The rate of change in the business environment is greater than ever before and managers are recognising that they have to spend more time looking forward. For you, the finance professional, this is vitally important but not necessarily straightforward. Coming to terms with judgements about the future, which are subject to significant margins of error, requires a particular set of skills.
As well as describing the principles of forecasting, this course looks at their application, especially in decision-making. It covers interpretative statistics, short / medium range forecasting and long-range forecasting.
Course overview
Looking to the future
- What are forecasts for?
- Why has forecasting become more important of late?
- Where does forecasting fit within a structure of
financial control?
- Responsibility for forecasting
Statistics
- Basics
- Probability of dispersion
- Correlation
- Regression
Short and medium range
- Hedging
- Predictive modelling
- Standard Costing
- Budgetary control
Long range
- Demographics
- Devolution
- The value of money
- Some relevant techniques