Summary
Financial Planning is a continuous process that flows with strategic decision-making. The Operating Plan and the
Financial Plan will both support the Strategic Plan. The best place to start in preparing a budget is with sales since
this is a driving force behind much of our financial activity. However, we have to take into account numerous factors
before we can finalize our budgets.
Budgeting should be flexible, allowing modification when something changes. For example, the following will impact
budgeting:
• Life cycle of the business
• Financial conditions of the business
• General economic conditions
• Competitive situation
• Technology trends
• Availability of resources
Budgeting should be both top down and bottom up; i.e. upper level management and middle level
management will both work to finalize a budget. We can streamline the budgeting process by developing a financial
model. Financial models can facilitate “what if” analysis so we can assess decisions before they are made. This can
dramatically improve the budgeting process.
One of the biggest challenges within financial planning and budgeting is how do we make it
value-added. Budgeting requires clear channels of communication, support from upper-level management,
participation from various personnel, and predictive characteristics. Budgeting should not strive for
accuracy, but should strive to support the decision making process. If we focus too much on accura-
cy, we will end-up with a budgeting process that incurs time and costs in excess of the benefits derived.
The challenge is to make financial planning a value- added activity that helps the organization achieve its strategic
goals and objectives.
Due to an increasingly competitive and volatile environment, many businesses recognise that it is common to
face the financial stumbling blocks at some point particularly when budget is the biggest constraint. Therefore it is
crucial that they make use of effective financial tools, techniques and approaches to deliver cost-effective solutions.
Of all these, an efficient and effective budgeting systems are the most common and widely used management tool
for planning and control.
However, many businesses suffer from poorly constructed budgeting and financial processes that stifle
achievement and result in frustration or discouragement. Some companies also acknowledge that their budgets
are too rigid, unresponsive, bureaucratic and add little value to their performance.
This highly interactive course is designed to teach you how to create a more meaningful budget, and how to use
this budget to more effectively make important business decisions. Throughout the programme, you will identify
effective methods for translating your organisation’s strategic initiatives into measurable financial performance.
Now that you are in charge – what’s next? Are you 100% clear about the strategic direction of your department /
organisation (and your target companies)? How and where is it going?
Speaker Profile
Fanuel Dewever, Founder & Managing Director of 83 Degrees South, has more than 12 years
of international experience gained in some of the world’s leading corporate organisations such as
IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers & Accenture. As solution oriented consultant, coach and trainer,
Mr. Dewever served customers including blue chip clients, public sector organisations and innovative
SMEs. Clients engagements include the European Commission, KPMG, La Poste, Unilever and
Schering-Plough.
Mr. Dewever highly appreciates working with a dynamic & ambitious international team. His key areas of
expertise include technology consulting, business analytics, project & programme management, process & performance
improvement, change management, and business transformation. He also has deep hands-on experience with
Strategy & Innovation, Collaborative Workplaces, eLearning, Knowledge Management, IT strategies, and corporate
venture development.
He is member of the European Learning Industry Group (ELIG), The International Society for Professional
Innovation Managers (ISPIM) and Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). Through his involvement in
several European and local expert groups he provides decision makers with policy advice on human capital development,
innovation management and regional development.
Fanuel Dewever holds university degrees in Organizational and Managerial Informatics (1998) and in Applied
Economics (with majors in Marketing and Informatics, 1999), both from the Brussels University (VUB). In April 2007
he started an executive MBA programme at Henley Management College (UK). He is acknowledged for his contributions
to two books and is the author of several articles and papers.
Topics
Day 1 Day 3
How critical is good financial information Recognizing the best budgeting techniques
• Managing a company in this volatile business • Forecasting Methods
environment • Break-even Analysis
• Bridging the gap between Finance, Accounting and • Use of Standards
Other departments • Trend Analysis
• Tracking the life cycle of a company • Cost Estimation
• Translating strategic plans to business plans • Project Budgeting
• Business Analytics
Monitoring business performance against
budgets Managing your costs throughout the
• Monitoring and measuring variance analysis budgeting and forecasting process
• Interpreting results • Scrutinizing cost: direct & indirect cost base
• Identifying cost saving opportunities • Effectively managing cost control to make the
• Phasing expenditure to help cash flow forecasting process efficient
• Developing and tracking Key Performance • Integrating new costs and cost savings into the
Indicators (KPIs) budget
• Implementing a cost reduction exercise
Transforming the budgeting & planning process
• Zero-based budgeting Budget consolidation as a strategy enabler
• Detail and completeness • Forecasting your business ecosystem’s budgeting
• Activity Base Management & budgeting plan
• Budgeting and planning techniques • Summarising and analysing your businesses
budget effort
• Formulating the action plan
Day 2
Implementing budget forecasting
• Understanding forecasting and how to
implement them
• Understanding the concept of rolling forecasts
• Differentiating between budgeting and forecasting