From the course: Strategic Financial Intelligence for Business Leaders

How to use long-range plans, budgets, and forecasts

From the course: Strategic Financial Intelligence for Business Leaders

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How to use long-range plans, budgets, and forecasts

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- Your five-year strategic financial plan sets the direction that your company will move forward. It will map your business goals to the revenue targets, to funding needs, and to major investments required to achieve those objectives. The next step, as we saw earlier, is to zoom in with an annual budget for every year of that plan based on today's assumptions, but keep in mind, assumptions change. Actual results may differ from what you initially projected. Markets will shift and plans will evolve. That's why you need rolling forecasts. Quarterly or even monthly, you need to revisit your plan with real data and ask yourself, "What did we expect?" "What's happening now?" "What's changed and why has it changed?" "What should we adjust?" For example, if you forecasted 15% revenue growth, but you're tracking at 9%, you might consider delaying hiring or pausing capital investments. That's how you protect capital and keep your margins healthy. Rolling forecasts are your GPS. They help you steer, not just report. Paired with quarterly reviews, they help you stay agile and focused on your long-term vision. Notice the playbook. You started with strategy. You funded it with a budget. You're adjusting with rolling forecasts. That's how plans turn to execution, and execution actually delivers the results you need.

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