Advanced Budgeting and Forecasting

Why Attend

This course is the second level course in budgeting after ‘Effective Budgeting and Cost Control’ course. It goes beyond the theory of budgeting as a concept to cover specific steps to make the budget a value-added process in the organization. By building user-friendly models and applying scenario analysis, management will spend less time gathering data and more time analyzing this data for decision making. Several Microsoft Excel tools are used throughout this course for practicality and to provide participants with the skills needed to apply in their organization immediately. Such tools include ‘what-if’ analysis and the ‘solver’, among many others.

The course also highlights some of the main forecasting models and the detailed evaluation of capital budgeting techniques, all of which are applied in Microsoft Excel and put into practice.

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 break even 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

Location:

South Africa

Training Dates:

Each course starts every Monday of each week. Please book your training on a date that is a Monday.

Course Duration:

Unit Standard:

NQF Level:

Number of Credits:

Course Fees

Note: Please fill in the online application form on the left or bottom if this page to receive a quotation with detailed pricing from AATICD.

How to Apply:

To Apply Simply Fill in the Online Enquiries / Applications form on the Right Sidebar or Bottom of this website https://www.aaticd.co.za

NB: Terms and Conditions for Payment and Refunds

1.1. Full payment for the training workshop must be made at least 5 days before the scheduled workshop date.

1.2. Payment can be made via bank transfer, credit card, or any other agreed-upon method.

1.3. A confirmation of payment will be issued upon receipt of funds.

1.4. Any form of Payment means that trainee / delegate / client receiving the training accepts the training and agrees to these terms and conditions.

2. Cancellation and Refund Policy

2.1. Cancellations made 30 days or more before the workshop date will be eligible for a full refund, minus any administrative fees.

2.2. Cancellations made 15 to 29 days before the workshop date will be eligible for a 50% refund of the total payment.

2.3. Cancellations made less than 14 days before the workshop date will not be eligible for a refund.

2.4. Participants who fail to attend the workshop without prior notice will not be eligible for a refund.

3. Rescheduling

3.1. If a participant wishes to reschedule, a request must be submitted at least 14 days in advance, subject to availability.

3.2. A rescheduling fee may apply.

4. Workshop Cancellation by the Organizer

4.1. AATICD reserves the right to cancel or reschedule the workshop due to unforeseen circumstances, including but not limited to low enrolment, trainer unavailability, or force majeure events.

4.2. In the event of cancellation by AATICD, participants will be offered a full refund or the option to attend a rescheduled session.

4.3. AATICD is not responsible for any additional costs incurred by participants, such as travel or accommodation expenses.

5. Refund Processing

5.1. Approved refunds will be processed within 7 business days from the date of cancellation approval.

5.2. Refunds will be issued using the original payment method unless otherwise agreed.

6. Contact Information

For any questions regarding payments and refunds, please contact us at:

Email: apply@aaticd.co.za

Phone: +27 73 016 5042

By registering for the workshop, participants agree to abide by these terms and conditions.

In-House Trainings are also available for 3 or more delegates for any duration. Please consult with our Administration for such In-House training bookings.

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