Reminders and tips to help you
Happy New Year! Hopefully 2021 brings a bit of normality back for us all.
A new year also means that you will be starting to think about the budget process again - have you got your timetable & task list ready to go?
There are so many online tools to help you with your timeline & task team management e.g., Monday.com, Office 365 Planner or Trello. If you prefer something more simplistic then you can just use Excel or PowerPoint - our PowerPoint template is available to download.
Whilst you're updating your timetable, it's also a great time to start thinking about your budgeting process - here are a few handy reminders to help:
What were your “pain” areas during last year's process?
Have you implemented the learnings from last year?
What business changes has there been? Do they impact on the budget process?
Is your budget top down or bottom up?
Do you start from a zero base or start with this year's latest forecast?
Do you need to setup training sessions for new employees that will contribute to the budget?
Have you shared your budget timetable?
Is your budget model ready?
Whether you're using Excel or a specialised budgeting tool, you will need to ensure that your model is ready for the new cycle - especially in these unusual times.
What impact has COVID had on the business? Does that mean a change to the budget model?
Is your model flexible enough to respond to more business changes - both positive and negative?
Agree and set the assumptions for the budget.
Update the model for structural changes e.g., new cost centres, departments or salespeople.
Will you need to run multiple scenarios & can your model cope with this?
Hopefully these quick reminders have been helpful and if you need to discuss in more detail then please contact us here.
Comments