Introduction
Setting & Controlling Budgets properly and accurately is fundamental to every successful business. This seminar shows how budgeting is linked to strategy, costing and performance measurement. The purpose of the seminar is to clarify the jargon and methodology of budgeting within the areas of managerial accounting and performance measurement.
Key learning objectives include:
- Strategic planning
- The linkages between planning, budgeting, costing and performance measurement
- The features of budgetary control
- Cost analysis: fixed vs. variable costs (CVP analysis); direct vs. indirect costs (traditional method and activity-based costing)
- The role of full costing and contribution margin
- Advantages and disadvantages of budgeting
Course Objectives of Setting & Controlling Budgets
- Link finance and operation for budgeting purposes and strategy execution
- Learn how to build a comprehensive performance measurement system
- Master traditional techniques and recent best practices
- Develop an understanding of the corporate budgeting process
- Be able to interpret the financial impact of strategic directions
- Understand the problems of overheads allocation and how Activity-Based Analysis may aid decision-making and pricing strategies
Training Methodology of Setting & Controlling Budgets
The seminar is based on a combination of interactive activities - group and individual exercises, case studies, and discussions.
The environment will be a supportive one in which individuals with varying degrees of experience will be encouraged to share the approaches they currently use as well as try out new ones that they encounter in the seminar. The seminar speaker will be on hand to answer any questions a delegate may have and to act as a facilitator for building and applying new approaches.
Organizational Impact of Setting & Controlling Budgets
- A better understanding of the strategic planning process
- Cost and budgeting awareness will be enhanced
- Higher chances to select a budgetary system that works
- Broadened knowledge of performance management techniques
- A better attitude to link cost and budgeting to strategy and performance measurement
- A deeper understanding of cause and effect relationship for budgeting purposes
Personal Impact of Setting & Controlling Budgets
- Delegates will understand the budgeting methods most useful to them
- They will understand how to construct a relevant and efficient budget
- They will learn to evaluate the usefulness of costing techniques in accurately calculating and ensuring profitability
- They will reinforce and expand their knowledge by linking budgeting to strategy and performance measurement
- They will broaden their understanding by linking financial and operational issues
- They will have a better awareness of non-financial implications of budgeting
Course Outlines of Setting & Controlling Budgets
DAY 1
Strategic and Financial Planning
- Financial vs. managerial accounting
- Exploring the linkages between strategy, budgeting, costing and performance measurement
- Understanding what strategic planning is and why it is important
- Mission; Vision; Strategy; Goals and Objectives
- The outside environment and the internal context: SWOT and PESTEL analysis
- What is happening in your company
- Looking for the drivers of value creation
- Examples and cases
DAY 2
The Framework for Budgeting
- What is a budget - why create a budget?
- The budgeting framework
- Various types of budgets
- The budgeting process and the human side of budgeting
- Sales forecasting and budgeting schedules
- What is the budgeting process in your company?
- Top-down vs. bottom-up budget; incremental vs. zero-based
- Examples of budgetary schedules
DAY 3
Cost Analysis for Budgeting
- What is costing? Defining costs
- Cost behavior – Fixed and variable
- Breakeven models - The Equation Method
- The contribution margin concept
- Direct and indirect costs
- Traditional vs. Activity Based Costing
- Product vs. period costs
- Case study and examples
DAY 4
Budgeting: case study day - Controlling the budget variances
- What is the situation in your organization?
- Is budgeting organized by department and/or projects?
- Budget variance analysis
- Describe the difference between a static budget and a flexible budget
- Compute flexible-budget variances and sales-volume variances
- Explain why standard costs are often used in variance analysis
- Integrate continuous improvement into variance analysis
- Case study, examples and exercises
DAY 5
Beyond Budgeting: Broadening Performance Measurement Systems
- Advantages and disadvantages of budgeting
- How to improve budgeting in your organization
- What next? Beyond the Budget…
- The Balanced Scorecard: linking Strategy to budgeting to Performance Measurement
- Financial perspective, Customer perspective
- Internal Business Process perspective, Learning and growth perspective
- Developing and adapting the scorecard
- Case study illustration
About Dubai
Dubai, located on the Persian Gulf, is one of the seven United Arab Emirates and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The discovery of oil in the region has made Dubai extremely wealthy, allowing it to build the glittering skyscrapers that it is now famous for. That wealth is strongly in evidence in Dubai and visitors will see luxurious buildings and supercars aplenty. Perfect beaches and endless shopping opportunities are to key to Dubai's attractions. Flights to Dubai open up the city's cultural attractions to tourists, with beautiful mosques, museums and art galleries scattered throughout this ultra-modern metropolis.
Things to do and places to visit in Dubai
Dubai's wealth has made it famous for building ever taller buildings and creating artificial islands off its shores. The city's hotels are luxurious and shoppers will love its extensive shopping malls which showcase all the world's top brands. Dubai's attractions don't end there. Dubai also caters to adventure lovers, who can jump in a 4x4 or on a board to speed over dunes outside the city. Local culture mustn't be forgotten either, and visitors have wonderful mosques to visit and old districts to explore. All that combined means that a flight to Dubai is sure to lead to an unforgettable holiday.
When visiting Dubai, be sure to:
- Go to the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
- Admire the intricately beautiful Grand Mosque, which has the tallest minaret in the city.
- Understand the local history and culture with a visit to the Dubai Museum.
- Discover objects from the 6th century at Jumeirah Archaeological Site.
- Go skiing – That's not a joke, the Mall of the Emirates houses a snowdome.
- Go shopping at the Mall of the Emirates or the Dubai Mall.
- Explore the desert surrounding the city – either by 4x4 or atop a camel.
- Eat fantastic seafood at Dubai Marina.
- Cool off at the Wild Wadi Waterpark.
- Marvel at gorgeous Arabic calligraphy at Jumeirah Mosque, the biggest in the city.
- Take a yacht tour around the artificial islands of Palm Jumeirah.
- Haggle for souvenirs in one of the city's souks.
- Wander around the traditional building in Bastakiya District.