A Quick Start Guide to Financial Forecasting: Discover the Secret to Driving Growth, Profitability, and Cash Flow Higher

by Philip Campbell, Steve Player (Foreword by)

Overview

This book provides a surprisingly straightforward, easy-to-understand guide to one of the most powerful financial tools in business: a reliable financial forecast. It will transform the financial future of your company and help you make better, faster, smarter financial decisions.

What if you had a clear view through the financial windshield of your business? What if you had answers to questions like:

• What's about to happen to my profitability and cash flow?
• How much cash can we distribute to owners this year?
• I am making money in my business, so why is cash still so tight?
• Can we make the balloon payment on our debt that is due in six months?
• How long will it take to pay off our debt?
• What will our taxable income be this year?
• What will our cash balance be six months from now?
• What does the financial future of my company look like?

A reliable financial forecast puts the answers to these questions at your fingertips. It helps you take control of your profitability and cash flow because it gives you answers to the most important financial questions you face in your business. It gives you the courage and confidence to make better business decisions as you work to survive and thrive in an ever-changing business world.

Too many entrepreneurs and CEOs today are feeling more like passengers than drivers in their business. They're staring at their rearview mirror as they bounce along in the passenger seat. Their company is careening along on the highway of business as they wonder and worry about where their business might end up financially.

A reliable financial forecast solves this problem by providing a clear view through the financial windshield of your business. It creates the visibility and clarity you need to drive your company toward a bigger and brighter financial future. Put yourself in the driver's seat of your business by tapping into the unique and exciting benefits that financial forecasting can unlock for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932743050
Publisher:	Grow & Succeed Publishing LLC
Publication date:	07/12/2017
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Philip Campbell is a consultant and author of Never Run Out of Cash: The 10 Cash Flow Rules You Can’t Afford to Ignore and the online course Understanding Your Cash Flow–In Less Than 10 Minutes.

Campbell's career began in public accounting. He was a staff accountant in a local CPA firm in Beaumont, Texas, and then an audit manager in an international accounting firm in Houston, Texas. Since 1990, he has served as a financial officer in a number of growing companies with revenues ranging from $5 million to over $1 billion. Campbell has been involved in the acquisition or sale of more than 30 companies and an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

What sets Campbell apart from the average financial person is his passion and excitement for helping entrepreneurs and CEOs win financially in business. Campbell believes strongly that growing a successful business makes it critical that management knows exactly what's going on with their cash flow. In fact, early on in his career, he focused and "preached" so much about the importance of cash flow that he earned the nickname CASH.

Steve Player is the founder and managing director of The Player Group. He has co-authored and edited five industry-leading cost and performance management books. He is program director for the Beyond Budgeting Round Table in North America. Player is a top ranked speaker and consultant helping clients implement leading edge practices and the co-author (with Steve Morlidge) of Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting.

Table of Contents

Foreword Steve Player xiii

About the Author xix

Introduction 1

Part 1 It's All About Driving Growth, Profitability, and Cash Flow Higher 15

Chapter 1 Thinking strategically about financial success 17

Chapter 2 The benefits of a reliable financial forecast 29

Part 2 How to Plan, Create, and Present Your Forecast 47

Chapter 3 10 rules for creating a forecast you can trust 49

Chapter 4 The recipe for financial forecasting 69

Chapter 5 A real world example-ABC Construction Company 87

Part 3 How to Overcome the Obstacles to Forecasting 123

Chapter 6 Choosing your software tool-Spreadsheets vs. forecasting software 125

Chapter 7 The most common forecasting "Yes, buts …" 135

Chapter 8 The secret to driving growth, profitability, and cash flow higher 147

Bonus Chapters 159

Bonus Chapter 1 A three-part plan to breathe financial life back into your business 161

Bonus Chapter 2 How to turn your accounting department into a strategic asset 177

Thoughts about forecasting, business, and money 197

Your feedback is valuable 209

Free downloads and examples 211

Books and online courses Philip Campbell 213

Editorial Reviews

Philip’s book lays out a very practical, step-by-step approach that will help organizations of all sizes get started with forecasting quickly.”

Steve Player

Philip’s approach to financial forecasting has helped us completely turn around our profitability and cash flow and get it moving in a positive direction. I love the way he speaks and writes in a way that is simple and easy-to-understand.”

Andrea Sato

I’m recommending A Quick Start Guide to Financial Forecasting to my clients and I highly recommend you read it too.”

James H. Johnson

Philip Campbell has a special knack for helping business owners uncover financial insights that others miss.”

Ed Lette

I enjoyed and was challenged by the ‘think top-down, not bottom-up’ approach Philip Campbell teaches in this book. It will change the way you think as a business owner and help you drive different behavior throughout your company.”

John Albers