| Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting-related Information on the Internet
July 24, 2004 I. Introduction. The purpose of this article is to identify Internet websites that have useful information that might help the management accountant do such tasks as plan, budget for, and forecast future performance. Websites identified in this article were found by searching the Internet with a search engine (Google), using an extensive list of search terms relevant to planning, forecasting, and budgeting, and also relevant to accounting and financial management. Nineteen sites are identified and briefly described in this article. These nineteen sites are grouped in one of four categories. These categories separate the websites based on the focus and applicability of the information found at the sites. Using these categories should be helpful in better directing the management accountant efficiently and effectively to needed information. These categories are: · Review articles on planning and budgeting; · Short-term planning and budgeting; · Long-term planning and budgeting; and · Forecasting. II. Review Articles On Planning and Budgeting. Articles can be found on the Internet that review and analyze principles and concepts in planning and budgeting. Recommendations and suggestions are often given on approaches, techniques, and procedures. Three websites, with such articles, are identified here. Loren Gary, associated with the Harvard Business School, has written an article on why budgeting can be bad. This article can be read at this site, www.hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3623&t=finance, a Harvard Business School Working Knowledge site. Rick Whiting, with InformationWeek.com, has an article at this InformationWeek.com site, www.informationweek.com/805/budget.htm, which discuses probable future directions and approaches that budget planning will take. More articles on budget planning can be accessed from this site. The Irish company, BusinessPlanWare, provides access to several articles on planning at their site, www.planware.org/index.html. Topics include developing a strategic plan, business planning insights, and cash flow forecasts. BusinessPlanWare sells software to assist the planning process. Some of the software, which can be downloaded, is free. III. Short-term Planning and Budgeting. Searching for information in this category focused on finding websites that the management accountant could turn to help him (or her) formulate planning (e.g. budgeting) over a period of a year (e.g. an operating cycle) or less. Three websites are identified in this category, which present substantive guidance that might help the management accountant plan and develop budgets. The British Columbia Business Services Society maintains this site, www.smallbusinessbc.ca/bizResources-planReview.php, at which you can use an interactive business planner to develop a 3-year forecast and plan. CCH, Inc. maintains a site, www.toolkit.cch.com/text/p06_6100.asp, which is intended to help in the planning of making large value purchases. Such elements of the planning process as the costs versus the benefits, financing, and the time value of money effects on the decision are discussed. This site’s information deals with both short-term (e.g. the purchase decision) and long-term (e.g. the financing costs effects on the decision) aspects. Because of the short-term aspects, this link is included in this section. IV. Long-Term Planning and Budgeting. All the Internet sites found in this category deal with capital planning and budgeting analysis - long term benefits versus costs of large purchases and projects. Ten sites are identified in this category Time value of money concepts (upon which capital budgeting analysis is based) are presented at this CCH, Inc. site, www.finance.cch.com/text/c10s10d080.asp. A more rigorous treatment of capital budgeting, with examples, is presented by Professor Harvey of Duke University, at this site, www.duke.edu/~charvey/Classes/ba350/project/project.htm. Professor Esty, at Harvard Business School, maintains a mega site portal, www.hbs.edu/projfinportal/index.htm, with links to information on project finance. An emphasis of this website is large development projects. Several sites are identified in this paragraph that deal with real options use in capital budgeting analysis. CFO Magazine has an article by SL Mintz at this site, www.people.bu.edu/nalink/papers/CFO_minz.htm, which describes the use of real options in capital budgeting analysis. At this site, www.niwotridge.com/Resources/PM-SWEResources/SWOptions.htm, maintained by Niwot Ridge Resources, several articles on using real options and capital budgeting analysis in information technology purchase decisions can be linked to. Professor Jensen, at Trinity University, maintains a mega site of links to real options information at this site, www.trinity.edu/rjensen/realopt.htm. This site, www.puc-rio.br/marco.ind/main.html, maintained by Marco Dias and PUC-Rio University in Brazil, focuses on using real options in petroleum industry capital budgeting analysis. V. Forecasting. Methods, techniques, and tools that help forecst and understand the likelihood of futue management accounting-related events and conditions would be useful as part of planning. This section identifies three websites that might assist the management accountant who is interested in applying forecasting methods, techniques, and tools. The Wharton School of Business maintains this site, morris.wharton.upenn.edu/forecast, which seeks to be a site where useful knowledge about forecasting can be found. Professor Arsham, at the University of Baltimore, maintains this site, home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/stat-data/Forecast.htm, which discusses such methods, techniques, and tools as multiple regression analysis, nonlinear regression, trend analysis, decomposition analysis, simple and weighted moving averages, exponential smoothing techniques, adaptive filtering, and event history analysis. Existing time series data sets of interest to management accountants might be useful to apply forecasting methods, techniques, and tools to. Many such time series data sets, with real events data, can be linked to by going to this Makridalis, Wheelwright, and Hyndman site, www-personal.buseco.monash.edu.au/~hyndman/forecasting/gotodata.htm, and clicking "Useful Links”, and then "Rob Hyndman’s Time Series Data Library” or “Other time series data collections”, under “Time Series Datasets”. VI. Conclusion. The Internet was searched for useful websites for planning, budgeting, and forecasting from a management accounting perspective. Nineteen sites, found in this search, are identified in this article. These nineteen sites can be linked to from this article. Links to these sites are also provided under the Management Accounting Information Center (MAIC) website’s front-page topic “Planning, forecasting, and budgeting”. Other front-page topics on the MAIC’s website front-page might also lead to helpful information for the management accountant working on planning, budgeting, and forecasting. The front-page topic “Costs – accounting, management, and other aspects” leads to links to sites, which have information related to forecasting costs. The front-page topic “Definitions and explanation of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms” has links to glossaries with planning, budgeting, and forecasting terms. Time series and other statistical data, useful as source material in forecasting, can be found under “Economic principles, data, and statistics”. Links to articles dealing with planning, budgeting, and forecasting might be found by searching links under the front-page topic “Journal, magazine, and news articles and publications on accounting and business”. Some quantitative analysis and decision making tools and techniques, links to which are under the front-page topic “Quantitative analysis”, might help in the planning, budgeting, and forecasting process. please click here to send a email comment on this article or to suggest other article topics please click here to return to the Management Accounting Informaion Center home page |