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Quarterly Rolling Forecasting Using a Planning Tool

Home > Workshops > Topics > Quarterly Rolling Forecasting Using a Planning Tool

Re-forecasting the year-end position every month is flawed on a number of counts, it never looks further than year-end, each month the forecast changes creating number noise, the opportunity to set realistic reporting targets for the on-coming quarter is not taken up, the forecast model frequently is based in error prone Excel, and seldom do budget holders buy-in to the forecast as they were not involved in the numbers.

Quarterly rolling forecasting (QRF), typically going out 18 months at a time, can be a quick process. Less than 5 working days if it follows the “fast, light touch “ philosophy developed from “winning finance” teams from around the world. This course will show you “how to implement quarterly rolling forecasting – and get it right first time”. In addition the course will show how QRF evolves into quarterly rolling planning(QRP), a process that will revolutionise any organisation whether public or private sector!

It is being increasingly recognised that a planning tool is required for a forecasting and planning process. The stalwart Excel has now been extended beyond it intended boundaries with management accountants building monsters that are beyond any quality assurance programme, littered with logic errors hidden in the formula and designed with out the big picture view. However, many planning applications have failed to deliver with seven figure sums being wasted as the forecasting model is redone sometimes within 18 months of the original. This “planning tool implementation” carnage is well documented. Whilst there was an excuse before, “it was new territory”, now this is not the case. We must learn and apply the better practices that are becoming standards.

This course will explain why quarterly rolling forecasting (QRF) is the most important management tool of this decade and why the rolling forecasts of the past are a different beast to the 21st century QRF.

If you want to undertake quarterly rolling forecasting in a 21st century planning tool then this is the course for you! This course will help you build a better annual planning tool, or if you are already down the path, a robust quarterly rolling forecasting tool.

What you will gain

• Understand the building blocks to quarterly rolling forecasting
• Understand how QRF evolves into QRP
• Apply the checklists and templates designed to help you to implement QRF
• Avoid the common implementation pitfalls
• Explain to your management why your organisation should implement quarterly rolling forecasting

Content

• How each subsequent rolling forecast works
• An implementation roadmap
• Three case studies on how to migrate from Excel to a planning tool
• A brief summary of the main forecasting and planning tools
• Pareto’s 80/20 rule when designing a forecasting/planning model
• The 10 rules you need to apply
• The 10 pitfalls to avoid at all costs
• Mapping out the purpose of the model first
• Better practice forecasting techniques used by participants
• A comprehensive white paper

Target Audience:

• Finance Directors, CFOs or financial controllers who are involved in annual planning process
• Financial accountants and management accountants performing forecasts
• Corporate service managers who have the accounting team reporting to them