Accurate budgeting and forecasting are, for a CFO, two of the most important responsibilities on your to-do list.  For many companies, Excel is the go-to program for budgeting and forecasting, and for good reason. It is easily accessible, cost-effective, and chances are your employees are familiar with it. That being…

Success, in any industry, relies heavily on the ability to create and define strategic and operational goals. This means measuring and gauging performance over time, hence the importance of key performance indicators. So, knowing this, how do you evaluate your budgeting and forecasting process? What are you, or should you…

With an ever changing economy, technological advances that make the Jetsons look like they’re falling behind, and competition the scope of which most industries have never seen, the role of the CFO is an ever-evolving, fast-paced one. While your responsibilities may look the same, the ways in which you accomplish…

In many cases, there is something to be said for tradition. The old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ holds true in many situations – be it business or any other environment. However, when that approach becomes a hindrance, a block if you will, it becomes inherently problematic….

Sometimes, when you’ve spent months on your planning, budgeting and forecasting and corporate performance management, only to have a week-long break and start at it once again, canning Excel altogether and looking for something better often seems like a fruitful endeavour. After all, there has to be something better out…

In most organizations the IT department is understandably on the hook resolving all technology issues, typically including corporate software-related implementation and maintenance. That’s fair – after all, that is what they are mandated and trained to do. Technology, for good reason, will likely always remain the purview of IT experts,…

With constant pressure at the executive level to drive Sales and top-line revenue in increasingly competitive markets, the CFO is often put into the difficult position of reconciling the seemingly conflicting priorities of revenue vs. margins. In an effort to better understand and put into perspective top CFO priorities from…

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,…

The issue is almost universal: all (or at least most) of your employees are using spreadsheets for budgeting. Different departments have their own variations, with unique calculations. When this goes up to the manager level, how many different versions do these managers have to work with? When it comes time…