Course Overview:
This course is designed to empower non-financial professionals with a clear understanding of budgeting and forecasting processes. It simplifies financial concepts into practical tools that support effective planning, cost control, and strategic decision-making. Participants will gain the skills to confidently participate in budget discussions, interpret financial data, and align financial plans with organizational goals.
Course Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Grasp the basic principles of budgeting and financial planning.
- Understand and interpret key financial statements.
- Prepare and manage operational and capital budgets effectively.
- Apply forecasting techniques to improve planning accuracy.
- Monitor financial performance and analyze variances.
- Align budgets with strategic priorities and performance indicators.
- Communicate financial information clearly across functions.
Who Should Attend:
This course is ideal for:
- Department heads, team leads, and supervisors with no formal finance background
- Project managers and professionals involved in budgeting tasks
- Operations, HR, marketing, procurement, and technical staff
- Entrepreneurs and business owners managing financial planning
- Any non-financial professional looking to improve their budgeting and forecasting skills
Course Outline:
- Financial Fundamentals for Non-Finance Professionals
- Importance of financial awareness in the workplace
- Basic accounting and financial terminology
- The role of budgeting and forecasting in organizational success
- The planning and control cycle
- Common misconceptions and challenges for non-finance staff
- Understanding and Interpreting Financial Statements
- Overview of key financial statements: income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow
- Understanding revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity
- Cost behavior: fixed, variable, and semi-variable costs
- Introduction to financial ratios and performance indicators
- Using financial data for informed budgeting
- Building Effective Budgets
- Types of budgets: operational, capital, and cash flow
- Budgeting approaches: incremental, zero-based, and activity-based budgeting
- Steps in the budgeting process: planning, estimating, approving
- Setting realistic assumptions and estimating costs
- Budget monitoring and control practices
- Variance analysis: identifying and addressing deviations
- Forecasting Techniques and Applications
- Importance of forecasting in decision-making
- Common forecasting techniques: trend analysis, regression, time series
- Qualitative approaches: expert opinions, surveys, market analysis
- Rolling forecasts and continuous planning
- Tools and spreadsheets for effective forecasting
- Linking Budgets and Forecasts to Strategy and Performance
- Connecting financial planning to organizational objectives and KPIs
- Performance monitoring through budget comparisons
- Using forecasts for proactive decision-making
- Communicating budgets and forecasts to stakeholders
- Final case study and practical exercise: preparing and presenting a departmental budget and forecast plan