This seminar deals comprehensively with the questions you have always wanted to ask about planning, budget setting, and budgetary control, in plain language that is easy to understand. It covers in detail how the tools and techniques of successful budgeting and budgetary control are applied within the overall planning framework to ensure that organisational goals are met.

This seminar clarifies the jargon and , and the links between strategy, budgeting, costing and performance measurement. The instructor's own commercial career experiences and many other real-world business scenarios are shared throughout this stimulating seminar to illustrate and reinforce the practical application of the tools and techniques and best practice.

This seminar will highlight:

• Strategic planning, budget setting, performance measurement, and shareholder wealth maximisation
• Full costing, marginal costing, and activity-based costing (ABC)
• Operating budgets, cash budgets, capital budgets, and master budgets
• Fixed budgets, flexed budgets, and variance analysis
• Continuous performance improvement, and the balanced scorecard

By the end of this seminar, participants will have learned how to:

• Identify the links between strategic planning, budget setting, and performance measurement
• Use alternative approaches to costing for planning, budgeting and budgetary control
• Set an operating budget, cash budget, capital budget, and prepare a master budget
• Develop budgetary control systems, and analyse variances using flexed budgets
• Integrate continuous performance improvement into the budget process and link budgets and KPIs with strategy using the balanced scorecard

Participants in this seminar will provide benefits for their organisation from the skill set and enhanced knowledge that they will take back to the workplace:

• Thinking strategically to enhance their understanding of the annual budget setting process and its links with the organisation's longer-term plans and financing requirements
• Choosing the most appropriate approach to costing for more accurate planning and budgeting, better budgetary control, and improved actual performance
• Improved forecasting and budgeting resulting in more efficient use of resources and exploitation of value-adding opportunities
• Evaluating the financial consequences of budgeting for alternative new capital investment projects using discounted cash flow (DCF) to optimise organisational value creation
• Applying effective budgetary control using flexed budgets and variance analysis, the balanced scorecard, and identifying ways the organisation's budget process may be improved
• Communicating more effectively with other professionals and sharing knowledge gained from the seminar throughout the organisation

Participants in this seminar will greatly improve their understanding of the links between the strategic planning and budget setting processes, and develop their application of budgeting and budgetary control best practice through:

• Developing their ability to think strategically and prepare successful financial plans and budgets and determine the financing requirements of the organisation
• Comparing fixed and variable costs, direct and indirect costs, and the use of contribution accounting and cost/volume/profit (CVP) analysis
• Applying traditional and activity-based costing (ABC) methods and allocation of overhead costs for planning, budget setting and budgetary control
• Using the appropriate techniques of forecasting sales and costs, and sales pricing, and preparation of departmental budgets, the master budget, and cash budget
• Capital budgeting using the discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques of net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and the profitability index (PI)
• The use of standard costing in budgetary control using flexed budgets and variance analysis, the balanced scorecard, and evaluating ways of improving the organisational budget process

It is crucially important for everyone involved in strategic planning, budgeting and budgetary control to be conversant with their best practice because their practical application impacts directly on the relevance and accuracy of the annual budget in ensuring that organisational goals are met.

This seminar is suitable for a range of personnel from companies, corporations and governmental organisations and, in addition to financial analysts, controllers, accountants and departmental managers active in the planning and budget setting processes, will benefit business professionals working in:

• General management
• Estimating and costing
• Operations
• Facilities management
• Sales and marketing
• Quality management
• Engineering
• Project management
• Procurement
• Logistics
• Research and development
• Asset management
• Human resources
• And any other financial and non-financial personnel that need or wish to understand planning, budget setting and budgetary control