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  1. Courses
  2. /Finance
  3. /Budgeting & Financial Forecasting

Better Budgeting: The Budget Process

Streamline Your Budgeting Process for Better Performance and Results

Created byRob Stephensworkspace_premiumBest Instructor
IntermediateUpdated Oct 9, 2023

What You'll Learn

  • check_circleIdentify the relationship between strategic planning and budgeting.
  • check_circleRecall key steps in the budgeting process.
  • check_circleRecognize the difference between top-down and bottom-up budgeting.
  • check_circleDiscover how to calculate and integrate master budgets and sub-budgets.

About This Course

Budgeting consumes a massive amount of time and resources. It's a stressful and busy time. Are there ways to improve the effectiveness of the investment we make in the budget process? Can we make better budgeting decisions that lead to higher performance?

In this course, I walk step-by-step through the budget formation process. The purpose and role of the budget can best be explained in the context of strategic planning. We'll explore which analyses can be done throughout the year to take pressure off the very busy budgeting season. Some lessons cover the nuts and bolts of budget reporting and budgeting tools. This course focuses on the management process of building a budget.

Check out the Master Budget and Sub-Budgets course to learn about how to calculate the parts of the budget and how they fit together.

This course is part of a three-part series I call Better Budgeting. The three parts are:

  • The master budget and sub-budgets
  • The budgeting process
  • Budgeting alternatives

You can watch all three parts in the order above or watch any part as a stand-alone course. You can also watch all three combined in the Better Budgeting course.

The course author has been the CFO, SVP of Finance, or Director of Operations of companies with just a few employees to companies with $3 billion in assets and hundreds of employees. He's led, facilitated, or participated in the budgeting process many times.

Course Content

3 activities • 7 videos • duration: 1h 27m

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Section 14 videos • 1 quiz • 54 min
  • videocamWelcome and Overview
    Duration 4:26
  • videocamBudgeting and Strategic Planning
    Duration 15:55
  • videocamTop-Down or Bottom-Up Budgeting
    Duration 18:35
  • videocamThe Budget Process
    Duration 15:16
  • quizReview Quiz #1
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Section 23 videos • 1 quiz • 33 min
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Final Assessment1 quiz

Your Instructor

Rob Stephens

Founder of CFO Perspective

menu_book34 courses
star5,082 reviews

Rob Stephens is the Founder of CFO Perspective, which provides continuing education courses for CPAs and financial management courses for business advisors and staff. He has been quoted in Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg Businessweek, and many other news sources. He is also the author of Key Performance Indicators and KPI Dashboards. Rob has a 30-year career that includes serving as a CFO, Director of Operations, and SVP of Finance. Rob is an adjunct instructor for the MBA program at Gonzaga University. Rob holds a Masters of Science in Personal Financial Planning and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Therapy from Kansas State University. He received a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

4.8 out of 5
Student's Choice
226 reviews
  • AA
    Aisya A.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Its great. I can implement during budget season and prepare early.

  • SK
    Shakeel K.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Enjoyed it

  • VA
    Vickie A.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Great instructor. I learned a lot!

  • ML
    Marilyn L.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Helpful hints, broke down the budgeting process well and was humorous at the same time.

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 300+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 27 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.

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