Budgeting: Technology, Trends, Software Selection, and Implementation

Essential Budget Planning for the 21st Century Corporation

Today's corporations are more competitive, dynamic, and, consequently, more powerful and successful than ever before. As a result, the days when corporate budgeting was merely an obligatory, routine process of estimating the coming year's revenues and expenses have long ended. Successful corporations are constantly improving their ability to predict their future operations and their related resource requirements, enabling them to adjust their plans as needed and stay ahead of the competition. Not only does this heighten the importance of the budgeting and planning process, but it also changes the traditional roles of spreadsheets, legacy budget systems, and software created in-house. Budgeting shows corporations how to achieve and maintain their edge through modern budgeting systems and the use of good budgeting software. This book provides comprehensive guidance through the range of considerations that are crucial to streamlining the budget planning process:
* What corporations should be looking for when buying or building a new budgeting solution
* How to select the right budgeting solution from the field of vendors
* How to successfully implement a new budgeting solution
* How to fully utilize the Web

. . . plus helpful lists and questionnaires, and interviews with managers from leading companies who have effectively created internal processes and implemented software solutions. Equip your corporation to excel in the twenty-first century with the tools and information offered in this invaluable resource.

For years, companies have perceived their budgets simply as a mandatory estimate of the upcoming year'srevenues and expenses. In the contemporary corporate world, however, this attitude is quickly changing as the marketplace becomes more competitive and more global. To maintain their cutting edge, strong corporations are constantly striving to increase their accuracy in predicting future operations and related resource requirements. As a result, the importance of the budgeting and planning process has increased dramatically for today'scorporations and markedly changed the traditional roles of spreadsheets, legacy budget systems, and software created in-house.

This indispensable book provides CFOs, controllers, budgeting managers, and anyone involved in the budget planning process with an in-depth examination of modern budgeting and technology, including how to select the correct software and ensure that implementation takes place smoothly.

From the basics of what corporations should look for and how to mine the vast field of vendors to find it, to achieving a streamlined, competitive, and highly effective budget planning process, Budgeting:

• Discusses how the Web is becoming a delivery vehicle and a platform for most budgeting systems
• Shows how to evaluate and select budgeting software
• Provides interviews with managers at leading companies who have successfully created internal processes and implemented budgeting software solutions
• Lists and categorizes major budgeting software products and vendors
• Provides a comprehensive list of Request for Proposal questions
• Provides popular ratios used in connection with budgeting and analysis

Ensure your company'sfuture with upgraded budget planning practices and routines?and ensure a successful, competitive, and profitable new millennium.

NILS H. RASMUSSEN, MIM, has more than ten years of experience with development, implementation, and sales of budgeting and financial reporting software. He is a frequent speaker at budgeting conferences, has conducted field research, and has held numerous workshops in the area of Web-based budgeting and reporting, and streamlining of corporate reporting processes. Mr. Rasmussen currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and can be reached at [email protected].

CHRISTOPHER J. EICHORN, CPA, is a software consultant who specializes in designing enterprise-wide financial reporting and budgeting models for his clients. He is a graduate of Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, and is currently a senior consultant at Solver, Inc., Los Angeles, California. He can be reached at [email protected].