Reforecasting/Rolling Forecasts

How do I quickly, accurately adjust the numbers to reflect company performance and shifting external drivers?

In a perfect world, your final budget and financial plan would last the entire fiscal year. Instead, the budget is a living, breathing document.  Weeks after you put the final touches on it, it could be obsolete due to internal or external changes. Like any good pilot, you change course mid-trip to reflect changing conditions.

Benefits of reforecasting

Reforecasting the budget can help small and mid-sized businesses “roll with the punches”.  If you land a big customer, lose a major customer, or face a hike in your costs, you can layer that change over your business plan and adjust as needed.

Accurate and timely reforecasts are imperative for companies that:

  • Operate in volatile markets
  • Are in high growth
  • Are abnormally sensitive to fluctuating costs, margins, raw materials prices or currency swings
  • Are in mergers and acquisitions mode
  • Are seeking financing

High-performing companies perform monthly or quarterly checks and reforecast accordingly, to help control costs, maintain margins, and generally assure that performance aligns with business strategy and objectives.

Reforecasting the hard way

If you reforecast using spreadsheets, you spend more time creating the forecast (trouble-shooting formulas, tracking down broken links and consolidating disparate worksheets) than you do analyzing the new forecast and the impact of past and future variables, and strategizing adjustments. For all the effort it takes to get there, your reforecast still doesn’t have the desired level of detail.

See change with Centage

An infinitely better route exists for reforecasting and rolling forecasts, with Budget Maestro and Planning Maestro. You can have a dynamic planning process that includes the ability to generate frequent and accurate forecasts. Your numbers can reflect what has happened and what you expect to happen.

Budget /  Planning Maestro:

  • Centralize data so you can generate variance reports, analyze budget and actual and reforecasted numbers, and spot problems or exploit opportunities
  • Consolidate data automatically, so you can run real-time forecasts from summary to detail level
  • Reflect changes in assumptions about key business drivers or market conditions instantly: the software automatically recalculates the data and updates all related assumptions. This “ripple through accuracy” eliminates the need to trouble-shoot formulas since the formula calculations are built for you
  • Facilitate comparison of multiple forecasts, e.g. Forecast with Flat Sales and Stable Healthcare Costs, vs. Forecast with 10% Sales Growth and 5% Healthcare Increase.
  • Provide a long-term view, with the ability to create rolling forecasts beyond 12 periods
  •  Allow you to quickly and easily compare Income Statements, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements for multiple periods and versions
  • Allow budget managers to update their line items and generate accurate updated reports.