Course Methodology
Planning and budgeting are must-have skills for all professionals regardless of their function or managerial level. This course covers the concept of budgeting as a planning tool, a financial device and a control mechanism. In addition, it provides the necessary application tools required to making long-term and short-term planning decisions. This course focuses on exercises, case studies, and individual and group presentations.

Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Defend the importance of linking an organization’s budget with its strategic plan
• Demonstrate how the budget relates to the key financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow
• Prepare the key elements of an operating and capital budget and evaluate the different budgeting approaches used
• Apply cost control tools, analyze management variance reports and take proper corrective action
• Calculate different capital budgeting evaluation techniques as included in a capital expenditure proposal
• Utilize cost-volume-profit analysis in making budgeting decisions.

Target Audience
All managers, supervisors and analysts who prepare or use management budgets.

Target Competencies

• Cost control
• Interpreting Financial Statements
• Utilizing breakeven analysis
• Planning and budgeting
• Applying cost-volume-profit analysis
• Capital budgeting

Course Outline

Planning and the functions of management

• The critical functions of management
• Aligning the budget with the strategy of the organization
• Roadmap to strategy
• Budget as a planning tool

Budgeting: process and approaches

• The advantages of budgeting
• The budget process
• Rolling budgets
• The master budget
• Operating and capital budgets
• The budgeted financial statements

Cost control

• Budget as a control tool
• The control process
• Characteristics of an effective control system
• Responsibility reporting
• Variance analysis: identifying the components of variance
• Variance analysis: taking the corrective action

Capital expenditure budgeting and analysis

• Time value of money
• Simple versus compound interest
• Identifying and analyzing cash flows
• The discount rate: using cost of capital
• Net Present Value (NPV)
• Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

Cost-Volume-Profit analysis (CVP)

• Identifying the fixed costs and variable costs
• Computing breakeven point in units
• Computing breakeven point in sales

Customize Your Training
This training solution and other training topics from Nosak Group are currently available as a residential/in-house option. It can be customized for your team/organisation at your preferred location.