Location

Date

Duration

Language

Discipline

Introduction

Planning and budgeting techniques are used today everywhere as a pivotal tool for conscious allocation of resources and for monitoring their performance, paving the way for achieving a timely and effective cost control.

The course focuses on the internal view of an organization; planning, cost, and control systems. This course will facilitate a fresh understanding of the planning process with special emphasis on budgeting aspects. It will cover also the most recommended important control mechanisms aiming to enhance participants’ performance and their capability of conducting a very informed decision making which facilitate timely and courageous corrective actions.

Objective

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Determine full costs of outputs for the goods and services provided
• Conduct a Cost Volume Analysis (CVA), applying it to multiple cost drivers to make recommendations for program management
• Apply Variance Analysis as a management tool to analyze performance-based
  budgets and determine where you stand in achieving your performance goals
• The purpose of budgets
  • Motivation
  • Targets
  • Benchmarking
  • Control
  • Responsibility

• Types of budget

o Fixed

o Flexible

o Rolling

o Zero based

• Stages of preparation

• Cash budgets – cash flow forecasts

• Master budgets – P & L and Balance Sheet

• Initial steps in constructing a spreadsheet model

Audience

The course is designed to cater for the training needs of the following:

• Finance staff responsible for administering data into the budget system or training others how to handle budget information
• Those who want to gain control of the firm's financial standing and obtain a firm grasp on the numbers side of their job
• Line Managers, Financial Professional, Professionals, R&D staff, Sales/Marketing Professionals, General Accounting Professionals, Business Unit Professionals

Content

This outline acts as a guide only. Course content will reflect participant requirements on a consensus basis. The following therefore is a tentative outline of the course materials. Practical examples, group exercises and case studies will be utilized throughout the course. The content presented during any given class may vary depending on the background and experience of the participants.

Budgeting and the Management Process

• What is a budget

• Why create budgets

• Strategy - direction and vision

• Implementing strategy - the operational planning process

• Budgets - the financial expression of the operating plan

• The purpose of budgets - control

• The human side of budgeting

The Framework for Budgeting

• Elements of the budget framework

• The financial statements

• Advantages and limitations of budgets

• Reporting - the key to control

Developing the Revenue Budget

• Scanning the surrounding environment

• PEST; SWOT; Porter 5 Forces, Organization Appraisal Analysis

• Scenarios and Sensitivity Analysis

• Operating versus non-operating revenue

• Revenue recognition versus sales

• Sales forecasting

• Profitable growth and the cost of capital

• Pricing considerations

Budgeting Costs and Expenses

• Cost, profit, volume relationships

• Cost of service provided

• Operating expenses - selling, G&A, R&D

• Directly variable expenses

• Fixed expenses

• The allocation problem

• Assignable and non-assignable expenses

• EBIT, EBITDA

Accountability for Results

• The business unit statement

• Budget could turn out to be irrelevant

• Flexing budget

• Variance analysis

• Floor Budgets

• Ceiling Budgets

• Drilling down for causes of variance

• Favorable Variance Vs. Unfavorable Variance

• Priorities

• Long term versus short-term results

• Contingency plans

• How not to cut a budget

Certificate

TRAINIT ACADEMY will award an internationally recognized certificate(s) for each delegate on completion of training.

Methodology

The training course will be highly participatory and the course leader will present, guide and facilitate learning, using a range of methods including formal presentation, discussions, sector-specific case studies and exercises.  Above all, the course leader will make extensive use of real-life case examples in which he has been personally involved. You will also be encouraged to raise your own questions and to share in the development of the right answers using your own analysis and experiences.  Tests of multiple-choice type will be made available on daily basis to examine the effectiveness of delivering the course.

• 30% Lectures
• 30% Workshops and work presentation
• 20% Case studies & Practical Exercises
• 10% Role Play
• 10% Videos, Software or Simulators (as applicable) & General Discussions

Fees

$4,150