Budgeting & Forecasting

With approximately 4,000 degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States, there are thousands upon thousands of finance professionals staffed with the responsibility of tuition planning and forecasting. 💡 Key Takeaways: Review your historical data, educational trends and external factors when making assumptions to forecast more accurately When working with a specific department or group of employees, use filters to narrow down your view Use templates to assist your tuition planning, budgeting and forecasting Accurate budgeting and resource allocation allow education professionals to create a better student experience, all while reducing the risk of a costly financial error. If this sounds like something you need, here are five tuition planning and forecasting best practices to implement immediately. 1. Start With Accurate Projections With so many unknowns, it’s natural to assume that tuition planning and forecasting is guesswork at best. But that doesn’t have to be the case. When you start with accurate projections, there’s a greater chance of everything else falling into place.  Answering these questions will help you and your team make more accurate projections: How many returning students are you expecting? How many new freshmen will arrive on campus?  How many students will live on campus? How many will live off campus? How does tuition vary between undergraduate and graduate students? What’s the enrollment for both categories? What’s the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition? What’s the projected enrollment for each group? The assumptions you make as a higher education finance leader depend on historical data, educational trends and external factors.  For example: Historical data: How many new freshmen has your school historically welcomed each fall? Has this number increased, decreased or remained relatively steady over the past five to 10 years? Educational trends: Is enrollment declining as more students seek employment directly after graduating high school? Are you losing students to local community colleges as a result of the financial crunch? External factors: The COVID-19 pandemic is the best example at the present time. For instance, many institutions are experiencing a decline in international student enrollment as students are unable or unwilling to travel to the United States for their education. A careful review of the past will help you make more accurate projections today and in the future. 2. Keep All Team Members on the Same Page It’s safe to say that you’re not the only one with your hands on tuition planning, forecasting and budgeting. And for that reason, it’s critical to keep all team members on the same page. Two things allow you to do this: Gather data in real-time: Manual data gathering is a thing of the past. Just the same, sharing data via email or printed reports is no longer a viable solution. Gathering data in real time ensures that everyone on your team has access to the same numbers. Dashboards and reporting: It’s one thing to have access to real-time data but another thing entirely to share data-driven insights with the appropriate party, such as a board of governors. With advanced dashboard and reporting functions, it’s simple to provide timely, accurate and easy-to-understand data and projections to anyone who requires it. 3. Use Filters When Applicable There are times when a big-picture view is important. There are also times—such as when speaking with a specific department or group of employees—when you must narrow down your view.  Here are some of the times when it makes sense to use filters: To plan student enrollment by cohort. For tuition planning by student type, such as in/out of state, domestic vs. international, undergraduate and graduate. When assessing revenue streams based on your enrollment management plan. Filters that are built into your templates allow you to make quick and accurate adjustments while also better digesting the data that’s available to you. SMU Approves Budgets 70% Faster With Vena Saint Mary's University streamlined budgeting, reporting and data consolidation with Vena. Now the school’s planning process is faster and more reliable. 4. Model Multiple What-If Scenarios When it comes to tuition planning and forecasting, modeling multiple what-if scenarios is an absolute must. Models should address factors such as student enrollment, registered credits, cost of tuition, cost of room and board, student fees, etc. For example, models for student enrollment should be able to answer questions such as: What will happen if enrollment numbers decline next semester? What departments will it affect the most?  What impact does the potential for online learning have on enrollment? Can a tuition increase offset a trend of declining enrollment? Will student fees increase if enrollment declines?  What areas of the budget will be looked at first if enrollment and tuition revenue decline?  Without the right model in place, you’re unable to answer these questions. Subsequently, if one or more of these situations comes to light, you won’t be prepared to immediately and effectively manage it. Reminder: You can plan with agility with our higher education reporting software. Change assumptions on the fly, review the results and analyze the financial and organizational implications. 5. Take Advantage of Templates Templates save you time. Templates save you headaches. Templates keep all team members on the same page. At Vena, we have multiple built-in templates to assist with tuition planning, budgeting and forecasting. Some of the most commonly used include: Tuition templates Student fee templates Enrollment planning templates Room and board planning template OpEx and revenue planning template And of course, you can use these templates as is or build a new one from the ground up to meet your specific requirements. Summary These five tuition planning and forecasting best practices will benefit you, your educational institution and its many students. At Vena, we’re aware of the many challenges facing higher education professionals. And that’s why we created a complete solution for the higher education sector. With one solution for budgeting, forecasting and reporting—all with the flexibility of an Excel interface—you can quickly gain full control of circumstances while making more informed and confident decisions. Plan With Agility Streamline your tuition planning, enrollment planning and more with Vena Complete Planning.

