Budgeting and Forecasting in Excel – Live Online Workshop (May 2021) with books

Description

Course Outline

1. Using Excel for the budgeting process
   • How we use Excel for budgeting & forecasting
   • Overview of commonly used Excel tools and techniques
2. Applying phasing and seasonality to model drivers
   • Using time series and linear regression
   • Calculating seasonality
   • Creating a “rolling” forecast with live data
3. Budgeting Techniques
   • Building flex budgets
   • Top down versus bottom up
   • Zero based budgeting
4. Critique of the budget process
   • Behavioural impact of budgeting
   • Budgeting “soft” skills
5. Capital expenditure budgeting
   • Building capex and opex into the budget model
   • Calculating depreciation
6. Using management reporting to promote accountability
   • Building dynamic variance analysis reports
   • Scenarios – Stress-testing, break-even and sensitivity analysis

Danielle Stein Fairhurst is the Principal of Plum Solutions, a Sydney-based consultancy specialising in financial modelling and analysis. She is the author of “Using Excel for Business and Financial Modelling”, Third Edition published by Wiley Finance 2019 and “Financial Modeling in Excel for Dummies” published by Wiley in 2022.

The Masterclass

When embarking upon the budget process for your organisation this year, practical Microsoft Excel tools and strong financial modelling skills will be critical for managing the budget process. It’s never been more important to build robust, flexible and dynamic budget models to accurately predict business outcomes and handle the volatile economic inputs likely to emerge in these uncertain times. Historically, the budget process involves pulling out the financials and rolling them forward, but last year’s actuals can no longer be an automatic target. Learn how to use standard Excel tools to improve and streamline your budgeting and forecasting process.

Key Takeaways

• Limitations of budgets and critique of the budget process.
• Calculating and applying phasing and seasonality to model drivers.
• Tried and true budgeting techniques such as top-down, bottom-up, zero-based and flex budgeting.
• Tools to handle uncertainty building scenarios, sensitivities and break-even analysis into planning projections.
• Budgeting for capital expenditure and depreciation.
• Creating a “rolling” forecast with live data.
• Building dynamic variance analysis reports.

Technical Requirements

You should have Microsoft Excel (any version) installed on your machine prior to the beginning of the class.

Session Times

Wednesday 5th – Friday 7th May 2021
3 x 3 hour sessions
plus clinic each day

• 3-6pm Sydney
• 3-6pm Brisbane
• 5-8pm Auckland
• 1-4pm Perth / Singapore
• 9am-12pm Dubai
• 6-9am London
• 10pm – 1am Los Angeles

PRICE is AUD$515 plus GST (approx US$375)
GST is only applicable to Australian residents

Don’t require the books, order here: