Planning in an Uncertain World

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Instructor

John
Levy

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John Levy, MBA, CPA

Bio

John F. Levy, MBA, CPA, is the CEO of Board
Advisory, a consulting firm that assists public companies, or
companies aspiring to be public, with corporate governance,
compliance, financial reporting and financial strategies. He has
nine years’ experience with three large, national public
accounting firms and has served as CFO of both public and
private companies. John currently serves on the boards of
three public companies, serving as vice chairman of one
company and audit committee chair of another. He graduated
from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business.

We all make predictions in our personal and professional lives. We base our decisions to marry, buy a house, launch a new product or hire staff on expectations about the future. In the past few years, research into improving predictions has advanced. We will look at this research and current best practices in forecasting to help us prepare better budgets and projections.

Learning Objectives

Better understand factors which can cause predictions to be wrong

Major Topics

Why great predictions are not intuitive but the result of critical thinking, gathering information and updating predictions when needed
How to separate correlation from causation
How to recognize and overcome bias
Who is Thomas Bayes and why he matters

CPE Credits Available

2 CPE

2: Accounting

Things to Know About This Course

Course Level

Intermediate

Prerequisites

Some budgeting and forecasting experience

Advanced Preparation

None

Intended Audience

CFOs, Controllers, Budget Managers and other professionals who work on budgets and forecasts

Provider

ACPEN