Have you ever spent weeks creating the perfect budget just to watch it slowly unravel mere days into the new fiscal year? Several common challenges of budget implementation can stunt your business growth. However, these issues are avoidable with the right strategies and budgeting tools. Explore six of the most common challenges of budget implementation—and how you can avoid them. 💡 Key Takeaways: Unify your departments to ensure everyone has a say in the budget and understands what resources are available to them throughout the year A unified financial planning platform creates a central source of truth with real-time updates on your budget Keep your budget agile, allowing for sudden changes throughout the fiscal year 1. Accurately Measuring Your Return Measuring your ROI isn’t always as simple as comparing your sales to your investment. Some departments have results that are difficult to measure. For example, marketing investments might increase your brand awareness or bring in new leads. However, you won’t see a financial return for months—or even years. Another challenge with measuring your return is tracking which departments contributed to a result. For instance, a customer might make a large purchase, but those sales weren’t just a win for the sales department. The marketing team, design team, content creators and several other stakeholders all contributed to creating a positive experience for that customer that led to that purchase. Without an accurate and consistent way of calculating your return, you won’t be able to analyze and understand your current budget’s accuracy throughout the year. Source: CFI 🌱 Solution: Restricting your definition of ROI to financial returns will make your budgeting implementation more difficult. Instead, explore different calculations that account for other return types, for instance calculating a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) or establishing non-monetary returns such as new leads or employee satisfaction. 2. Keeping the Budget Company Oriented Each department within your company has a personal budget agenda. These agendas can conflict with each other or the business’s overarching goals. This creates issues as you try implementing your budget when departments make budget requests based on their priorities. Keeping each department aligned with your business’s goals is essential for ensuring your budget stays on track and doesn’t neglect areas that are key to your organization’s growth. 🌱 Solution: When you create your budget, involve all departments in the planning process. By doing so, you can ensure each department is aware of other needs within the company. You can also keep them focused on the bigger picture. As the fiscal year progresses, you can remind them of those overarching objectives and growth goals whenever they make additional requests. Everyone stays aligned and focused on your business growth—instead of just departmental growth. 3. Performing Unnecessary Manual Tasks The average error rate of manual data entry is 1%. That percentage causes a much more significant loss when those errors are part of your budget planning and implementation. For example, large organizations say they lose $15 million annually from poor data quality. Errors can come from: Mistyping information during data entry Misreading handwritten reports Losing paperwork or physical reports 🌱 Solution: Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) platforms not only save you time but also save you millions of dollars. For example, instead of handling physical reports, departments can input budget data directly into a management system to keep the data accurate and avoid losing or misinterpreting information. In addition, automating financial planning and tracking saves your company time, which frees your financial team to focus on business growth and the future rather than trying to keep up with tedious or repetitive tasks. Free Budget vs. Actual Excel Template Calculate and view variance across your accounts in different timeframes with our free Budget vs. Actual Excel Template. 4. Adjusting to Mid-Year Changes If the global pandemic taught businesses anything, it’s that you can never predict the future. Your budget plan at the beginning of the fiscal year rarely looks the same at the end of the year due to unforeseeable circumstances, changes within your business or sudden growth. If you don’t have efficient processes for handling sudden changes or don’t look far enough ahead, you might find yourself scrambling to adjust your budget at the last minute. This often leads to loss, miscommunication within departments and avoidable mistakes. For example, salaries account for 70% of company spending. If you suddenly need to hire more staff members or raise salaries, that can impact your entire business’s budget and hurt your growth if you don’t create a plan for unexpected costs. 🌱 Solution: Parts of your budgets are flexible plans rather than a rigid guide for the year. When you plan your budget, be sure to establish processes for adjusting it regularly throughout the year to ensure you can quickly address issues to keep operations running smoothly if and when problems arise. Revisiting your budget several times throughout the fiscal year also helps you keep it updated and on track. Keeping communication channels open between departments allows your teams to communicate sudden changes or needs. Then, you can address them promptly instead of waiting until those issues start affecting a larger part of the organization and causing a more significant impact on your budget implementation. 5. Working With Siloed Data Data silos occur when departments don’t share data. This can cause several issues, including: Departments working with outdated information Errors Duplicate data Poor business decisions Inaccurate financial forecasting If your financial team doesn’t have the most up-to-date information or is missing critical details, they won’t know how other departments are performing. As a result, they can’t accurately track their returns, growth or necessary budget adjustments. You need complete data to make changes during the year. Source: TechTarget 🌱 Solution: A unified financial planning software solution connects all departments within your organization. Instead of each department working with its own data management systems separate from each other, they can upload, update and access data from each department in real-time. This allows your finance team to make better budget decisions throughout the year based on accurate data and resolve issues quickly. 6. Communicating (and Enforcing) Your Budget All your departments might not know what your budget is. This can lead to overspending and poor financial choices that impact your entire business. For instance, cash flow is one of the top business challenges that can cause an organization to struggle. This can occur when your teams haven’t aligned spending with accounts receivable. If a department knows what it can spend but not when it can spend it, a cash flow problem might arise. Issues can also occur when changes happen throughout the year that result in a budget shift. If all departments aren’t unaware of the changes, they won’t adjust their spending accordingly. 🌱 Solution: Keeping all departments involved in your budget creation, implementation and adjustments ensures everyone stays on the same page. Budgeting software allows department heads to access the budget and to see the latest changes to ensure they stay on track. Regular budget meetings throughout the year that involve key stakeholders from each department also help remind budget owners of your business goals. Connect All Your Financial Data in One Place Vena Complete Planning helps you avoid data silos, collaborate between departments, reduce errors and plan ahead. Improve your budget implementation by connecting your teams with a single source of truth, giving them confidence in your numbers as they keep your company’s revenue growth on track. FREE Financial Excel Templates Jumpstart your plan to grow with our library of free financial Excel templates. Templates are available to everyone—all you need to get started is a copy of Microsoft Excel.

