This essential half-day course gives budget holders a high-level introduction to budgeting, forecasting, and financial management within an organisation.
Overview:
This half-day online course provides a high-level introduction to budgeting, forecasting and spending, along with the key terminology and concepts that support effective financial management. It is designed for new budget holders or managers who are beginning to take responsibility for preparing and managing budgets.
The session aims to build a broad understanding of how budgets are set, monitored, and controlled within an organisational context. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, share their experiences, and engage in discussion.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, delegates will:
- Understand the purpose of budgeting and the impact of fiscal constraints
- Appreciate the importance of managing budgets effectively
- Gain awareness of the current financial environment affecting organisations
- Learn key budgeting terminology
- Understand the role of central finance functions in the budgeting process
- Understand the responsibilities of a budget holder, including stewardship, influencing, and enabling
- Recognise budget restrictions and common poor budgeting behaviours
- Understand the difference between budgeting and forecasting
- Understand budget profiling and common issues that arise
Speaker: Mike Sarwar
Mike Sarwar is an experienced training consultant with a 29-year career at Kaplan, where he worked from October 1991 to December 2020.
Mike specialises in highly interactive training that challenges participants to rethink established thought processes and behaviours, particularly in relation to the impact of financial reporting and wider business issues. His work focuses on two principal areas: building management, commercial and financial capability, and delivering technical financial reporting and audit training.
During his first 15 years at Kaplan, he taught across the full range of professional accountancy qualifications, delivering ACA, ACCA and CIMA programmes at every level and across all subjects. In the subsequent 14 years, he concentrated on developing accounting and management professionals in both the public and private sectors. He held dual responsibility for designing and delivering advanced technical financial reporting programmes, as well as commercial and financial training for non-accountants, with a strong emphasis on improving organisational performance.