The Tip of the Iceberg: Budgeting and Forecasting Challenges
Are you making decisions today based on last week’s information?
Think about all of the data that comes to you: sales and revenue forecasting, compensation and CapEx planning, project, expense and plant profitability budgeting. If your company uses Excel, most of this data will come to you in Excel spreadsheets, from multiple departmental and location sources in a multitude of formats and iterations. This results in various budgeting and forecasting challenges, including a long budgeting and forecasting process cycle, manual data revision inaccuracies and the fact that with such a lengthy process your numbers quickly become outdated.
That lengthy budgeting process cycle is, arguably, the most critical since it is costly and causes your data to be out of date before you can use it. Of course your numbers need to be correct, that’s a given. However, just because the numbers are correct in March when your staff initially submits them, doesn’t mean that will be true in July or August when you finally see them. They are probably even substantially out of date by April!
Business and market conditions can change in a heartbeat. This means that you and your stakeholders absolutely need to be able to access current information, in real time, to be able to react to them accordingly.
If we think about your finances like an iceberg, the direct, indirect and opportunity costs all exist below the water line. If you can’t see them, in real time, they can creep up on you and cause a major disruption.
With all of this in mind, how do you realistically evaluate your budgeting processes and cost and ensure that your decision making is based on current and accurate information? A comprehensive business analysis and consolidated corporate performance management process will help you go below the tip of the iceberg and dive deep into the real issues.
With a corporate performance management solution, your can review and analyze all your budgeting and forecasting information in real time from one consolidated resource. It automates the entire process of user budget data collection, review and analysis, eliminating the reliance on spreadsheets and manual revisions. A CPM-based process ensures accurate information in real-time – no time lags.
Don’t let yesterday’s numbers sink the ship.
True Sky resolves the challenge of the iceberg – the right information, from the right people, in real time. Find out more by calling 1 855 878 3759.