Once the profit and loss account forecast is prepared (and this will normally start with a sales forecast), a cash-flow forecast and forecast balance sheet will follow, giving you the complete picture of where your business is headed.

 

By budgeting and updating with forecasts, you will be creating one of the three frames of reference to answer the question; how are we doing? I.e. how are we doing compared to what we aspired to achieve. (The other two frames of reference being past results and the results of other similar businesses, i.e. benchmarking, we can help you with this too).

 

All easier said than done, but we’re here to help, as we have done with many businesses over the last 25 years or so:

 

• We can help you build a budgeting/forecasting model that can be updated/re-used and can be compared with your actuals

• We can provide easy to understand, intuitive graphical tools to help you compare actual performance to budget/forecast

• We can assist you with that most critical of tasks, the preparation and updating of a realistic cash flow forecast.

• We can assist you in preparing a business plan from scratch

 

With these tools in your financial armoury, you’ll be set on a course for sustainable growth.