- Why Every Business Should Build Weekly Cash Flow Forecasts
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- When most finance professionals hear the term “13 week cash forecast,” they view it as a burden—one more task to appease an overbearing lender. Most finance professionals do not get nearly as excited about building it as they do about building a projection model for an acquisition or investment. It doesn’t help that companies generally tend not to focus on their liquidity needs until they are forced to do so. Therefore, people often only prioritize the weekly cash forecasts in distressed situations, when it is too late to take corrective actions. And even still, the analysis is often hastily executed and inaccurate.
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Take Assessment Watch Video- The State of Enterprise Resource Planning
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- In this article Sam Gupta reports Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) wasn’t designed for intelligent agents, dynamic workflows, or machine-driven transactions. Yet those are now becoming the default operating model for modern businesses. As AI capabilities mature, most business models will change materially. This shift is likely to drive the largest disruption CFOs will experience in their careers. Everything is in scope. Web traffic patterns. Interaction models. Transactional workflows. Learn why Sam writes, “There is a very real possibility that ERP, as a category, either disappears entirely or evolves so far that it no longer fits its traditional definition.”
- Struggling? Here’s What Should Be in Your Plan
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- Turning around, launching or restarting a business takes time and careful planning. It’s a venture fraught with challenges, often leaving leaders facing these characteristic challenges: I need to set some financial targets and work hard to reach them. My financial statements are inaccurate; what can we do to achieve greater transparency? Our business plan is developed, but it needs fine-tuning. The books are always closed late; how can we improve efficiency? Our current systems aren’t meeting our needs; what are our options? We thought we had enough working capital but are short on cash to meet daily expenses. The CFO is lacking the skills and training required for our new vision.
Governance & Controls – structure and controls.
Transaction Recording – systems, transaction processing and closing the books.
Reporting - efficient, timely and accurate information for decision making and meeting compliance requirements.
Accounting
Business Planning - provide the financial roadmap for the company with supporting analytics.
Financial Forecasting - integrate the company’s current performance relative to budget with the real-time business environment.
Investment Analysis - the framework to analyze new opportunities as they present themselves.
Finance
Cash Management - the discipline to ensure cash is available to operate the business normally.
Funding - Planning for and raising funds to meet the needs of the business.
Risk Management – Identification and mitigation of key business risks.
Treasury
Self-Awareness - Internal.
Team Building - External.
Strategy & Culture – Motivate people to follow you.
Leadership
Four Pillars of Executive Expertise
CFO.University is built around the Four Pillars of CFO Success. These Pillars are supported with Core Competencies. Our framework allows you to master your role as a senior financial officer. The Four Pillars are made up of:
Accounting – Governance & Controls, Transaction Recording and Reporting
Finance – Business Planning, Financial Forecasting and Investment Analysis
Treasury – Cash Management, Funding (Capital Raising) and Risk Management
Leadership – Self Awareness, Team Building and Strategy & Culture