When it comes to capital expenditures, there are several key questions to address: Why is effective capital expenditure planning so important? How do you create a capital expenditure budget? What’s the best approach to prioritizing expenditures? Without an effective capital expenditure plan in place, you’re more likely to overspend—or underspend—on essential fixed assets that will serve your organization into the future. Looking to improve your capital expenditure planning? Then read on to learn more about these five tried-and-tested methods.  💡 Key Takeaways: Keep your capital expenditure budget a part of your annual budget. Implementing automatic approvals by establishing criteria for purchases saves time. Reports are easy-to-share visual stories for people who don't work in finance. 1. Set a Capital Expenditure Budget It’s the most basic of steps, but it’s a step you must take nonetheless. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that a particular purchase fits into your budget. You must be 100% sure that it’s a responsible and viable purchase. Capital expenditure projects have a way of spiraling out of control without a budget to guide the process. Here are some things you can do to prevent this: Specify the maximum amount your company is willing to spend on the asset. Collaborate with applicable personnel, such as the head of the department that will be primarily using the asset.  Don’t forget about the cost of upgrading and maintaining the asset. Take cues from similar capital expenditures from the past. Regardless of the asset or cost, effective prioritization of a capital expenditure starts with setting a budget. 2. Don’t Mix Your Capital Expenditure and Annual Budgets Mixing capital expenditure and annual budgets is a common mistake that can cost your organization both time and money. This is particularly true in smaller companies where combining the two appears to be the better way of staying organized.  Here are some details to keep in mind: It’s never a good idea to mix your capital expenditure and annual budgets. Implement separate approval processes for both budgets. Understand the near and long-term financial implications of capital expenditures. You must have a separate analysis, budgeting and planning process to ensure that the right capital expenditure decisions are made. Don’t think twice about doing it. Keep your capital expenditure budget and annual budget 100% separate. FREE CapEx Budgeting Template for Excel Track new and existing assets, choose from various depreciation methods and more with our free CapEx Budgeting Template. 3. Use the Right Numbers, Every Time CapEx budgeting, planning and forecasting must be rooted in accurate numbers. If you’re not using the right numbers every time, you’re inviting trouble. Not to mention the fact that this makes it impossible to create a reliable budget.  At Vena, our Excel-based software solution is designed with this in mind. For example, here’s what we have to say about our pre-built CapEx planning logic: Our CapEx and OpEx software is parameter controlled for easy implementation and customization. And say goodbye to re-keying data (trust us, you won’t miss it). With integration to your source systems, you’ll always be working with the latest, most accurate numbers. The last sentence is the most important. Using our software ensures that you’re always working with up-to-date, accurate numbers. There’s no guesswork, thus giving you confidence that your forecasting and planning are always on the right track.  4. Implement a Defined Approval Process If there’s one thing you know about CapEx planning, it’s that several people—and several may be an understatement—will have their hands on the process. For example, you may need to consult with people in both the sales and marketing departments before making a key purchase.  The more people involved, the greater chance there is of making a mistake. And that’s especially true if you’re using email or a paper trail to share information and make final approval. Here’s why you should standardize a defined approval process: To ensure consistency from approval to approval, across the entire company. To more easily pinpoint any bottlenecks. To provide individuals outside of the approval process with concrete steps. Another way to improve the approval process is to implement automatic approvals. For instance, you could set criteria that purchases under a specific dollar amount do not require CEO approval. This saves time, while also speeding up the approval process. 5. Use Reports Think about reports as a visual story. It’s a way to share easy-to-digest information with anyone who needs to see it. Here are some examples: Effective prioritization of capital expenditure planning often depends on your ability to sync with other people in your company. Here’s the problem: As a finance professional, you’re able to review and digest information easily and on the fly. But for those who don’t work in finance, it’s much more challenging. This is where the use of reports can help. You’re not asking someone to read through hundreds of lines in a spreadsheet to understand the ins and outs of a specific purchase. You’re giving them what they need—and nothing they don’t—in a visually appealing manner. With Vena, every report you create is based on data from a single source of truth. This guarantees that you’re sharing accurate information, which in turn allows others to share an informed and reliable opinion. Final Thoughts If you’ve yet to turn the page, now’s the time to get serious about CapEx accounting. Don’t sweep it under the rug and hope for the best. Use the five points above to effectively help you prioritize capital expenditures. If capital expenditure planning is your responsibility, it’s also your responsibility to implement an efficient and effective process that suits your company as a whole. Take Control of Your Capital Expenditure Planning Our CapEx software is designed to help you make informed, confident and timely decisions. Take control of your capital expenditure budget and your CapEx planning to the next level.

