Forecasting for Financial Managers

The rate of change in the business environment is greater than ever before, managers are recognising that they have to spend more time looking forward.

For you, the finance professional, this is vitally important but not necessarily straightforward.

Coming to terms with judgements about the future, which are subject to significant margins of error, requires a particular set of skills.

As well as describing the principles and practice of forecasting, this course looks at their use, especially in decision making.

It covers interpretative statistics, short-medium term forecasting and long range forecasting.

Understanding Forecasting for Financial Managers
enables the learner to:

• Recognise what forecasts are used for, and who is responsible for them
• Discuss the principles and practice of statistics relevant to forecasting
• Explore short / medium term forecasting
• Look closer at long range forecasting

Looking to the future
• What are forecasts for?
• Why has forecasting become more important of late?
• Where does forecasting fit within a structure of financial control?
• Responsibility for forecasting

Statistics 
• Basics
• Probability of dispersion
• Correlation
• Regression

Short and medium range
• Hedging
• Predictive modelling
• Standard costing
• Budgetary control

Long range
• Demographics
• Devolution
• The value of money
• Some relevant techniques

Financial Directors, Financial Controllers, Financial Managers and Management Accountants who need to establish a framework for the various forecasts compiled within their businesses, and those available outside.