Planning systems can be used to identify and eliminate coordination deficiencies between operational functional areas. Unfavorable development tendencies can only be recognized at an early stage by plan/actual comparisons and largely neutralized by countermeasures.

Dovetail the strategic with the operative planning

Operational planning should be derived from longer-term strategic planning. In controlling practice, however, the strategic goals are usually not reflected in the operative, strongly financially oriented annual planning. However, budgets provide little information about the causes of sales losses.

The best personal finance app is particularly suitable for the integration of strategic and operative budget planning.

Take into account non-financial targets and benchmark-oriented goals

The possibilities of planning should be fully exploited with a view to long-term livelihood security and economic success. In addition to financial target values, non-financial target values ​ should therefore also be integrated into the planning process.

Traditional budgets place too much emphasis on cost compliance and discourage rather than encourage innovation. They are too focused on internal factors rather than strategically important external drivers.

For this purpose, suitable benchmarking partners should be sought, with whom one can exchange information about indirect and administrative processes in particular. Plan goals can be derived from this.

Replace fixed and budget targets with self-relative targets

The positive over fulfilment of plans can lead to perseverance if environmental factors are not taken into account.

For a more objective performance evaluation, it is therefore advisable to link budget specifications with environmental factors. If, for example, the overall market develops better than assumed in the planning, the sales budget originally set must be adjusted to the overall market development.

Introduce dynamic, rolling planning as an early warning instance

With dynamic planning preferably in the form of rolling quarterly planning, changes in the environment can be taken into account in the planning. At the same time, the success indicators should be limited to a maximum of 25.

In addition to the company’s ability to react more quickly, a “rolling forecast” can also reduce the planning effort.

Reduce the level of detail in effort planning

Detailed planning based on individual accounts is complex and has a high potential for errors with high process costs. In addition, the view of essential statements of planning and reporting is blocked. The effort planning should therefore largely be carried out at the income statement or account group level. Turning away from questionable “figure cemeteries” creates freedom for the actual interpretation of the data and the control of the activities of the business.