Do you constantly find yourself fighting the capital expenditure budget process? Have you struggled to make changes because you’re too set in your ways? Have you come to realize that you can’t continue down the same path without compromising the future of your company? Streamlining the CapEx budgeting process may be just what you need to save time, reduce errors and feel more confident in every decision you make. But before you can take action, you need a plan of attack. With this in mind, here are four tips for streamlining your capital expenditure budgeting process. 💡 Key Takeaways: Automation and templates will help you get started—that's often the most difficult step. Sharing real-time data through dashboards and reports empowers anyone (or everyone) at your company to make faster decisions. Plan for all current and future fixed assets for each department. 1. Automate the Process A manual process is an error-prone process. Not only do you have to worry about costly errors,  you also have to consider the additional work that goes into fixing them. With an automated approach, the CapEx budgeting process is consistent. You know what to expect and how to get there. The same holds true of contributors, such as stakeholders, who don’t always share capital budgets on time. Automation also prevents: Challenges associated with consolidating data into spreadsheets. Automate data collection to prevent challenges such as lost emails or missing information. Wasted time spent updating actuals. As noted above, automation is designed to save you time which in turn saves you money. Inconsistent information. For example, the data you collect from others should match the data used in the budgeting process. Even if you do nothing else to streamline the CapEx budgeting process, take the time to automate your system. 2. Use Templates Are you just now thinking about making a change in the way you approach CapEx budgeting? It’s a daunting task to build from the ground up, but fortunately, you have other options. The use of templates (such as our free Capex Planning Template for Excel) allows you to hit the ground running. Here’s an excerpt from our website explaining the power of templates: Our CapEx and OpEx software includes built-in templates for faster time to value. Input and manage individual assets by properties such as book value, useful life, residual amount and more. Calculate and preview asset depreciation projections prior to submission. View existing assets and add future ones by project, department or cost center for increased flexibility. You’ll never go back to operating without this level of detail. Yes, you can customize templates to suit your every last requirement. But even then, you’re not starting from scratch. You’re building off of a proven template with built-in functionality.  The use of templates does more than streamline the budgeting process. It also streamlines the process of getting started—and that’s often the most challenging step. 3. Use CapEx Planning Logic Another powerful feature from Vena, pre-built CapEx planning logic is critical to both successful implementation and customization. Some of the many benefits of using CapEx planning logic include: Parameter controlled for simplified implementation (even for beginners). This helps to reduce the learning curve.  Create more accurate forecasts by using driver-based calculations for expenses such as rent, employee count, travel and office supplies. You don’t have anything if you don’t have accuracy.  No more re-keying data. Save time and reduce the stress associated with repetitive tasks.  Integration with source systems to ensure you’re accessing the most recent (and accurate) numbers. Old numbers are often inaccurate. If you rely on these numbers, you can expect mistakes to carry over to your budget.  Planning logic is the engine that powers the CapEx budgeting process. Without this, there’s more reliance on you and your team. FREE CapEx Budgeting Template for Excel Track new and existing assets, choose from various depreciation methods and more with our free CapEx Budgeting Template. 4. Let Dashboards and Reports Do the Talking You’re not streamlining anything if you’re responsible for all aspects of creating and distributing reports. You need a financial reporting tool that takes this off your plate. Through the creation of CapEx budgeting reports, you can beautifully and seamlessly share data with anyone (or everyone) in your company. Benefits include: A single source of information Create up-to-date forecasts in minutes  An inside look at your business from multiple angles Along with the power to create reports, you’ll have access to a dashboard for viewing all your data in a single place. Here’s an example: Everything is laid out in an easy-to-understand manner. And since it’s powered by Excel, you’re comfortable with the format from the start. Review what you want, when you want and share real-time data with others. CapEx Budgeting Challenges To Address As you take steps to streamline your CapEx budgeting process, it’s imperative to address challenges that have bogged you down in the past while also thinking about what could happen in the future. Some of the primary challenges to address include: Effectively planning for all current and future fixed assets for each department. The two key words here are “effectively” and “each department.”  Aggregating all data in a single location. This helps with organization, accuracy and the ability to receive data from others in a singular manner.  Incorporating your CapEx plan while considering the impact on financial statements. How will your plan impact P&L? What about your balance sheet?  In addition to these challenges—those that you want to keep in mind as you get started with the CapEx budgeting process—beware that others will come to light along the way. Address these immediately to reduce the potential impact down the road. Final Word Though some form of human intervention will always be needed, streamlining your capital expenditure budget process today will ensure a more efficient, effective and automated system in the future. It’s not a decision you’ll regret. Streamline Your CapEx Budgeting Learn how Vena can help you regain control of the CapEx budgeting process, answer your questions and provide insights based on your unique circumstances.

