Forecasting and planning of finances. Methods of planning finance. Planning of the finance at the enterprise

Financial planning is an interesting phenomenon. It is believed that its involvement is traditionally associated with solving business problems, with the commercial sphere. But it is not always the case. The planning of finance can also be done by ordinary citizens in everyday life. What are the nuances of financial planning deserve special attention? What tasks can the enterprise face in the context of the relevant activities?

What is financial planning?

Financial planning is the most important part of managerial activities in any commercial enterprise. Business is best developed in accordance with a well-designed algorithm based on a model whose functioning depends on factors that are predictable and transparent to the company's management. Planning of the finance allows to correlate possibilities of the organization with those tasks which owners of the enterprise put before themselves. This process also allows the company's management to find the necessary sources of financial resources and effective scenarios for their involvement.

Planning of finance is intended to assist the management of the enterprise in establishing adequate proportions between the various types of resources that the firm possesses. This can be, in fact, capital, or basic production assets. The financial planning company correlates various key indicators (such as, for example, costs, volumes of output, capital investments) with the current business objectives. This allows you to build a more sustainable business model, based on rational criteria.

Correlation of planning and forecasting

In economics, a term is defined that is very close to what we are considering, namely, "forecasting." What is its specificity? How are forecasting and planning of finance correlated? With respect to the two marked terms, it is possible to identify a number of common features, namely: the integrity of the object and its economic environment, the use of similar or identical methods in the solution of tasks, the existence of goals correlated with priorities in business development.

At the same time, forecasting and planning of finance has a number of significant differences. As for the first term, it does not imply strict adherence to the revealed regularities. They are, as a rule, probabilistic and less detailed than those that are presented in the financial plan. Forecasting is a perspective study of the capabilities of the enterprise, planning - the development of algorithms, the implementation of which is necessary due to the current tasks that are facing the company's management.

It can also be noted that the involvement of plans may imply certain obligations of the firm to external players - investors or regulators. Thus, public finance planning is most often associated with strict procedures for reporting entities that have access to certain financial resources (most often, budgetary ones) before competent bodies. Forecasting, in turn, can not be the basis for the appropriate control, since it uses, as we noted above, probabilistic criteria, which in practice can significantly differ from those determined with the corresponding preliminary analysis.

In the commercial sphere, forecasting is often an equally important component of a business development strategy. So, for example, the planning of the finance of a trading enterprise - as an organization very dependent on the amount of revenue - is largely tied in exactly with the forecast indicators relating to the demand from buyers of goods. In what way can this be expressed? First and foremost, the management of the firm may require subordinate structures to maximize the performance of the expected figures, which is based on forecasts.

Key objectives of financial planning

Planning of finance involves the formation of certain tasks before the company's management. Among them are:

- Discovery of reserves that can increase the company's revenue;

- increasing the efficiency of capital use;

The definition of the optimal formulas for the correlation of costs and the production plan;

- ensuring the constructive interaction of the enterprise and partner structures - banks, counterparties, customers in the aspect of financial communications.

In the process of solving the problems in question, the management of the organization carries out activities in the following main areas: capital flow, financial legal relations, as well as accounting activities (accounting, reporting - internal or before government regulators).

These are the main tasks of planning finance. Let us now examine the key principles that can underlie the corresponding activities of the enterprise.

Key principles of planning

We will study the key principles on the basis of which financial planning can be carried out at the enterprise. Researchers identify the following list:

- determination of priorities;

- the use of forecasting methods;

- Risk analysis ;

- coordination and control.

Let's consider their essence more in detail.

Regarding such a principle as the prioritization, enterprises in most cases are faced with the fact that production and other tasks related to business development acquire a complex character. In order to solve them all, it is often necessary to invest huge resources, including in the solution of those tasks that, from the point of view of business development, are clearly of a secondary nature. The management of the firm should, therefore, be able to identify the main areas of activity (and to concentrate the necessary resources in the relevant areas).

Another important principle on which planning of finances at the enterprise can be based is forecasting. It can be implemented in various aspects. It can be the forecasting of internal production processes, the influence of external factors - both market and administrative. The key method here is the analysis of processes relevant to the relevant spheres.

Risk analysis is an example of another significant principle in the process of solving problems that form the planning of finances. The fact is that almost any business is realized in environments characterized by some or other potential threats. This can be, for example, currency fluctuations or an unstable policy of state regulators. Foreign policy risks are also significant, especially in the case of Western countries' sanctions against Russian enterprises.

Coordination and control are examples of other important principles of financial planning. What can you say about them? Coordination is a complex term. It can be understood, on the one hand, as the unification of various activities at the enterprise into a single concept, on the other hand, the application of common management methods for all production sectors, the introduction of universal principles for maintaining a corporate culture, and the dissemination of knowledge among the employees that contribute to understanding the company's key priorities. Control is the procedures that ensure the employees of the enterprise follow the algorithms that are laid down in the corresponding plans.

Planning Methods

We will study what methods of planning finance are. There are a large number of approaches to their classification. In the environment of Russian entrepreneurs, the distribution that is based on the division of activities by the criterion of their orientation: from the bottom up (from subordinate units to management), from the top down, and also through the implementation of counter initiatives of the company's employees and management, has become quite widespread. Let's study these methods of financial planning in more detail.

