Learn the 25 keys to the art of the budget in terms of forecasting costs, revenues and profits for short-term and long-term projections:
Key 1. Budget blues.
Key 2. Preparing the operating budget.
Key 3. Preparing the financial budget.
Key 4. Use budgets to plan and control. Use pro forma financial statements to measure and monitor value creation.
Key 5. The budget must consider cost behavior.
Key 6. Managers must be flexible. So must their budgets.
Key 7. The budget must consider revenue behavior.
Key 8. Profits are good. Liquidity is essential for survival.
Key 9. Determining the optimal cash balance.
Key 10. Part of planning and budgeting is setting standards.
Key 11. Selecting and using the best cost allocation methods.
Key 12. Un-sheath the budget ax.
Key 13. A firm's future depends, most of all, on the capital expenditure budget.
Key 14. What should a capital budget accomplish?
Key 15. Risk is as much a part of the capital budget as return.
Key 16. The "unsophisticated" rules are more useful than you might think.
Key 17. You can't budget without forecasts.
Key 18. Time series forecasting: the past as prologue.
Key 19. Regression: a straight line to better forecasting.
Key 20. Judgmental forecasting techniques: when numbers are not enough.
Key 21. Evaluating forecasting models: through the looking glass.
Key 22. Financial models: the black boxes of planning.
Key 23. Financial modeling: spreadsheets and add-ins.
Key 24. Financial modeling: more on spreadsheets and add-ins.
Key 25. Profit-making firms can learn from nonprofit organizations.
Forecasting Budgets is part of The New York Times Pocket MBA Series, a reference series easily accessible to all businesspersons, from first-level managers to the executive suite. The 12-volume series is written by Ph.D.s who teach in the finest graduate business programs in the country, and edited by business editors from The New York Times. The structure of each volume presents an unparalleled synopsis of crucial principles of specific areas of business expertise.