Cash flow forecasting is an absolute necessity, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll walk through the process without challenges or roadblocks. From data overload to inaccurate numbers to the need for many departments to come together, potential issues are lurking around every corner.  Even though cash flow forecasting challenges are common, it doesn’t mean you have to give in and hope for the best. You can fight back by understanding these challenges—including why they occur—and potential solutions for addressing them. Let’s take a look at five common challenges in cash flow forecasting.   1. Lack of a Dedicated Team It’s easy to delegate cash flow forecasting to a junior team member in order to free up time for senior employees to focus on more time-sensitive tasks.  It’s just as easy to bog down senior employees with cash flow forecasting-related tasks. But taking this path may cause you to fall short in other areas.  This leads you to address the question of which team member(s) should take the reigns. It varies from company to company, but the best approach is to choose a select few individuals to manage all cash flow responsibilities. Choose individuals who are familiar with your current finances and financial history. It also helps to select employees who have assisted with or overseen cash flow forecasting in the past.  If you have too many hands on the project—especially those who are inexperienced or unfamiliar with the company—roadblocks have a way of coming to life. The best way to hedge this problem early on is by selecting a dedicated team. 2. Non-Participation of Departments Open, accurate and honest communication is critical to cash flow forecasting success. If even one individual or one department neglects to participate—or takes a lackadaisical approach—it can affect the entire process. The benefits of full participation include: More accurate forecasting Time savings The spread of financial understanding throughout the company Although multiple departments must share data for accurate cash flow forecasting, it’s essential to have one leader. With Vena, the head of every department can share the applicable data with the person managing the process as a whole. From there, our intuitive dashboards and reporting features can help create real-time, long-term forecasts within a matter of minutes. Agile Scenario Modeling Mitigates Risk See how the decisions you make today will affect your bottom line tomorrow, with Vena. 3. Using Inaccurate Data Inaccurate data is the quickest way to bog down cash flow forecasting. If you don’t have accurate numbers, you don’t have accurate projections. You can take a variety of measures to protect against this, such as: A weekly or monthly review of numbers with an eye toward accuracy  Remaining in tune with cash flow patterns, with a focus on unexpected changes Maintaining a single point of contact for each department During review sessions, compare the numbers against your projection so you can adjust accordingly. And to reduce friction, implement a cash flow forecasting tool that can automate this process throughout your company. The use of Vena’s built-in templates can standardize the collection and input of data, thereby reducing the risk of error. Here’s how we describe this feature on our website: "Input and manage individual assets by properties such as book value, useful life, residual amount and more. Calculate and preview asset depreciation projections prior to submission. View existing assets and add future ones by project, department or cost center for increased flexibility." In the world of cash flow forecasting challenges, there’s none greater than the ability to collect and manage accurate data.  4. Ignoring Historical Data A cash flow forecast that’s not supported by historical data is nothing more than a “shot in the dark.” Historical data—no matter how much is available to you—should always be part of cash flow forecasting. A look into the past can help you see into the future.  When combined with in-depth research, you’re more likely to make accurate projections. Take for example an overzealous sales projection. If you have good reason to believe you can reach your projection—which should include historical data and information from your sales team—it’s okay to set a lofty goal. However, if your projection is too far out of reach, it can result in a cash shortage and negative consequences across the business.  Historical data can help with scenario planning, as it allows you to test variables that can impact your business in the short and long term.  Vena’s scenario planning and analysis software provides instant “what-if” analysis based on your inputs. This allows you to analyze the impact of potential changes such as sales, revenue and employee count. 5. Ignoring Tax Liability As sales, revenue and cash flow change, so do your tax liabilities. For instance, when your revenue spikes, your business may be responsible for paying additional taxes. Conversely, if you’re faced with declining revenue, your tax liability may decrease. Also, take into consideration the ever-evolving tax system, with changes regularly made at the federal, state and local levels.  Ignoring tax liability during cash flow forecasting will come back to haunt you (likely sooner rather than later). Understanding your current tax liability and how it could change in the future will help you better structure your cash flow forecast.  Tip: If you don’t have the workforce in house, hire a tax professional to review your financials and assist with projections. Regain Control of Cash Flow Forecasting Today Every detail of your business—no matter how big or small—affects its budget and cash flow. If you let these cash flow forecasting issues dictate your approach, it’s impossible to make accurate and realistic cash flow projections.  On the plus side, you can regain control of cash flow forecasting and related processes with Vena’s CapEx and OpEx software. It’ll save you time and money as well as reduce the stress that accompanies cash flow forecasting within your company. Better Budgeting and Forecasting With Vena Discover how Vena’s budgeting and forecasting software can take your planning cycle to the next level.

