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College Budget Directors Discuss: How to radically improve the budget process
We recently brought together leading College and University Business Officers to discuss budgeting; and uncovered how these leaders were able to successfully transform their process – from a complex...
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Meanwhile, CFOs Enjoy More Influence
CFO Research finds the financial crisis boosted the profile of finance chiefs.Struggling economy, having to do more with less, what’s not to like?The good news for Finance chiefs is that many believe...
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15 Things You Can't Do in Excel for Budgeting: #1
#1 You can't tell where everyone is in the process.The first thing you can’t do in Excel is tell where everybody is in the process. You know who’s submitted a spreadsheet to you and that’s about...
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15 Things You Can’t Do in Excel for Budgeting: #2
You can’t have executives electronically sign off on budgets underneath themWe’ve all been there. You’re sitting in a budget review meeting and an executive says, “That can’t be right, you don’t have...
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Chocolate and inspiration found in Hershey, PA
video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo playerABC News Clip on the Freedom Writers StoryI was privileged this week to attend the annual EACUBO meeting in Hershey, PA. The event began with a...
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15 Things You Can’t Do in Excel for Budgeting #3
You can’t create an Interactive BudgetMap in ExcelHere’s a fundamental problem with the budget process we wanted to address. People don’t like budgeting. That’s really the elephant in the living room...
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The Missing Link: Budgeting and Execution
There are two primary purposes of budgeting. The one most people think of first is to put a cap spending. But that’s only one reason why organizations (and people) budget.The other reason why...
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Business Officer Magazine: Self Service Budgeting at Drew
I was honored to work with Howard Buxbaum on “Self Service Budgeting at Drew University” which appears in the November 2011 issue of Business Officer Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:In a meeting with Drew...
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15 Things You Can’t Do in Excel for Budgeting #4
You can’t have a "watch box" -- an on screen running total comparison of the budget versus other benchmarks. Most of the organizations we talk to tell us that even before the budget process begins,...
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Rolling Forecast – A False Choice?
Instead of debating the relative merits of rolling forecasts over annual budgets, the right question to ask is “What’s the best way for us to plan in our organization?” Because maybe the answer...
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Who is Raymond Panko... and why should you care?
Raymond Panko, a professor at the University of Hawaii, is the leading expert on spreadsheet errors. Who makes them, why they happen, what rate they’re seen in the average spreadsheet, you name it. He...
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What a National Survey on Budgeting Reveals
XLerant recently completed a survey on budgeting and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you here. We will be publishing a whitepaper on the results as well, and if you’d like to reserve a...
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Solving Ambiguous Problems – What Successful Companies Get That the Rest of...
I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with some of the best run companies over the years and I’ve come to appreciate what really separates them from “the merely good”. Some of what makes great...
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Unique Challenges of Budgeting in Not for Profit
Budgets matter in the not-for-profit world to a degree I rarely see in the for-profit world. In the for-profit world, the budget is just a snapshot in time. It can be forgotten about the first time...
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The Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria and Better Software Purchasing
You’ve been through the drill before. Some process in your organization needs fixing and a team is formed to address it. Before you know it, you’re looking at software as a solution. That’s not a bad...
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A Shout Out to Linda Murphy Church
Every once in a while the sun and the moon and the stars all align just right to deliver an exceptional webinar. Such was the case recently when Linda Murphy Church presented how she used the rigorous...
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Budgeting: Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?
According to a recent survey (multiple surveys in fact) most organizations are still using Excel for budgeting. Part of the explanation for that, of course, is “it’s free”. But it’s also because we in...
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Webinar Event: Budget Strategies for Non-Profits in an Uncertain Economy
In a previous blog we talked about the unique challenges of budgeting in the not for profit sector (http://blog.xlerant.com/Blog/bid/74824/Unique-Challenges-of-Budgeting-in-Not-for-Profit )We were...
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Why Forecasts Fail. What to Do Instead.
I was very intrigued by a recent MIT Sloan School of Management Whitepaper, “Why Forecasts Fail. What do to Instead.” Authored by Anil Gaba, Robin Hogarth and Spyros...
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The Moon Shot for Higher Ed - Make College Affordable
When President Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade, it became known as “the moon shot.” The challenge was bold, the mission...
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