David Peters is the Founder and Owner of Peters Professional Education in Richmond, VA, and is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) with Peters Financial LLC. He has over twenty years of experience in financial services, including three years in the hedge fund industry and six years in the insurance industry. David was the first-ever Chief Financial Officer at Compare.com - a position he held for over three years. He is a national CPE Instructor/Discussion Leader for Surgent and Don Farmer Tax Seminars. He regularly teaches courses in accounting, finance, insurance, financial planning, and ethics throughout the United States. He holds four master's degrees and contributes regularly to various CPA publications, including NCACPA’s Interim Report, SCACPA's CPA Report, and VSCPA's Disclosures. He was also a co-author of the Virginia CPA Ethics course in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – a required course for all CPAs licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Most financial leaders would agree that budgeting is easy when business and the economy are stable. When revenues and expenses are expected to remain the same, the process becomes merely an exercise in carrying over what was done before to the current year. However, what happens when we are not sure about how the market will react to our product? What happens when the competitive landscape changes? In this course, we will discuss budgeting techniques and considerations when business lacks stability. Through a combination of theory and real-world examples, we will explore how to build flexibility into our budget
so that it can inform and drive decision-making when we don't quite know what is ahead. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Learning Objectives
After attending this presentation you will be able to...
Recall the difference between a forecast and a budget
Identify the difference between top-down and bottom-up budgeting
State the key elements of a flexible budgeting approach
Identify key cost drivers
State how behavioral biases may affect the budgeting process
Identify how headcount efficiency may be measured
Determine scenario planning
Recognize best practices and controls for managing budget changes
Major Topics
The major topics that will be covered in this class include:
Budgets vs. Forecasts
Cyclicality
Core Earnings & Sustainable Growth
Identifying Key Forecast Drivers
Reasonableness in Forecasting
Approaches to Budgeting
Budgeting Variances
Horizontal Analysis
Flexible Budgeting
CPE Credits Available
4 CPE Credits
4
Finance
Things to Know About This Course
Course Level
Intermediate
Professional Area of Focus
Finance
Prerequisites
Must be a CFO or on track to become CFO, must understand basic budget processes
Intended Audience
CFOs & Controllers who are involved in the budgeting process.
