Adaptive Planning - Budgeting and Forecasting

According to Jack Welch, “the budgeting process at most companies has to be the most ineffective practice in management. It sucks the energy, time, fun and big dreams out of an organization. It hides opportunity and stunts growth. In fact when companies win, in most cases it is despite their budgets, not because of them.”

The Beyond Budgeting Round Table, an industry research organization, estimates that the average corporation spends four months and 20-30% of senior executives' and financial managers' time on the budget, and that larger companies, with annual revenues over $1 billion, spend as many as 25,000 person-days per year budgeting.

And to what end? Among many companies, the consensus view is that the cost of budgeting-in terms of time and resources-is far greater than the value it creates. And the primary culprit is the inefficient, spreadsheet-based budgeting, forecasting, and reporting models still used by most companies.

A Breakthrough New Approach

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way-rather than being a drain on resources, budgeting and forecasting can form the foundation for superior financial management and performance.

Adaptive Planning makes it easy for companies to elevate their financial management. With Adaptive Planning's centralized, web-based solution, you no longer need to send out multiple versions of spreadsheets, manage complex consolidations of data, or worry about departments using the most current version of the plan.

By eliminating many of the low-level “clerical” tasks associated with spreadsheet-based budgeting and forecasting, your staff is able to focus on strategic analysis and higher-level business decisions-turning a low-value process into a true competitive differentiator.

Benefits:

• Dramatically reduce budgeting and forecasting cycle times—by up to 90%
• Simplify and standardize data collection across the organization
• Decrease errors and improve accuracy by eliminating broken links and formulas
• Deliver more complete and frequent forecasts, including rolling forecasts
• Enable timely and thorough what-if analyses
• Establish one version of the truth
• Make faster, more informed decisions
• Enhance collaboration with, and ownership by, department managers
• Improve alignment throughout the organization
• Increase the strategic value of finance

Features:

• Complete Set of Planning Components and Financial Statements. Plan Personnel, Expenses, Sales, and Capital. Link elements to create a complete set of dynamic financial statements, including Cash Flow, Balance Sheet, and Income Statement.
• Metrics. Extend your plan beyond the Chart of Accounts. Budget and forecast any data required for your model, including operational metrics.
• Automated Consolidation. Automatically consolidate changes at the department level into the corporate plan, eliminating broken links and manual cut and paste exercises.
• Configurable Data Entry Sheets. Provide managers with intuitive, spreadsheet-like data entry sheets that are customized to only show relevant data.
• Multi-dimensional Data Collection Provide users with a simple and intuitive way to plan across multiple dimensions (e.g., product, geography, customer, etc.).
• Dynamic Formulas. Create formulas in any data cell, just like a spreadsheet. Reference data and assumptions from other cells, including financial and operational accounts in other subplans, to create dynamic, driver-based plans. Formulas can be established centrally for easy modification across the model.
• Drill-Down. See where data originated via real-time drill-down capabilities.
• Notations. Add notes to document budgeting and forecasting assumptions. Notes rollup with sheets, so managers with broader responsibilities can see notes from all sub-plans in one place.
• Workflow. Automatically manage the plan submission and approval process. Department managers can submit their completed plans for approval, and their managers can then submit their plans, until the entire version is approved.
• Web-based Access. Perform budgeting, forecasting and reporting from any web browser at any time. No new software, hardware, or IT support is required.