{"id":69815,"date":"2025-02-05T15:17:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T15:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/accounting\/annual-budgeting-forecasting-checklist\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T15:17:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T15:17:02","slug":"annual-budgeting-forecasting-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=69815","title":{"rendered":"Annual Budgeting & Forecasting Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Whether you\u2019re a startup working with <\/span>a fractional CFO<\/span><\/a> or a well-established tech company with a fully built finance function, this is a particularly important time of year. As we get into 2025, some steps you take now can set you up for financial success.<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, any tech company has a lot of moving parts. And that makes it relatively easy for things to fall through the cracks. In an effort to combat that, we want to lay out an annual budgeting and forecasting checklist that all CFOs can use to prepare for the coming year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Part 1: Budgeting<\/span><\/h3>\n

To start, let\u2019s focus on setting your 2025 budget. Each of these checklist items helps you build a strategic, data-informed financial plan for the coming year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Item 1: Look back<\/span><\/h4>\n

Start by reviewing your 2024 budget. Compare that against budgets from previous years, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This critical first step tells you a lot about where you need to make adjustments for the coming year. If you can see that you\u2019re consistently over budget when it comes to travel expenses, for example, that\u2019s a sign that you either need to increase that category for 2025 or implement new guidelines around those expenses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Item 2: Categorize<\/span><\/h4>\n

Reviewing previous years\u2019 budgets should illuminate where your current spending categorization is working and where it might need to be finessed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most tech companies implement three overarching budget categories: capital, operating, and project costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At a tech company, capital expenditures extend beyond land and building costs to things like software licenses and hardware upgrades.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because operating costs encompass payroll and benefits, this is probably your biggest bucket \u2014 and the one you most carefully need to manage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Project costs are attached to a one-time goal, like implementing and integrating a new software solution. Looking back on past project costs can help you better anticipate these expenses, which can be more difficult to plan for. Past project outlay should help you prepare for both the timing and total cost of projects in the coming year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Item 3: Set goals<\/span><\/h4>\n

Make sure that your 2025 budget includes:<\/span><\/p>\n