BEST PRACTICES IN FINANCIAL FORECASTING FOR BUDGET PREPARATION

Future revenue and expenditure trends have a significant short and long-term impact on policies, strategic goals, and overall service delivery. The forecast is an integral part of the annual budget process to presents estimated information based on past, current, and projected financial conditions. An effective forecast allows for improved decision-making in maintaining financial discipline and much-needed social services.  All public sector entities at all levels must forecast major revenues and expenditures the forecast should extend in a medium-term with valid assumptions and methodology. The financial forecasts should be made available to all stakeholders in the budget process. This course provides the skills and pest practice in financial forecasting for budgeting.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this training, participants should be able to

• Understand the budgeting process and key stakeholders involved in the budget preparation process.
• Strategically link the organization’s strategic plan, work plan and priorities with the budgeting process
• Use both qualitative and quantitative financial forecasting techniques to inform the budgeting process of the organization.
• Set realistic financial targets based on the organizations cashflow minimizing the risk of budget cuts.
• Understand cost behaviour, the use of alternative costing systems and the hidden costs that significantly impact on the budget estimates and propose budget control techniques to achieve the organizations set goals.

• Build financial growth planning models and traditional and activity-based budget models and improve budget accuracy.
• Follow best practice in developing different types of budgets in line with the organization’s strategic objectives