Finance, Accounting and Audit
Budgeting and Cost Control
Budgeting, Forecasting and Variance Analysis
Build a budget that holds, forecast the year as it actually unfolds, and explain variance in terms someone can act on.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
A budget is a plan expressed in money, and it fails in the same ways plans fail. This programme covers construction, rolling reforecast and the discipline of variance analysis that identifies cause rather than restating the difference. Delegates work with their own cost structure throughout.
Who should attend
Budget holders, finance business partners and managers accountable for a cost centre or a profit centre.
What you will be able to do
- Build a budget from drivers rather than from last year plus a percentage.
- Run a rolling forecast that updates on evidence.
- Analyse variance to cause rather than to category.
- Present financial performance to a non financial audience.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
Building the budget
- Drivers rather than increments
- Fixed, variable and step costs
- Building in uncertainty
- Negotiating a budget you can deliver
Day 2
Forecasting through the year
- Rolling forecast mechanics
- Updating on evidence rather than on hope
- Forecast bias and how to counter it
- Scenario and sensitivity
Day 3
Variance to cause
- Price, volume and mix
- Timing against permanent difference
- Chasing a variance to its operational cause
- Variances that are not worth investigating
Day 4
Reporting and action
- Reporting to a non financial audience
- Recommending rather than describing
- Escalation thresholds
- Closing the loop on corrective action
What you leave with
- A driver based budget model for the delegate's own area.
- A rolling forecast template with defined update triggers.
- A variance analysis worked through to root cause.
- A one page reporting format for a non financial audience.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Durban, South Africa | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Port Louis, Mauritius | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Lagos, Nigeria | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Nicosia, Cyprus | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.