30-06-2025 - 04-07-2025	3500	أبوظبي

Course Introduction:

This course examines traditional budgetary and planning processes, considers alternative techniques and their implications and means to improve forecast accuracy. It will examine the needs and imperatives of operational management and look at how managers and accountants can speak a common language through the planning and budgetary processes.

Key areas covered

What do we want from a budget?
overcoming forecast and budgetary problems - uncertainty, lacking transparency, forecast accuracy, objectivity;
alternatives to traditional approaches - rolling forecasting, zero-based, activity-based and output budgets;
binding budgets to strategy and planning processes;
Making budgets ‘management friendly’.

Course Objectives:

Understanding the implications of the changing business environment for the planning processes;
understanding the limitations of traditional budgetary and forecasting processes;
awareness of the importance of non-financial elements in budgets and forecasts;
the ability to bring strategy, budgeting and planning into alignment;
Increased management buy-in through linkage to operational needs.

Who Should Attend?

Finance directors, financial controllers, management accountants and senior operational management.

Course Outline:

Budgetary problems - uncertainty, lacking transparency, forecast accuracy, objectivity, “game playing”
Binding the budget to strategy, business planning and forecasting processes
Simple statistical and non-statistical techniques to improve forecast accuracy
Rolling forecasts, driver based, zero based and activity-based budgeting
Improving Capex budgeting
Making budgets “management friendly”