Budgeting for profit

It is essential for business success to have clearly defined goals. Financial goals include having an operating budget with a target for income and a target for expenditure, which by default provide a target for profit.

Actions must be taken to achieve the income target and to stay within the expenditure levels set by the budget. Ongoing monitoring of the budget and measurement of actual performance against it are critical, and deviations are known as favourable (better than) or unfavourable (worse than) variances.

A business owner must have a realistic budget to work towards, and have a comfortable understanding of all of its underlying components in order to maximise profit.

This webinar will cover:

• the cyclical nature of business and need for realistic income and expenditure forecasts for each prospective cycle against which to measure actual performance
• the drivers underpinning revenues – seasonality, competition, volumes and prices, margins
• the nature of expenses – fixed v variable; discretionary v non-discretionary
• practical tools and helpful hints for preparing budgets and the importance of reviewing past performance to manage future expectations.

After this webinar, you will have:

• an appreciation of the need to have considered operating budgets against which to measure actual performance
• confidence to prepare realistic operating budgets and to converse with other stakeholders in their preparation process and performance review
• an ability to regularly review and interpret budget variances and to make sound strategic business adjustments as required.