How to Manage Your Business Throughout the Year, Rather Than Just Planning

The annual plan is in place. Carefully drawn up in January, thoroughly coordinated, and approved by management. And many assume that this means the planning work for the year is done. But how well does a plan created in January still align with the reality in May? And what does it say about the end of the year, when costs, prices, and sales have long since taken a different course?

In practice, every plan becomes outdated from day one. It’s a snapshot; reality keeps moving forward. The rolling forecast closes this gap: It continuously incorporates actual figures and shows not what was planned, but where the company is actually ending up.

In this free live webinar, we’ll use a specific real-world example to show how a forecast updates automatically, how a single change in an assumption can shift the year-end result, and how you can turn a rigid annual plan into a management tool that’s effective year-round.

What the webinar is about

Im Mittelpunkt steht ein branchenunabhängiges Beispielunternehmen. Der Plan sieht zu Jahresbeginn solide aus, doch die ersten Ist-Monate zeichnen bereits ein anderes Bild.

This example illustrates why a rigid annual plan is not sufficient on its own as a basis for management. We’ll demonstrate live in Corporate Planner how the plan differs from the forecast and how the forecast automatically updates with each new actual month. Then, by changing a single assumption, we’ll show how the year-end shifts—a “what-if” scenario in practice.

The key here is a clear decision-making framework: Where is reality already deviating from the plan? How will the year end if the current trend continues? And what happens if a key assumption changes? In addition, we provide an outlook on how artificial intelligence can help evaluate scenarios more quickly and identify trends earlier in the future.

Typical questions from practice

Many companies plan once a year, but use forecasts to actively manage their operations much less frequently throughout the year. In this webinar, we’ll therefore address questions that are regularly critical in practice:

• How up-to-date is my annual plan while operations are still underway?
• Where will my company stand at the end of the year if the current trend continues?
• What exactly is the difference between a plan, a forecast, and a scenario?
• How often should I update my forecast—monthly, quarterly, or as needed?
• How do I explore what a different assumption means for my result?
• How can artificial intelligence help evaluate scenarios in the future?

Your advantages in everyday working life

Nach dem Webinar wissen Sie, an welchen Stellen sich Plan und Forecast trennen müssen, damit der Forecast nicht zur bloßen Fortschreibung des Plans wird, sondern die tatsächliche Entwicklung abbildet. Sie kennen die typischen Fehler beim Aufsetzen eines rollierenden Forecasts – etwa, wenn Positionen pauschal fortgeschrieben werden, obwohl sich die zugrunde liegende Annahme längst überholt hat, oder wenn der Forecast so selten aktualisiert wird, dass er den gleichen Vorlaufwert wie der Jahresplan hat.

You’ll gain insight into the frequency at which forecasts have proven effective in practice, as well as an approach for presenting discrepancies between plans and forecasts in management reports in a way that allows management to respond immediately, rather than having to laboriously explain them first.

The main practical benefit is that you don’t have to wait until the end of the fiscal year to know where you stand; instead, you have a reliable forecast of year-end results at any time—and, if necessary, you can take corrective action early enough rather than simply documenting what has already happened.

Who is the webinar suitable for?

This webinar is aimed at CFOs, controllers, and managing directors of medium-sized companies who want to transform their planning from an annual formality into an active management tool. It is particularly relevant for companies that currently manage their operations exclusively based on the annual plan and lack a structured forward-looking perspective during the year.

Previous knowledge from the previous modules is not required.

Your benefits at a glance

You will learn,

• Why a Rigid Annual Plan Is Not Sufficient as the Sole Basis for Management
• How a rolling forecast updates the actual trend
• How Plans, Forecasts, and Scenarios Differ in Practice
• how a forecast automatically updates when new actual figures are available
• How to Run Through a “What-If” Scenario Using a Single Assumption
• What role artificial intelligence might play in scenario assessment in the future

Part of our webinar series on integrated corporate planning

This webinar is Module 5 of a modular series. The modules build on each other in terms of content, but each one can be understood on its own.

Why TD Trusted Decisions?

TD Trusted Decisions begleitet mittelständische Unternehmen dabei, Planung, Reporting und Unternehmenssteuerung klarer, integrierter und entscheidungsorientierter aufzubauen.

Our experience shows that the biggest challenge rarely lies in creating the plan. What matters most is whether the plan remains relevant throughout the year and provides timely insight into the direction of future developments. Only then does a plan become a reliable basis for management.

In this webinar, we combine our professional consulting experience with a hands-on, live demonstration in Corporate Planner. This shows how integrated planning works in practice and how companies can always know where they stand at year-end.