Business needs are increasingly complex for global organizations that derive revenue from diverse markets. To address complexity, organizations need to advance from static budgets to rolling budgets.
The OneStream XF platform is the pathway to achieve this goal by simplifying the budgeting process for the most sophisticated, global enterprises.
The Limitations of a Static Budget
A static budget is a fixed annual or quarterly budget that typically does not change throughout the year. This type of budget does not take into account a change in the volume of sales during the year, which can limit the growth of your organization.
Additionally, many of the common budgeting strategies used by organizations are outdated, and they do not reflect the mobility of the market.
The assumptions that are made during budget meetings are often significantly different from reality. Sometimes the economy or markets can become much stronger than expected, or unfortunately much weaker. Then, unnecessary time and energy is spent on a reactive approach explaining the unexpected differences, rather than using valuable time to rework the budget.
Because the digital age and globalization has increased the pace of the business world, there is the possibility of drastic changes that can occur overnight. That’s why a rolling budget is necessary to support inevitable changes.
The Importance of a Rolling Budget for Modern Business
A rolling budget is continually updated throughout the year to more closely match budgets to the climate of the economy or health of markets where your organization does business.
While this approach requires considerably more attention throughout the year, it is highly productive compared to cramming all of the budget analysis and planning into a quarterly or annual exercise.
Essentially, a rolling budget is much faster-paced as a reflection of the ever-changing business climate. It’s more flexible and adaptable because you can respond to financial changes in ways that you cannot with a fixed, traditional budgeting approach.
A rolling budget also allows your business to set a forecast that is responsive to your competition, rather than focusing on a fixed target that may need to change as the quarter or year unfolds.
For your teams involved in the budgeting process, a rolling budget also allows for more critical thinking, predictive thinking, and informed analysis.
Comparatively, a static budgeting environment leads to overworked teams trying to crunch numbers simply trying to complete the budget, rather than performing critical analysis.
Spreading out this work throughout the year through a rolling budget process alleviates an unproductive work environment that is often caused by hastily trying to prepare for the next budget meeting. It also allows your organization to spread out resources and time so that budgeting teams can spend more quality time proposing changes and crafting revisions.
This incentivizes employees to make the most out of each month, rather than rushing to meet all of the budget requirements at the end of the quarter or fiscal year.
To support modern business needs, you should consider the quality of your Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solution. Specifically, whether to utilize a modern, unified platform for CPM.
Why OneStream XF to Support Rolling Budgets?
OneStream Software is the unquestioned leader in modern CPM solutions for global organizations. The OneStream XF platform was built to replace fragmented, legacy CPM applications that limit the capabilities of modern organizations.
Your organization no longer needs to settle for static budgeting because of the limitations of your CPM applications. Now, you can advance to rolling budgets through OneStream XF.
Implementing OneStream XF will improve your budget crafting practices so that your organization’s budgets are more agile and adaptable.
Key budgeting features include the simplification of planning processes, custom calculations, powerful forecast allocations that harmonize with budgeting, and a user-friendly dashboard with spreadsheet integration and revenue forecasting.
The transition from a static budget to a rolling budget is made simple through the use of OneStream XF. The CPM platform is ideal for the task of effectively utilizing a rolling budget strategy.
For your teams, utilizing OneStream XF will significantly cut down on the time that is required to create reports, which makes the process more palatable to accomplish on a monthly basis.
OneStream XF: The Mechanism to Adapt for the Unexpected
Using the OneStream XF platform to support the transition from a static budget to a rolling budget will help your business prepare for uncertainty.
New market regulations, political issues, or other influences could heavily impact your industry, and emerging technologies could completely shift the ways in which you need to operate your business. These unexpected events will inevitably change how you conduct business.
Having a flexible, adaptable budgeting process can help your organization keep up with these unexpected changes.
Sticking to outdated budgeting methods will give your competition a foothold. Instead of reacting to changes and waiting until the next budget meeting to review and approve new budgets, your organization needs to be able to adapt in the moment.
One of the most impactful benefits of a rolling budget is the ability to adapt to the market more efficiently. Market changes happen more frequently than just once a year, so why should your budget improvements occur only once a year?
Modernizing your financial systems with OneStream XF will help you stay in sync with the latest market conditions and stay ahead of the competition, making it difficult for your competitors to keep up with the growth of your organization.
Contact HollandParker for OneStream XF Implementation Support
Today’s modern organizations need to migrate to OneStream XF as their CPM solution to support critical financial processes, specifically rolling budgets.
We are a Diamond Level CPM consulting firm that exclusively implements OneStream XF for global organizations.
As a Diamond implementation partner, we can help your organization successfully migrate to OneStream XF. In the process, we’ll advance your budgeting process and help your teams understand the importance of a rolling budget in modern business.
Contact HollandParker today to schedule a consultation about the OneStream XF platform and how to modernize finance through OneStream Software.