Budgets & Financial Forecasts

Robust budgets and financial forecasts are critical to the success of every business.

Budgets and Financial Forecasts enable you have control over your cashflow and effectively respond to change. What’s more, they can be used as an important tool for business growth, helping you to better understand the key drivers in your business and helping to define future strategies.

What is a Financial Forecast:

A financial forecast provides a month-by-month breakdown of all your income and expenses through your business bank account/s for a minimum 12 month period, as well as financial targets for each month. These targets will enable you to regularly measure actual results against budget.

When should I request a Financial Forecast?

An ideal time to have a financial forecast prepared is prior to a new financial year. However, they can be prepared at any point during the year.

We recommended that you put one in place as soon as possible to gain control over your cashflow. You may also be required to provide one for financial applications to banks or lease agreements.

The process:

We work with you to help you set, monitor and manage financial targets.

• We begin with a complimentary half-hour meeting to understand your goals and discuss target setting for the year.

• We then develop a personalised financial forecast proposal. On acceptance, we will ask you to complete a questionnaire and submit this with your previous year's financial records. From this we will develop your financial forecast.

• We‘ll review the draft version with you and to discuss any points of concerns.

Once finalised, you’ll receive a copy of your financial forecast that can be uploaded into your own accounting system and used for financial applications.

Benefits of a Financial Forecast:

• Allows you to monitor and maintain your cashflow on a monthly basis

• Monitors and assists with your bank lending requirements and lease agreements

• Alerts you to potential creditor issues

• Forewarns you to potential cashflow issues or benefits

• Will help you identify inconsistencies in trading

• Distinguishes between your monthly and annual business operation trends

• Reduces any unexpected cashflow surprises that you may experience throughout the year

• Clarifies how much revenue you really need to achieve the profits expected

• Clarifies how much you need to set aside for tax

• Avoids you facing costs associated with non-payment/late payment, i.e. penalties, interest and potentially supplier relationships

• Is a timely method of monitoring and evaluating your performance

• Helps you to understand your business better and provides a tool for setting your future business direction.