Real World Forecasting
We can’t prevent every mistake, but we can create forecasts that are adaptable and resilient. This course equips you with the practical skills to develop meaningful forecasts that drive better business decisions.
£150 +VAT
Real World Forecasting
£150 +VAT
365 days’ access
Real World Forecasting
This course is not currently available. To find out more, please get in touch.
This course will enable you to
- Identify the utility and the limitations of forecasts
- Create forecasts that are resilient, adaptable, and add genuine value to your organisation
- Use technology, such as AI, to efficiently create forecasts
- Incorporate the spikes and troughs of demand into your forecasts
- Translate complex forecasting data into clear guidance for management action
About the course
Life is too unpredictable for us to know everything that’s going to happen, and there’s no way we can prevent every possible mistake—any forecast that promises an exact picture of the future is probably completely wrong. But if we bear this in mind, we can create a forecast that is useful, adaptable, and resilient.
This course explores the art of forecasting. Although there will be statistics and equations, the reality is that forecasts will always rely most heavily on an accountant’s good judgement. We focus on this element, ensuring that the forecasts that you build lead to good decisions.
Contents
The basics
Why bother?
Budgets and forecasts
The importance of forecasting
Top down and bottom up
The basis
Adding value
The dangers
Defining the forecast period
The effect of AI
The dangers of complexity
Operational forecasting
Defining operational forecasting
Creating an operational forecast
Demand
Assembling the data
Forecasting methods
Different approaches
Qualitative approaches
Quantitative methods
Time series approaches
Forecasting error metrics
Financial forecasting
An objective
Accurate forecasts
Identifying drivers
Raw data
The importance of ratios
Consider capital expenditure
Forecasting capex
Sensitivity analysis and scenario planning
Planning for uncertainty
Forecasting is not compulsory
When to forecast
Building forecast models
Keeping danger at bay
Scenario management
Dealing with risk
Key performance indicators
Decision-making
Making mistakes
Long-term forecasts
Author
John Taylor
John is a Chartered Accountant who has spent many years advising small and medium-sized businesses across the North of England. John is the author of two industry standard textbooks: Millichamp – Auditing and Forensic Accounting. He has also written several auditing textbooks for AAT courses.
16 reviews for Real World Forecasting
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Christine Landers –
Don’t be afraid of forecasting! A great overview of forecasting and some real world scenarios too.
Jacqueline James –
For this particular course perhaps have some excel templates for each of the statements and examples might have been useful.
Keng Yat Chan –
Concise and easy to understand. Could do with some examples of forecasting models.
Boineelo Mathule –
This has been very informative. However, i seem to have discovered a difference in the way we do things where i worked as we did budgets, the forecasts and we compared actuals with both budgets and forecasts.
Masego Pearl Balopi –
Course is very thought provoking and insightful. The material will help me in the budget preparation in the following year. Thank you
Stewart Douglas –
Excellent oversight on forecasting.
Peter Alexander –
a lot of very good thought provoking issues
JANE Thomson –
The course looks at work and life through a human and realistic lens and talks to you as a person rather than an accountant. It breaks the subject down in digestible segments that I feel I can refer back to when applying this theory at work. It’s really important that I can speak to my clients about forecasting on their level and make it work for their business so this course will really help me with that and remember what I need to consider.
Wenqing Xu –
good training
David Machin –
Interesting and informative course
Xinyu Chen –
more example from real world was expected
Martin Jahoda –
The course was very informative.
Elbert Tu –
It is a good course and useful. The videos could be improved
Simon Minwalla –
The detail on forecasting considerations was really insightful and the mix of video and reading for learning was good too. A wide range of issued were condensed into this course.
David Willder –
the presenter was normal and practical in his knowledge and approach
Lydia Hakeney –
An interesting course, which focused on all the issues involved in the forecast process. Very well written. Regarding the photo of the woman sitting on the table to do a presentation to colleagues, I would like to add the following comments. Firstly, I can’t see it happening in real life and for your NZ subscribers of Maori descent, you just don’t put your backside on the same space in which people eat. This may apply to other cultures as well.