Reforecasting: Part of the Budgeting & Planning Process

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller

‍Business moves fast too.  And in the day-to-day world of a CFO or a senior finance executive, you know all too well the importance of reforecasting.  Reforecasting gives you the ability to adjust your projected revenues, expenses and overall anticipated bottom line based on incoming actuals, which is key to adjusting for continually changing business events.  If you don’t reforecast, you risk missing the bigger picture, and potentially your bottom line.A benchmark survey conducted by the Institute of Management & Administration (IOMA) and Centage uncovered the state of reforecasting in more than 20 industries and companies of all sizes.Here are just some of the findings:

• The majority of companies, 74% - 86% depending on company size, reforecast to adjust to market changes and fluctuations
• However, as many as 21% report they operate under the same planned assumptions
• Half of respondents reforecast without much involvement from operating managers, while almost as many include managers in the process
• Half also report they re-run full cycle forecasts
• The larger the company, the more frequently they reforecast
• Few companies, regardless of size, reforecast more than monthly

Deliver Budget vs. Actuals, Cash Flow Management, and Scenario Planning

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There’s no question there is clear and measureable value in adding reforecasting to your overall financial planning activities.  But, if your process is not automated, you risk trading the value of it for the man hours necessary to reforecast. When you take an automated approach to reforecasting, you are able to quickly gather and analyze projected expenses based on actual knowledge.  Perhaps your actual are running over every month to date.  If you reforecast for the remaining months in the fiscal year, you have a better, more strategic view of the state of your business.   What’s your approach to reforecasting?  How many man hours does it take you?  How often do you need to do it?  Maybe your current processes no longer make sense for you.

‍See how you can automate your forecasting processes, forecast the impact of multiple scenarios, and quickly identify where, when and why actuals differ from plan, so you can take appropriate action: