Financial Skills: Budgeting

Course Overview

Avoid common budgeting pitfalls and get the skills you need to prepare and manage a budget with this hands-on course.Participants leavethe courseable to

• Contribute effectively to the budgeting process in their organisations
• Proactively manage their budget, thereby improving cost control and allocation of financial resources in their organisation
• Understand budgeting jargon and interpret financial information

Useful course notes, including case studies, checklists and summaries, will help you apply what you have learnt back in the workplace. This course assumes no prior knowledge of budgeting or finance and is suitable for first time budget holders or experienced budget holders who would like a refresher.

Course Outline

WHY BUDGETS ARE PREPARED

• Benefits of budgeting
• Common pitfalls in the budgeting process and how to avoid them

HOW BUDGETS ARE PREPARED

• Budgeting techniques -incremental budgeting, zero based budgeting
• How to preparedifferent types of budget - revenue, cost, capital, cash
• Practical tips for preparing an effective budget
• Phasing/ profilingthe annual budget
• Getting buy-in to the budget
• The budget presentation - what you need to be able to answer

WHAT BUDGET STATEMENTS TELL YOU

• Interpreting the jargon - opex, capex, accruals, fixed costs, variable costs
• Relevant ratios explained - margin, contribution, ROCE

HOW TO MANAGE THE BUDGET

• What to look for when you get your monthly accounts
• Predicting expenditure
• Investigating differences from budget
• Avoiding overspend and getting back on track
• Forecasting