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A financial forecast is an estimate of future financial outcomes for a company or project, usually applied in budgeting, capital budgeting and / or valuation. Depending on context, the term may also refer to listed company (quarterly) earnings guidance .
The term "budget" is used for a financial plan for the upcoming year. A "forecast" is typically a combination of actual performance year-to-date plus expected performance for the remainder of the year, so is generally compared against plan or budget and prior performance.
Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared with what actually happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual results creating a variance actual analysis.
A budget is a calculation plan, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month.A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, other impacts, assets, liabilities and cash flows.
Variance analysis, in budgeting or management accounting in general, is a tool of budgetary control and performance evaluation, assessing any variances between the budgeted, planned, or standard amount, and the actual amount realized. Variance analysis can be carried out for both costs and revenues.
The Sales and Operations planning process has a twofold scope. The first scope is the horizontal alignment in order to balance the supply and demand through integration between the company departments and with suppliers and customers. The second aim is the vertical alignment amid strategic plan and the operational plan of a company. [2]
Performance-based budgeting is the practice of developing budgets based on the relationship between program funding levels and expected results from that program. The performance-based budgeting process is a tool that program administrators use to manage budget outlays more cost-efficiently and effectively.
In management literature, gap analysis involves the comparison of actual performance with potential or desired performance. [1] If an organization does not make the best use of current resources, or forgoes investment in productive physical capital or technology, it may produce or perform below an idealized potential.