Richard Grimes, MPA, C.P.T.

Course Outline

The course is designed to help those in mid-level or line leadership positions in organizations or projects who do not have financial backgrounds to understand more about the behind-the-scenes activities involved in selecting, collecting, and monitoring data involved in typical budget development.

It will help leaders who do have strong financial backgrounds develop their subordinates' knowledge and skills so they can confidently accept a greater responsibility in managing the department's budget.

Participants are taught how to analyze critical historical data for making confident predictions of future demand on equipment, staffing, and other budget-sensitive resources.

There is an easy-to-follow guide to making a budget monitoring worksheet using popular spreadsheet software.

This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Please note: This course does not pretend to be a resource for financial professionals. It is designed for those who need to understand the broad "why" of budgets but not the details of "how".

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn:

• The Need For A Budget;
• Important Topics To Consider When Developing A Budget;
• The Questions to Consider When Developing a Budget;
• Other Little Considered Topics for Developing a Budget;
• Why the Quality of Leadership Skills Must Be Considered When Developing a Budget;
• How To Develop a Budget Using Historical Data;
• How To Use Various Data Forecasting Methods and When;
• The Organization's "General Ledger": What It Is And Why You Should Know;
• How and Why To Use "Break Even" Points in Determining Equipment and Staffing Needs;
• Understanding And Applying The Concepts Of "Capacity" And "Forecasting";
• Each Department's Role And Responsibility In Managing Their Share Of The Budget; and
• Developing A Budget Monitoring Process.
  

Course Introduction

Organizations commonly expect their mid-and lower level leaders to do their best to keep activities "within the budget" or to curtail non-essential activities near the end of the fiscal year when the budget is nearly depleted. Rarely, though, do these organizations involve these same leaders in the data selection, collection, and manipulation necessary in the typical budget development process. The budgets are simply imposed on them as they are told "you can only spend this much" and "we will tell you when to stop spending".

This course attempts to address that situation by helping non-financial employees understand some of the major considerations involved in budget development and introduces them to atypical budget development questions such as "how would the quality of an organization's leadership skills impact the development of a budget?"

Participants taking this course can become more knowledgeable about the entire process and more helpful in the budget development and monitoring process.

Course Content

Table of Content

What You Will Gain

Budgeting Basics

The "General Ledger (G/L)"

Developing a Budget - Questions

Developing a Budget - Answers

The Organization's Mission or Purpose
A Clear Understanding of Where We Are Now
Determining Current Production Capacity
Efficiency of our Workflows: Conducting an Analysis
The Break Even Analysis
Break Even Class Exercise

Measurable Forecasting Methods

Simple Average ("SA")
Simple Moving Average ("SMA")
Weighted Moving Average ("WMA")
Change Measurement Average (CMA)
Review
Predicting Seasonal Trends
Making Predictions Without Useful Trend Data

Monitoring Your Department's Budget

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Course Summary

Organizational or project mid-level and line leaders can share a greater part of the burden of budget development and monitoring after the successful completion of this course. It helps non-financial leaders understand the variables associated with a budget; the various methods of collecting historical data for predicting future demands; how to utilize break-even points in determining equipment and staffing needs; and shows them a practical way to monitor a budget using typical spreadsheet software.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.