What If

 Author: Lesley Karstens, ljkarstens@profitstars.com

It’s hard to believe that summer 2013 is already underway.  With summer come the sounds of kids playing and splashing in the pool, parents wishing school was back in session and for those luckiest of all, the thoughts of budgeting season lurking on the horizon.  Typically this is a dreaded time of year that no one wants to begin, and quite often gets started later than hoped for.  This year I propose a different outlook!  What if you could actually make budgeting season easier on yourself and those around you?  What if you could complete a budget on time?  What if you had extra time to run different scenarios?  What if you could run variance reports easily anytime throughout the year?  What would these things mean to you, to those around you?  Would you find yourself at peace?  Would you be more pleasant to work with?  Would you be able to focus more time on other duties you have? 

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions and would like to make the What If’s a reality…then it’s time to say good-bye to Excel and hello to a budgeting system. 

Top 4 Reasons to Use Excel

1. We’ve always done it this way and I have my process down
2. I’m familiar with Excel functionality and output
3. It’s easy to use
4. It’s cost effective

Top 4 Reason NOT to Use Excel

1. We’ve always done it this way and I have my process down
2. I’m familiar with Excel functionality and output
3. It’s easy to use
4. It’s cost effective

I hear all the time that “this is the way we’ve always done it”, “I’m comfortable with the process”, or “I don’t need anything more complicated to learn.”  What if I told you using Excel wasn’t as accurate as you thought and quite frankly you are making decisions based on incomplete information?  What if I told you that I can run a budgeting model better than I can run Excel?  Don’t make the fear of learning and the fear of change stand in your way of a better process.  It’s time to make a change!

A budgeting model takes information from your core system including current cash flows, so that you know what you have on the books, and can accurately calculate how your future is going to look.  A budgeting model will document all actions taken so that you have a report of what assumptions were made.  A budgeting model will allow you to run easy “what if” scenarios.  A budgeting model will allow you to run projections all year long.   A budgeting model will replace much of the reporting you are doing in Excel today. 

Make this the year you stop saying “What If” and start saying “What next”!  If you’ve moved to a budgeting model, please share your experience and thoughts below and if you are still using Excel, please share the reason why.