In today’s business world one constantly hears that to compete one needs to understand and use technology to one’s advantage. This is also true in the Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) world and we constantly hear about the various technologies and tools we should be using that will make forecasting easier, more accurate and beneficial…
Zero-based budgeting has been the unwanted stepchild of the financial planning and analysis (FP&A) world for decades. Chief Financial Officers would lie to their friends about how they budget and say they do cool things like rolling forecasts, beyond budgeting or at the very least incremental budgeting at cocktail parties but NOT zero-based budgeting which was…
“People … operate with beliefs and biases. To the extent you can eliminate both and replace them with data, you gain a clear advantage.” Michael Lewis Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Analytics married to Big Data these days must appear to many CEOs as a corporate fountain of youth, capable of shedding…
“A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.” Michel de Montaigne, French Renaissance Philosopher & Writer As finance holds the reins of the 2017 financial plan process, having a great deal of influence how the plan activities are presented and executed, it might be a good…
Agility is a key feature of any successful organization. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances without compromising on efficiency or profitability can pave the way to long-term growth and sustainability. One effective way in which businesses can become more dynamic is adopting a rolling forecast. Generally, every business follows some model of projection when designing…
Most large organization spend a considerable amount of resources performing some type of financial forecasting. Conversely, small and medium-sized businesses spend less time on planning for the future. Larger organizations have more to lose, therefore, the need to actively assess changes in the market to take advantage of opportunities or avoid risks becomes a more…
Various studies show that increasing financial forecast accuracy will lead to higher profits, lower inventory levels and a higher share price. By how much varies by industry, time period forecasted, forecast measure, business model and a myriad of other factors that all play into the financial forecast itself. With the speed of business constantly increasing,…