Budgets and Forecasting
Why do Fortune 500 companies spend millions of dollars each year on developing a budgets and forecasts?
Whether you are establishing a budget or a forecast for the next year, three years, or the next five years, they serve as a roadmap directing your company and something to reference along the way to ensure you are on track. Think of it as a roadmap to your company's future… or even a self fulfilling prophecy!
Budget: a detailed representation of what you WANT your business to accomplish during the year. Usually only updated once per year.
Forecast: a detailed representation of what will ACTUALLY happen in your business during the year. Usually updated monthly based on most recent and up to date knowledge available.
Many meaningful questions can be answered by going through the budgeting process:
- What should you expect revenue to be next year and why? How do you know not more or not less?
- How much are you going to have to spend in payroll and other expenses to generate and support that revenue volume?
- How do these revenues and expenses affect your desired level of profitability and cash flow?
Budgeting and Forecasting are effective, forward looking tools used to proactively manage your business. They help you determine where you are going and how you are going to get there.
Through a custom modeling process developed by Accel Financial Services, you will be able to see where your business is headed. You will be able to set goals targeting where you want to be at specific future points in time and lay out the roadmap to achieve your goals.