You’re at an inflection point. You’ve been a high-growth business—but now that growth has plateaued and your momentum has stalled. It’s the first time your teams have teams. They’re forming silos—each has its own processes and every day you hear, “We just don’t have the time.” Now, sales and marketing aren’t aligned, finance is budgeting on its own and HR can’t hire quickly enough. More competitors are entering your market and you need to move faster. But how? To scale the right way, you need to prepare your budget collaboratively, flexibly and quickly to avoid the common budgeting missteps made by small and medium-sized businesses. Today, we’ll cover three budgeting mistakes often made by businesses of these sizes as they attempt to scale. 1. Ignoring Cash Flow Forecasting Challenges When growth opportunities arise, without cash, you can’t capitalize. While organizations set aside contingency funds, they may not allocate enough cash to both emergencies and investment opportunities. That’s when—with limited resources—you may spend more money than you planned. To commit to your budget, you need to forecast cash flow with greater accuracy by modeling different cash flow cycle scenarios and opening up the channels of communication between your teams.   Watch this video to hear Paul Gill, Partner, Valuations and Modeling Financial Advisory Services at BDO, talk about growing assets during times of higher inflation.   To watch the full episode of CFO Confidential: Unpacking Inflation, become a Plan To Grow member and join the community where you’ll learn best practices and elevate your leadership skills. 2. Skipping the Budget vs. Actual Variance Analysis If you’re not performing a variance analysis at least monthly and tracking your plans against actuals, you’re missing trends that indicate opportunities or threats. You may be underestimating your cost base and operating expenses, or just don’t have an accurate forecast of cash inflows and cash outflows. To be able to identify opportunities—such as where you can save on expenses or which sales regions you should focus on more—you need to analyze your budgets vs. actuals monthly at a minimum.   Evan Short, Solutions Consultant at Vena, explains in this video how Vena allows you to create more accurate, driver-based forecasts for operating expenses, track your budgets vs. actuals and analyze what-if scenarios.   To watch the full episode of Vena with Evan: OpEx Planning, become a Plan To Grow member. 3. Neglecting the Rolling Forecast How many scenarios are you prepared for? Many organizations don’t implement agile planning processes, such as the rolling forecast and scenario modeling, and thus are only prepared for one eventuality. If you don’t reforecast regularly when budgeting—some organizations forecast only once every year—you won’t have the flexibility to adjust when market conditions fluctuate. To protect your organization from uncertainty and to be able to seize opportunities, you need to reforecast at every month’s end and regularly conduct what-if scenario analysis. Budgeting and Forecasting Software Scaling requires collaboration, agility, speed and process alignment. For many high-growth small and medium-sized businesses at this inflection point, as their teams grow, their respective teams are at risk of drifting apart, establishing their “own way of doing things” and not sharing information when budgeting and forecasting. With Vena’s Excel-based Budgeting and Forecasting solution, you can prepare your budgets collaboratively, flexibly and quickly. Your budget sets your company’s direction, and with Vena, you can avoid budgeting mistakes often committed by small and medium-sized businesses—helping you to scale the right way. Scale Your Business Align your processes, budget collaboratively and accelerate your growth.  

The nachos and chili are prepared, your favorite beer is chilled and ready to go. But before your watch party can begin you’ve got a choice to make. Who are you rooting for at this year’s Super Bowl? Now think twice before you decide. Because it turns out all of your financial investments for the year ahead could depend on the winner. Or at least that’s what the Super Bowl Indicator would have you believe.  First introduced in 1978 by New York Times sportswriter Leonard Koppett, the Super Bowl Indicator uses the Super Bowl results as a stock market predictor. A win by a team from the American Football Conference (AFC), it suggests, will result in a bear market—or stock market decline—in the year ahead. By contrast, a win by a team from the National Football Conference (NFC) will mean a bull market, or stock market rise.  By that measure, a 2022 win by the Los Angeles Rams should earn the stock market a stellar year. A victory by the Cincinnati Bengals, on the other hand, will see it falter. So go Rams, go, right? Or not. Find out how former Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs use Vena to speed up their financial plays. Look Ahead for a Winning Future While the Super Bowl Indicator had a 100% success rate when Koppett first introduced it in the 1970s, as of 2021 that accuracy had declined to 74%. And it hasn’t been faring well in recent years. In fact, it’s been wrong for the past five years straight. That’s because—not surprisingly—there’s nothing scientific about the Super Bowl Indicator. Finance teams everywhere understand that “correlation does not imply causation” and that there are more useful tools than touchdowns and field goals to plan out your next play. So why not just root for the team you’re most excited for on game day and use the other tools and processes available to plan ahead. Here are three methods that don’t rely on a single sporting event to help you stay ready for the future: 1. Forecast Frequently or Risk a Fumble For most finance teams, forecasting is a natural part of the budgeting cycle. By applying available historical data and updating key performance metrics, forecasting helps you predict future business results.  And chances are you’ve already got a regular forecasting routine in place—in fact, if you’re a publicly traded company, you’re required to disclose high-level forecasts to your investors. But the frequency of your forecasting is also key. Many organizations rely on quarterly or monthly forecasts to fuel their decision making—but ongoing rolling forecasts will better show you exactly what play’s the right one at any given time.  Rolling forecasts can help you create a more reliable game plan by revealing ongoing business trends, focusing your attention where it’s needed and enabling you to divert resources as required. And with the level of uncertainty and constant changes we’ve seen over the past two years, they’ve become more of a priority for many finance teams. In The State of Strategic Finance, our 2021 benchmark report, 24% of respondents said they’d introduced rolling forecasting over the year past—a number that’s hopefully only continuing to grow. 2. Plan Out Your Next Play With Scenario Modeling Our 2021 benchmark report showed us something else as well: only 40% of organizations were employing scenario modeling before making forecasting adjustments in 2021—meaning 60% weren’t. Yet scenario modeling and what-if analysis are other powerful tools that will help you prepare for all possible versions of the future.  