Rolling Forecasts

With company valuations in the dumpster and credit markets tight, the economic crisis is forcing hard looks at revenue sources and spending across the board.

The economy aside, old ways of doing business are continuously challenged by competitors with innovative business models enabled by the internet. As well, the old way of thinking — that you run a company through the budget process — is on the way out in favor of new approaches such as continuous planning and rolling forecasts.

Few finance organizations are ready to dump budgets per se. However, many are looking critically at their spreadsheets or canned budgeting applications asking how they can deliver more immediate and responsive financial plans.

The answer is rolling forecasts where actuals are integrated with plan time periods and the forecast horizon extends beyond the current fiscal year. However, it's not easy to do.