllers, treasurers, and inventory professionals.
  • Senior professionals with direct responsibility for financial management and control.
  • Accountants, sales and purchasing professionals, and those responsible for bank relationships.
  • Any professional at the junior or senior level who is a part of the financial decision-building team.
  • New interns and trainees with finance-related responsibilities.
  • Head of departments, process owners, and administrative personnel associated with budget management.

Course Objectives

At the end of this financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course, the participants will be able to:

  • Develop strategic thinking and use the strategic management process to develop missions and objectives.
  • Understand the relationship between financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting and the integration of the strategic management process with the budgeting cycle.
  • Appreciate cost behavior, cost/volume/profit (CVP) analysis, and develop an operating budget.
  • Use various Excel models for forecasting, financial growth planning models, and budget accuracy improvements.
  • Implement techniques of budgetary control, flexed budgets, variance analysis, and operational performance enhancement.
  • Determine a company's cost of capital and use discounted cash flow (DCF) for capital budgeting and risk analysis.
  • Increase awareness of effective forecasting and budgeting for better strategic management decisions.
  • Strategic management techniques will help managers make more informed and, therefore, better management decisions.
  • Foster techniques for effective planning, operations budgeting, capital investment projects, and cash flow.
  • Develop techniques to forecast sales revenues and cash flows to aid day-to-day and long-term management.

Targeted Competencies

At the end of this financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course, the target competencies will be able to:

  • Performing capital budgeting analysis.
  • Forecasting cash flow.
  • Calculating the cost of capital.
  • Practicing financial modeling.
  • Understanding scenario analysis.
  • Calculating free cash flow.
  • Using advanced Excel.
  • Cost management.
  • Planning.
  • Data analyzing.

Course Content

Unit 1: Planning for Success

  • What are planning strategies?
  • Work with the planning cycle.
  • Mission.
  • Strategic analysis.
  • Strategic choice.
  • Strategic implementation.
  • Corporate objectives.
  • Corporate value and shareholder value.
  • The agency problem and corporate governance.
  • Planning requirements and working capital.
  • Plan outline.
  • Financial planning for growth.
  • Financial modeling.
  • Development of the key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • The balanced scorecard.

Unit 2: The Forecasting Process

  • Determine the purpose and objective of the forecast.
  • Analyzing data.
  • Statistical analytical tools.
  • Quantitative analysis and forecasting.
  • Forecasting techniques.
  • Univariate analysis models: time series, moving averages, exponential smoothing, trend progression.
  • Causal analysis models – regression analysis.

Unit 3: Projecting Revenues – The Sales Budget

  • Projecting sales.
  • Long-term trend sales forecast.
  • Short-term trend sales forecast.
  • The basis of revenue assumptions.
  • Sales pricing.
  • Full cost pricing.
  • Marginal cost pricing.
  • Using Excel to project an optimum product mix.

Unit 4: The Nature and Behavior of Costs

  • Cost behavior, allocation, and classification.
  • What is the cost?
  • What is the activity?
  • Cost classification.
  • Fixed costs and stepped fixed costs.
  • Variable costs and semi-variable costs.
  • Notional costs.
  • Cost allocation.
  • Product costs and period costs.
  • Product costing for inventory valuations and profit ascertainment.
  • Absorption costing.
  • Cost/volume/profit (CVP) and 'what-if' analysis.

Unit 5: The Budgeting Process

  • Why do we budget? - the purposes of budgeting
  • Planning and control.
  • Budgeting for sales and costs.
  • Stages in the budget process.
  • Budget preparation process.
  • Accounting for headcount and labor costs in the budget model.
  • Accounting for depreciation in the budget model.
  • Putting the budget together.

Unit 6: Budgetary Control

  • The importance of standard costing.
  • The purpose of standard costing.
  • Flexed budgets.
  • Variance analysis.
  • The reasons for variances.
  • Planning and operating variances.

Unit 7: Projecting Expenses

  • Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Activity-Based Budgeting (ABB).
  • The activities that cause costs.
  • Processes and activities.
  • Under and over-costing - product cost cross-subsidization.
  • Activity-Based Costing (ABC).
  • Refinement of the costing system.
  • ABC and cost management.
  • Design of ABC systems.
  • The cost hierarchy and cost drivers.
  • Advantages and disadvantages of ABC systems.
  • Traditional budgeting to Activity-Based Budgeting (ABB).
  • The ABB process.
  • Motivation and the behavioral aspect of budgeting.

Unit 8: The Time Value of Money

  • The impact time has on the value of money.
  • Future values and compound interest.
  • Present values.
  • Discounted cash flow (DCF).

Unit 9: Evaluating Capital Project Proposals

  • Various types of capital projects.
  • Capital project evaluation.
  • Capital investment project appraisal.
  • Accounting Rate of Return (ARR).
  • Payback method.
  • Net Present Value (NPV).
  • Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
  • Discounted payback method.
  • Choosing the proper investment appraisal method.
  • Equivalent Annual Cost (EAC) method.
  • Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR).
  • Capital budgeting methods.
  • Capital rationing.
  • Profitability Index (PI).

Unit 10: Putting the Pieces Together - The Budget

  • Long-term and short-term funding.
  • Sources of finance.
  • Capital cost models.
  • Cost of equity.
  • Cost of debt.
  • Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).
  • Risk and the cost of capital.
  • Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the beta factor.
  • Optimal capital structure.
  • Capital structure models.

Unit 11: Budget Re-Projection – Evaluating Risk And Uncertainty

  • Risk and uncertainty decision rules.
  • Worst and best-case scenarios.
  • The value of perfect information (VOPI).
  • Analyzing risk: expected values; standard deviation.
  • Sensitivity analysis.
  • Simulation model.
  • Scenario analysis.
  • NPV break-even.

This financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course is designed for those seeking to deepen their expertise in financial reporting, budgeting, accounting analysis, and reporting budgeting in management.

It is a comprehensive planning, budgeting, and forecasting course aimed at those responsible for financial oversight within their organization. Includes financial analyst budgeting and forecasting roles, where precision and strategic insight into the planning, budgeting, and forecasting process are crucial.

Attendees will leave with a thorough understanding of planning and forecasting and how they can effectively incorporate these into their strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting.

By the end of the financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting course, participants will be adept at generating reports that provide clarity and actionable insights into their company's financial health and trajectory.

Certificate in Finance and Accounting Courses
Budgeting: Planning, Forecasting, What-if Analysis & Reporting (2032_245801)

REF: 2032_245801   DATE: 30.Dec.2024 - 10.Jan.2025   LOCATION: Barcelona (Spain)  INDIVIDUAL FEE: 8500 Euro

 

Mercury dynamic schedule is constantly reviewed and updated to ensure that every category is being addressed at least once a month, if not once every week. Please check the training courses listed below and if you do not find the subject you are interested in, email us or give us a call and we will do our best to assist.