Thankfully, 40.5% of the respondents we surveyed understood that, saying that they were looking to prioritize scenario modeling and what-if analysis in 2021. That’s a win in the making, since the most strategic finance teams embrace scenario modeling as part of their daily, monthly or annual routine.  By linking business drivers to key performance indicators (KPIs), monitoring those KPIs and  factoring in external modeling inputs, scenario modeling allows you to put a winning strategy in place, while also preparing for a loss—looking at high, medium and low scenarios and mapping out your future plays. Scenario modeling also helps you know exactly what levers you can pull at any given moment to adjust your next move. It lets you assess the impact of changes you’re planning or market shifts underway, using all of the financial and non-financial data at your disposal to do so—from sales volume and headcount data to pipeline and historical data. All of which better lets you keep your eyes on the prize. Get the score on how the Arizona Cardinals—the National Football League’s oldest franchise—uses Vena as a single source of truth. 3. Put AI and Predictive Analytics Into the Game Finance has been slow to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)—so much so that our benchmark report showed that only 7% of finance teams were using it in 2021, the exact same percentage we saw in 2020. But AI and ML—along with predictive analytics—offer a way to tackle more complex problems and stay ready for whatever is ahead.  As finance takes on a more strategic role—and integrates more and more data into decision making—AI and ML can play an important role, helping you dive deeper, to identify trends, data anomalies and correlations that will help you better prepare for anything ahead. AI can also help you get extra yards out of your scenario planning by evaluating millions of data points to accurately determine best and worst-case scenarios without fear of human error. Alongside AI and machine learning, predictive analytics and predictive budgeting can further help you make predictions for the long- and short-term future. By leveraging modeling and statistical algorithms—and drawing on broad and deep sets of historical data—it can help you determine potential risks and future outcomes, reduce inefficiencies and make better choices for your team and organization as a whole. Now Put Your Game Plan Into Action None of these methods start with a kickoff—but they can gain more traction with a complete planning platform that lets financial and operational planners draw from financial and non-financial data sources and quickly get to the insights you need. With that in place, you can quarterback your team to victory, staying agile for the future no matter what it holds. Which means this Super Bowl Sunday, forget about what the winning team might say about future financial trends—and just let yourself enjoy the game. Want to learn more? Join Kansas City Chiefs’ Michael Ragsdale, Director of Strategy and Analytics, in Vena’s Reporting and Analytics Livestream on March 22, 2022. Sign up today.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major supply chain disruption. Workforce volatility. Slowed movement of raw materials and goods. Emergency border restrictions. Changing trade regulations. More protective policies in manufacturing facilities. Increased inflation and shipping costs. To you as the everyday consumer, these supply chain problems probably meant some more empty shelves, buying more online, longer shipping estimates and, of course, receiving that familiar warning to complete your holiday shopping sooner. But to you as the FP&A pro, it’s another budgeting and forecasting challenge. And with no signs that the COVID-19 supply chain issues will subside any time soon, now is the time to forecast with greater accuracy and to plan for every scenario ahead. In this post, we’ll cover three key steps to protect your budget from the dreaded COVID-19 supply chain disruption. 1. Integrated Business Planning Collaborate with your organization’s other teams. Your budgeting and forecasting process requires insight from other departments, so implement integrated business planning which aligns your FP&A, sales, supply chain and operations teams and their respective goals. Integrated business planning—which often incorporates driver-based planning—could mitigate demand and supply risks created by the COVID-19 supply chain issues. Follow these three steps: Consult with your sales leaders to forecast demand with greater accuracy. They’re informed of demand fluctuations, and demand forecasting is the primary driver for supply chain decisions. Consult with your supply chain and operations leaders to find out—to what extent—your supply can meet your demand. Your operations team is the expert on your supply chain structure and plans, and they know how much inventory is available and how many distribution points are needed. Consult with your deal desk to ensure that contracts and other negotiations permit flexibility if your supply and demand don’t align perfectly.   Watch the video to hear Benjamin Tal, CIBC Capital Markets’ Deputy Chief Economist, talk about the supply chain disruption as one of three causes of recent inflation.   To watch the full episode of CFO Confidential: The Great Resignation on demand, become a Plan To Grow member and join the community. 2. Rolling Forecasts Use that increased agility to extend your budgeting and forecasting process past a fixed timeframe, and don’t limit your process to your fiscal years. Instead, build a rolling forecast to forecast across fiscal years to further improve your budgeting and forecasting agility. As the COVID-19 supply chain disruption creates greater supply and revenue uncertainty, be sure to evaluate cash inflow, cost allocations and further market changes with greater frequency. Budget with ranges and contingencies for the ongoing, tumultuous market conditions. Prepare plans to reduce your costs if revenue forecasts fall short, but also for areas of investments if revenue forecasts exceed expectations. That way you can commit resources and allocate funds—without any delay—to where they would maximize their value toward reaching your company’s objectives. 3. Scenario Analysis Now with increased flexibility, perform a scenario analysis to test your organization’s plans by modeling and analyzing what-if scenarios. Assess how each market variable would affect your organization, and then calculate how every one of your possible responses to those ongoing market changes would impact your bottom line. Our 2020 industry survey found that nearly two-thirds of businesses perform scenario analysis when forecasting, leaving the other third unprepared to plan proactively and react quickly amid the ongoing COVID-19 supply chain problems. Scenario Analysis Software Vena’s Scenario Planning solution mitigates your risk with agile scenario modeling. By analyzing what-if scenarios, your company can see how your decisions today would affect your bottom line tomorrow. As market conditions change and uncertainty remains, it’s crucial you protect your budget from the COVID-19 supply chain disruption—and that your company prepares for every scenario in 2022. Prepare for Every Scenario Test your company’s plans, analyze what-if scenarios and get predictive analytics.