Regarding the planning under the "bottom-up" scheme, the relevant plans are formed by competent specialists of subordinate structures, based on the results of their detailed analysis of production processes.

The advantage of this method is that the structure of the corresponding algorithms of business development will be very detailed, including the smallest nuances, many of which can later turn out to be key from the point of view of solving production problems.

The second method assumes that the company's management forms general, conceptual tasks, and transfers them to subordinate structures with the aim of further detailing and structuring in the corresponding type of financial development plan. The advantage of this method is that the planning will initially take into account the key strategic factors, such as the state of affairs of the company in the market (in the first scenario, specialists of local units may have a fairly general or completely erroneous idea of it), the specificity of interaction with creditors and investors (similarly, Employees of subordinate structures may not know anything about the relevant nuances).

The third scheme is characterized by the simultaneous use of the key principles of their first two. Thus, it defines the key advantages of both - strategic planning of finance taking into account factors known only to management, as well as detailed business processes.

What can prevent an enterprise from always working within the framework of the third scheme, since it is so successful? This may be due, for example, to the strictness of commercial confidentiality in the enterprise. So, the management of the firm does not always have the opportunity to inform subordinate employees about the company's credit load or information reflecting the company's interaction with investors. In this case, the most likely scenario will be the "bottom-up" scenario in its pure form.

Planning Tools

So, we have examined the basic methods by which financial planning can be implemented. Market economy is a phenomenon that presupposes competitive relationships of players in this or that segment of businesses. The winning position is most likely for those companies that will be able to use the most effective tools in the aspect of practical solution of problems related to financial planning. We will study what tools can be used by businesses in the part of the activity in question.

Analysis

Among the most common and significant - economic analysis. This tool allows the company to determine the patterns that characterize production processes, as well as areas of interaction of the firm with external players - counterparties, creditors, customers. Economic analysis makes it possible to identify what reserves the firm has and what can be enough for them. It can be noted that the relevant tool is considered by many researchers as an independent method of planning finance due to its complexity, the presence in it of a large number of additional components.

Rationing

Another common tool with which you can plan in the enterprise finance system is rationing. Its specificity is that competent specialists working in the firm calculate certain planned, expected indicators, based on the available data on the regulations (relating, for example, to the release of goods or the provision of services). Sources of relevant norms may have an official nature (that is, they may include one or another source of law - for example, a federal law) and intracorporate.

Optimization

The next most important planning tool is optimization. The fact is that on the basis of economic analysis and standardization, several concepts can be developed that imply scenarios for the distribution of finances in the enterprise. Of these, you must choose the one that reflects the state of affairs in the company most objectively, and therefore can be considered optimal. The main criterion here is that the company achieves minimal costs and maximum income when using certain approaches. That plan, which will predetermine the most complete compliance of the company's activities with these priorities, will be chosen as optimal.

These are the main tools by which financial planning can be implemented. Finance is a resource that can be used by an organization in relation to a variety of types of tasks. Thus, the prospects for capital use may depend on the specific varieties of plans employed in the enterprise.

Types of planning

We will study what kinds of financial planning are available. There are quite a few approaches to their classification. In the environment of Russian researchers, a scheme is widely used, according to which the planning and control of finances is carried out based on the attribution of the relevant activities to the prospective, current and operational ones. Let's consider their specifics in more detail.

Prospective planning involves the development of the company's key strategic priorities, which must be implemented for a significant period of time, for example, 3-5 years. In this aspect, the development of plans is usually carried out in a "top-down" scheme, that is, the relevant algorithms include information reflecting not only the internal specifics of the firm's development, but also the influence of the factors that form in the external environment.

Current planning involves the development of criteria for the company to develop for shorter periods of time than when drawing up long-term plans - about 1 year. This mechanism most often involves the use of a mixed scheme for composing the formation of appropriate algorithms. That is, the company's management, on the one hand, provides subordinate structures with some types of strategically important information related to the development of the company, on the other hand, receives detailed steps from the implementation of the plan on their part.

Operational planning involves solving the problems that the firm faces in a particular period of time, or which must be dealt with in the coming months. Most often, the drawing up of plans follows the "bottom-up" scheme. Management generally does not make sense in this case to disclose to the employees strategic nuances of business development.

Not only business is planned

Planning, as we noted at the very beginning of the article, is an important component of working with finance not only in business. State structures and non-profit organizations are also engaged in relevant activities. Planning for family finances in Russia is also in the order of things. Methods of increasing the personal well-being of citizens through the use of various useful techniques and ready-made tools, for example, in the form of computer programs, are gaining popularity. Planning - a kind of activity, fully consistent with the daily life of modern man.

Is it possible to say that the methods and tools for drawing up financial plans noted by us are equally compatible with any sphere of citizens' activity, be it the drawing up of a family or personal budget? Adjusted for the presence in the business of specific processes related, for example, with the release of goods or accounting services for financial transactions in general, the key patterns of the commercial sphere are applicable to general civil activities. A person can, for example, create a personal capital management plan in the aspect of a strategic period, solving current and operational tasks. It can involve analysis, rationing and optimization.

Of course, in the event that a citizen who does not have the required level of qualifications is engaged in relevant activities, these activities will be extremely simplified. But they will fully correspond to the specifics of the nuances of financial planning discussed above. The personal budget, thus, can have pronounced features of similarity with the corresponding plan for the use of capital in the enterprise, albeit in a simplified form.