David Peters, CPA, CFP, CPCU, MST, MBA, is the founder and owner of Peters Tax Preparation & Consulting in Richmond, as well as a financial advisor for Peters Financial, LLC. He has over 15 years of experience in financial services, including three years in the hedge fund industry and six years in the insurance industry. David was the first-ever chief financial officer at Compare.com – a position he held for over three years. He is a national CPE instructor/discussion leader for the AICPA, Kaplan, and Surgent, and was a recipient of Surgent’s Outstanding Discussion Leader award for 2019. He regularly teaches courses in accounting, finance, insurance, financial planning and ethics throughout the United States. He is the advisor for business and industry topics for the South Carolina Association of CPAs (SCACPA) and was a recipient of The American College’s 2019 NextGen Financial Services Professional Award. He holds four master's degrees, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in financial planning. He contributes regularly to various CPA publications, including the North Carolina Association of CPAs' (NCACPA) Interim Report, SCACPA’s CPA Report and the Virginia Society of CPAs' (VSCPA) Disclosures. He was also a co-author of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 versions of the Virginia-Specific Ethics course – a required course for all CPAs licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Most financial leaders would agree that budgeting is easy when business and the economy are stable. When revenues and expenses are expected to remain the same, the process becomes merely an exercise in carrying over what was done before to the current year. However, what happens when we are not sure about how the market will react to our product? What happens when the competitive landscape changes? In this course, we will discuss budgeting techniques and considerations when business lacks stability. Through a combination of theory and real-world examples, we will explore how to build flexibility into our budget
so that it can inform and drive decision-making when we don't quite know what is ahead. This event may be a rebroadcast of a live event and the instructor will be available to answer your questions during the event.
Learning Objectives
After attending this presentation, you will be able to...
Distinguish between a forecast and a budget
Recognize the difference between top-down and bottom-up budgeting
Recognize the key elements of a flexible budgeting approach
Utilize key forecast drivers
Apply judgement when it may be appropriate to make a forecast adjustment
Major Topics
The major topics that will be covered in this class include:
Budgets vs. Forecasts
Cyclicality
Core Earnings & Sustainable Growth
Identifying Key Forecast Drivers
Reasonableness in Forecasting
Approaches to Budgeting
Budgeting Variances
Horizontal Analysis
Flexible Budgeting
CPE Credits Available
4 CPE
4
Finance
Things to Know About This Course
Course Level
Intermediate
Professional Area of Focus
Finance
Prerequisites
Must be a CFO or on track to become CFO, must understand basic budget processes
Advanced Preparation
None
Intended Audience
CFOs & Controllers who are involved in the budgeting process.