If there’s one thing you can do to get on the nice list permanently within your organization, it’s having an agile budgeting process in place. Not only does this style of operational planning and budgeting lead to quicker decision making, it keeps an eye on your short-and-long-term objectives and allows you to create a roadmap ahead using scenario modeling and forecasting. Agile budgeting also helps achieve operational alignment by keeping key players from various departments on the same page and focusing on the critical financial and operations performance data that matter to the company. But perhaps most important of all, agile budgeting helps organizations stay flexible by managing risks, but leaving room for change. Bottom line: Organized budgeting and forecasting processes help your business achieve more in less time. Don’t know where to begin? Here are five best practices to help you create more agile budgets—and stay off that naughty list once and for all. 1. Automate Manual Data Entries for the Ultimate Comfort and Joy Keeping your business competitive in today’s super-charged, fast-paced market requires harmonious processes. If your company relies on data that’s not easily accessible, manual data entry can quickly become a bottleneck that does harm to your organization’s bottom line. Luckily, Vena’s financial reporting software helps automate your financial reporting processes so you can spend more time delivering the analysis and insights that make your business jingle all the way. From comparing financials to reviewing actuals, Vena helps you pull timely information together so you don’t have to waste time consolidating data into your reports, dashboards or templates.  Better Budgeting and Forecasting With Vena Discover how Vena’s budgeting and forecasting software can take your planning cycle to the next level. 2. Yule Want to Bring All Your Data Into a Single Source Solution The data-driven decision making of today calls for never-before-seen levels of importance for collecting and analyzing data. The problem is, most companies spend way too much time debating which numbers to use, as different sources produce different numbers. How do you eliminate the confusion? Establishing a single source of truth, that’s how. And Vena’s planning software can help you do just that. You’ll be able to create real-time, long-term forecasts in minutes based on data from a single source so you can make the decisions that drive your business.  3. Drive Teamwork and Transparency Across Your Entire Workshop Keeping all the budgeting, forecasting and planning to yourself? Bah humbug. It’s time to involve the entire workshop in budgeting and forecasting. To keep things running like a well-oiled production line, you need accurate data from a wide range of sources to ensure budgeting and forecasting is on point. That means you should consider this task a team effort so everyone is on the same page and has a clear understanding of their needs. Plus, having all of your elves with their finger on the pulse in all the different departments can give you the data you need to make accurate predictions and set realistic budgets. It also allows them to offer their perspectives on where business is now and where it could be in the future.  4. Plan Faster and Forecast More Frequently for Holly Jolly Efficiency Where the budget is a quantified expectation for what your business wants to achieve, a forecast is an estimate of what will actually be achieved based on your numbers. And as any good business elf knows, both budgeting and forecast need to go where the cold wind blows. If needs change, so must your plan, as basing major business decisions on outdated data can put a serious damper on growth. Vena’s financial forecasting software empowers you to make quick top-down adjustments to your forecasts to meet those last-minute deadlines while building agility.  5. Give Your Budgets Room To Grow and Sparkle With Scenario Modeling, Intuitive Workflow Tools and Data Visualization The last thing you want to do is rely on guesswork in developing plans for the whole workshop. Not only could it lead to inefficient operations and spending, it could put your workshop at financial risk. That’s why it’s important to keep a watchful eye on anything and everything that could impact your financial outcome now or in the future, such as customer behavior, headcount, profit targets, cash flow targets, the list goes on. These metrics measure how well sales processes are performing and with the help of scenario modeling, will allow your elves to mitigate risks and make improvements before it’s too late. Managing your end-to-end budget process with intuitive and data-informed workflow tools will help all your elves proactively plan for your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly needs, ensuring alignment to strategic goals, yet leaving room in your budget to adjust to change when needed. What’s more, data visualization tools can help you discover hidden insights and to act on them faster, leading to smarter decisions and better outcomes for your entire workshop.  Set Off More Flexibility in Your Budgets Nothing will bring more joy to your world than getting a handle on corporate budgeting. Not only will it help you operate more effectively, meet growth goals and keep up with ongoing market demands, it’ll secure your spot on the nice list for all eternity. Worried it sounds too complicated? Luckily, Vena makes corporate budgeting as easy as pumpkin pie. You can create flexible budgets based on the size of your workshop using top-down or bottom-up budgeting while ensuring they align with your business goals, whether they’re driver based or zero based. The best part? You’ll recognize a familiar interface: Excel.  Stay Off the Naughty List All Year Long Find out how Vena can help you transform your budgeting processes.