Course Objectives
Certificate in Advanced Budgeting and Forecasting
Course Methodology
The course is a hands-on application on how to use MS Excel in budgeting and forecasting. Participants will be involved in exercises, individual and group presentations, and will work on several case studies.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
Evaluate the budgeting process in their organizations and recommend improvements
Create budget templates and models for their departments or organizations
Apply several forecasting techniques to better manage uncertainties in budgeting
Evaluate capital budgeting decisions using several methods and recommend proper action
Utilize Microsoft Excel functions and tools in the budgeting process including breakeven analysis and optimization
Target Audience
Finance directors, managers, controllers, accountants, budget analysts, budget owners and professionals who wish to expand their budgeting knowledge.
Target Competencies
Budgeting
Building models in Microsoft Excel
Forecasting
Evaluating proposals
Applying Microsoft Excel functions and tools
Assessing budgeting process
Note
This is a hands-on training course using laptops which will be provided by Meirc for the duration of the course.
Course Outline
Budgeting and planning
Strategy development framework
The three horizons of growth model
Strategic budgeting and resource allocation
Growth-share matrix
Nine-box matrix
Budgets and the key financial statements
Budget cycle, process and approaches
The budget cycle
Characteristics of successful budgeting
Making the budget a value-adding activity
Top ten problems with budgeting
Choosing the proper budgeting approach:
Incremental budgeting
Zero-based budgeting
Flexible budgeting
Kaizen budgeting
Activity based budgeting
Rolling (continuous) budgets and forecasts
The master budget and its components
Operating and capital budgets
Best practices in budgeting
Creating a user friendly budget template
Forecasting techniques
Forecasting models
Qualitative and quantitative methods
Steps in developing forecasting models
Time series and trend analysis
Data conditioning techniques
Exponential smoothing and moving averages
Simple and multiple regression analysis
Modeling projected financial statements
Micro and macro factors
Forecasting sales
Estimating market demand
Estimating company demand
Developing sales forecast
Forecasting cost of sales
Forecasting operating expenses
Forecasting key assets and liabilities accounts
Modeling the income statement forecast
Modeling the balance sheet forecast
Advanced capital budgeting evaluation techniques
Business risk and cost of capital
Classifying investment projects
Cash flow estimation
Analyzing investment and operating cash flows
The time value of money concept
The required rate of return
Net Present Value (NPV)
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Multiple internal rates of return
Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR)
Profitability Index (PI)
Payback period and discounted payback period
Capital rationing
Comparing and evaluating techniques
Sensitivity and risk analysis
Breakeven analysis and optimization techniques
Cost Volume Profit (CVP) analysis
Using CVP to reach a target income
Single product and multiple products breakeven analysis
Working with budget constraints
Building optimization models