Case: Lipschultz, Levin & Gray

The purpose of this paper is to describe the budget process, variances and the major reasons of the variance to make all the financial decisions of the firm properly. This paper would also be helpful to explain that “make” or “Buy” decisions also play a significant role to improve the efficiency of the firm. In addition, the paper would also be useful to clarify that non-financial performance measure may be unsafe for the image of the firm.

Forecasting is part of a company’s future planning as it attempts to estimate future demand for its product or services. Forecasting is usually measured in specific time periods (months, weeks, etc), given a desired level of accuracy, and assigned a unit of forecasting (sales in units or dollars) (Download Reports 2011). PepsiCo bases its sales forecasts on two main factors: changes in consumer tastes, particularly the rise health consciousness among consumers; and how legal regulations may impact operations, such more federal and local laws

When you’re looking at the income statement, you can get information about profitability for a particular period. This is also called the profit and loss statement. The income statement is composed of both income and expenses. This statement can be used to deduct expenses from income and report either a net profit or net loss for that period. This statement will deduct all expenses from income and then report your net profit or net loss for that period. This will allow the business owner to determine if the business is bringing in a good amount of revenue to make a profit. The cash flow statement shows the movement in cash and balance over period. The cash flow can vary depending on the operating activities, investing and financing activities. This statement provides one business owner with insight to the company’s liquidity which is vital to the growth of the business. Reinvesting in business is very important, looking at the statement of retained earnings will tell a business owner how much were reinvested in the company. After profitable period, every big business has to give some of its profits to stockholders, and keep the rest amount as retained earnings. Out of all statements, retaining statement is important to companies that sells stocks to the public. This statement can also provide you with assets and liabilities information. These informations can be used to assess the financial health of your business. The results of a balance sheet will help the business owners to show the risk of liquidity and credit. Looking at these information you can measure trends and relationships to show where in the areas you can improve. These can also be compared to similar companies to show how the business measures up to leading competitors (Ali, 2010). In summary, the financial statements can provide a business owner

The questions that follow and the article Comparing the Accuracy and Explainability of Dividend, Free Cash Flow, and Abnormal Earnings Equity Value Estimates will inform your completion of Milestone Three. An understanding of the models in this assignment will assist you in hypothesizing the incremental impact of a new investment project for the company. The understanding of these models will contribute to your ability to look toward the future when considering the direction of an organization. This activity is worth a total of 75 points. See the distribution of points listed before each question.

* Forecasting is an impartial strategic ingredient that will ensure apt base for reputable planning. Our forecast is always the first step in developing plans in running the business along with our future plans of growth strategies. With this tool, we are able to anticipate our sales within reason that then can allow for us to control our costs in conjunction with inventory which will then help us to enhance our customer service. Sales forecasting is a vital strategic tactic in our company’s methodology.

Forecasting is used in all businesses. Forecasting is used to help businesses decide how much they should produce and where to sell a product. Forecasting can aid a company in knowing the lifecycle of a product, which can help them to determine when and if they should discontinue a product. Forecasting can also help managers close the gap between supply and demand. If a forecast is properly predicted the supply of a product can satisfy the demand of the product. Forecasting is not always accurate however, and can lead to either over production of a product or underproduction of a product.

Predicting and managing cash flow. To manage cash flow effectively you must keep a watchful eye on finances. So the business owner should be forecasting and revising their cash flow forecast on a daily basis however, if the finances of the business are more stable then forecasting cash flow weekly or monthly is enough. Cash flow is so important to a business because identity’s shortfalls in cash balances in advance.

Financial forecasting is such an integral part of any successful start up business and there are major issues with the way it has been done.

Analyzing the company’s performance compared to its historical figures is always useful; nevertheless, these historical figures can be also a very useful tool to forecast future ProForma figures. We usually start by forecasting future sales (based on an average increase in sales figure) and other balance sheet and income statement items are forecasted as percentage of sales, this percent is normally consistent from historically figures. A close look should be given to the company’s operations and plan for the coming year while making our assumptions and forecasted figures. Normally we should follow

Fixing the forecasts allows to build the communication between the different departments of a firm (communication between the operational staff, the financial staff, etc.). It should be also a guide for financial planning and monitoring the activity and the performance. It is a tool to evaluate profitability and productivity, to identify an eventual gap between actuals and OP (operating plan), and to fix it.

M&L Manufacturing Company is an example of a company that could benefit from forecasting. In the past the company has made an educated guess to determine necessary production for

But even this is not possible in case of a new product or innovation. A forecast of sales, demand, cash, requirements and several such business valuables are extremely essential for a business in order to be able to appropriately plan and conduct its operations in an effective and efficient manner. Yet, forecasts cannot be made accurately as there are several factors and changes in the current environment that leads to variations in forecasts and impacts or causes a manager to make changes in the forecasts.

This makes the company look good and they can afford to do this from good financial skills. Decisions like this make a good profit in the long run and all in all this is why it is so important to have a good management team.

      The Statement of Cash flows is a very useful financial statement that can benefit investors, managers and even auditors. The statement of cash flows has not been around as long as the other financial statements such as the balance sheet or income statement. It basically “illustrates the way accounting evolves to meet the requirements of users of financial statements.” (Marshall, 2003) The statement of cash flows is designed to provide important information about the cash that a company has received or has paid out during a certain time period. It provides a reason for the changes of cash received and paid by a company by taking into

Business forecasting is the process of studying historical performance for the purpose of using the information gained to project future business conditions so that decisions can be made today that will assist in the achievement of certain goals. Forecasting involves taking historical date and using it to project future data with a mathematical model. Forecasts are extensively used to support business decisions and direct the work of operations managers. In this paper I will introduce different types of forecasting techniques.