Budgeting and Rolling Forecasts
Seidman Financial
FP&A Advisor | Microsoft MVP in Excel
Static budgets often fail the moment they're approved. Rolling forecasts don't.
You've spent weeks, maybe even months, building the annual budget. Two months after it goes live it's wrong, overtaken by the business it was supposed to guide. Then do it all again next year. It's budgeting insanity.
I've watched this play out at so many client companies. The budget isn't the problem. The way we run the process, build it and use it, is the source of the issue.
The best FP&A teams I work with have stopped treating the budget as a once-a-year event and started running continuous, driver-based rolling forecasts that update as the business changes. The trouble is, almost nobody was taught how to actually build one. We're told to "do rolling forecasts" without being shown the mechanics.
That's what this course fixes. You'll build top-down, bottoms-up, and driver-based models from scratch, connect them to the levers that actually move your numbers, and design rolling forecasts that absorb actuals automatically. Planning becomes a living process that doesn't take you weeks to fix, because it's not a static spreadsheet you dread every fall.
This isn't textbook theory. It's the model-building I do in real engagements, taught step by step.
What you’ll learn
Go from rebuilding a static annual budget to running a dynamically-updating rolling forecast the business actually trusts
Diagnose the four dysfunctions that kill traditional budgets: rigidity, irrelevance, slow response, and zero buy-in from the business
Compare the static annual budget against a dynamic, rolling approach and learn when each is actually the right call
Walk through a real company that ditched the annual budget, what they replaced it with, and what it took to get there
Build budgets off the operational drivers that actually move your numbers
Match your budgeting approach to your org's size, complexity, and planning culture, instead of forcing one process on everyone
Wire drivers straight into the model, so one changed assumption updates the entire plan with minimal manual rework
Build top-down models tied to strategy and board-level guidance, so leadership's targets are baked in from the start
Construct bottoms-up models from real departmental detail, the version your business partners will actually own
Reconcile the two into one plan everyone signs off on, not two competing spreadsheets nobody trusts
Separate controllable from uncontrollable SG&A, and forecast each with the activity drivers that genuinely explain the spend
Plan fixed, variable, and semi-variable overhead, and allocate shared services across units in a way people accept
Build in inflation, vendor price changes, and headcount plans so your forecast holds up when leadership challenges it
Design rolling forecasts that extend visibility well past year-end, so you're never planning blind into January
Automate the actuals refresh so each new period flows in on its own — less manual updating, fewer broken links
Build templates with version control and scenario toggles, so you can answer 'what if' on the spot in a meeting
Translate operational data — staffing, production, sales — into financial impact your operating partners immediately get
Run planning meetings that build trust and cross-functional accountability, instead of chasing inputs over email
Shift from reporting last quarter to guiding the next one — the move that turns analysts into advisors
Learn directly from Seidman
Seidman Financial
Microsoft MVP and preeminent FP&A educator in FP&A for the Fortune 500 and 337,000+ students
Who this course is for
Analysts Who Owns the Budget Build while everyone else reviews it. You want to stop assembling numbers and start shaping the plan.
Planning Process Owners. You run the planning cycle and know the annual budget is broken. You want driver-based and rolling forecasts.
Financial Analysts, Controllers, Fractional CFOs, Management Consultants and others who want to go from financial doer to strategic advisor.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Seidman Financial in a real-time, interactive format.
12-month access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion and CPE
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn. Receive a second certificate verifying your earning of CPE credits.
Maven Guarantee
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Course syllabus
6 live sessions • 49 lessons
Week 1
Jun
15
Session 1: Budgeting and Rolling Forecasts
Rethinking Budgeting: Build a Process, Not a Model
Week 2
Jun
22
Session 2: Budgeting and Rolling Forecasts
The Annual Planning Diligence Framework
Schedule
Live sessions
2 hrs / week
Mon, Jun 15
2:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
Mon, Jun 22
2:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
Mon, Jun 29
2:00 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
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