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Training Course Summary:

This course takes the fear out of budgets and gives delegates the skills to manage departmental budgets, monitor divisional costs and apportion department expenses on an appropriate basis.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

Manage budgets within your department, division, cost or profit centre.
Forecast revenue and capital expenditure at a departmental level.
Develop an understanding of the budgeting process.
Work more productively with colleagues from the finance department.
Prepare and monitor a budget.
Utilise budgets for monitoring performance and identifying cost savings in your department.
Appreciate the importance of reducing unnecessary departmental costs and working towards increased corporate profitability.

Who Should Attend:

Suitable for budget holders, cost centre managers, and those who manage department or event budgets. If you are new to managing of budgets and require a course that takes the fear out of budgeting then you may wish to consider ‘Making Sense of Finance’.

Training Course Overview/Content:

Budgeting: the Basics

Income and expenditure, capital and cash budgets
Clarifying the difference between master and departmental budgets
Approaches and different types of budgets
Cost Management

Charging department expenditure to the correct period - accruals, prepayments and depreciation
Nature and behaviour of costs
Standard and actual costing
Activity Based Costing (ABC)
Absorption and marginal costing
Preparing the Departmental Forecast

How to gather information: where and what to look at
The limiting factors
Estimating revenue, expenditure and cash flow
How to forecast the department expenditure for a capital item
Break-even analysis
Stock forecasting and how to calculate the minimum quantity needed
Presenting the Departmental Budget

Giving clear information
Presenting the main variables
Getting agreement
Putting it clearly onto paper
Tracking Expenditure and Variance Analysis

Reconciling actual with budgeted expenditure
Identifying cost saving opportunities
Looking for volume discounts
Phasing expenditure to help cash flow
Reporting on the Budget

Preparing a report
Providing the information to make decisions
Personal Development

Action planning - the essential next steps
Continuous professional development - what next?