In the old days, budgeting and forecasting are done using calculators and writing on pieces of papers. The process usually takes many months and involved a lot of tedious works. There were a lot of cross calculation checking to ensure that the Financial Budgets or Forecasts are accurate.
Today there are many budgeting and forecasting tools available to ease your jobs. The simplest and most common tool is the Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. Using the spreadsheet, you can make use of formulae and could easily cut and paste figures to any sheet that you like. The spreadsheet could speed up the budgeting and forecasting processes and ensure better accuracy.
Beside the spreadsheet, there are a variety of budgeting and forecasting software which offers the preset templates and automated formulae. These software are advanced version of the spreadsheet and could save the company times and manpower.
On the long run, it is advisable to invest in a budgeting and forecasting software especially if the company is big and has high volume of financial transactions.
