In a business environment characterized by rapid and frequent change, forecasting is the aspect of business planning and analysis—and traditional financial planning and analysis—about which many business planning professionals are least confident. In the ongoing quest to improve the underlying forecasting process, we believe organizations should move beyond the traditional budget cycle and strive for a more agile and flexible approach.
This entails examining specific business drivers and developing a deeper understanding of the factors most likely to move the forecast in the right direction so the team can react quickly and with conviction. The overarching objective is to get away from the traditionally long and arduous focus on the budget and emphasize a rolling, driver-based forecast that identifies the specific data elements and business drivers that really move the needle.
In this paper, explore the potential benefits and real-world perspective on how companies can effectively employ a driver-based, continuous planning and forecasting framework.