As quarter- or year-end looms, we start hearing about the need to tie up our budgets and forecasts. And hear about them again.  And again!  We are all fully aware of how critical these numbers are for intelligent decision making, both strategically and for day-to-day operations. On the flip side,…

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,…

As a CFO, much of your thinking and decision making is data-driven. The numbers, the statistics, the data – these are the things that influence and inspire your thought processing. Of course that makes sense – at the core of every business, the numbers are what matter. When it comes…

Throughout the decades, organizations have changed the way they do business. At certain points, decentralized operations were popular. At others, centralized operations were seen as the better choice. Today, companies use both methods to manage their operations, from procurement to budgeting. While decentralized budgeting can work well for certain companies,…

Unless you’ve got a crystal ball, revenue forecasting is always going to be an imperfect science. You’re predicting the future, after all. No matter how well you know your business and industry, there are things you won’t be able to foresee – things that can throw off your prediction entirely….

In manufacturing, having a strong idea of what lies ahead can mean the difference between a good year and a great year. This may be why the manufacturing industry has been relatively quick to embrace the rolling forecasting method of planning, which, when done correctly, can give businesses a more…

Managing the finances of a major healthcare organization, like a hospital, requires a budgeting process that is as accurate, manageable, and transparent as possible. With a large number of departments and both costs and incomes that can vary based on the whims of an insurance company, hospital finances can be…

We’ve all worked at companies that used highly specialized budgeting software. And while that type of software can seem necessary at times, usually it creates a lot more problems than it solves. For example, what if you’re not in the finance department? You still need to enter budget items at…

Podcasts are most often associated with entertainment, or maybe edutainment: the ever-popular This American Life and its spinoff Serial, the TED Radio Hour, Radiolab, Lore. However, sometimes you want a podcast that can help you in your career, make your job easier, or give you a new outlook on how…

One of the countless great things about Vegas is how many awesome expos and conferences are held there every year. And this time around, there’ll be one of the most important conferences of the year: Money20/20! With projected numbers of more than 10,000 attendees, more than 3000 companies, and over…