Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
We would like to thank Dr. Ajantha Atukorale for providing guidance to design and
prepare this study through the Course Outline and briefings in Lectures.
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Contents
Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................................... ii
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 10
References ................................................................................................................................ 11
Annexure 1................................................................................................................................ 14
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List of Annexures
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1. Introduction
1.1. What is Financial Forecasting
Financial forecasting is a vital part of business planning and crucial for business success.
Financial forecast is an estimate of income and expenses over a period of time. Financial
forecasts are commonly reviewed and revised annually as new information regarding assets and
costs becomes available. The new data enables a business to make more accurate financial
forecast and establish business can make accurate financial forecasts than new business subject
to significant seasonal and cyclical fluctuations (Steven Nickolas, 2021).
• Income statement
• Balance sheet
• Cash flow statement
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However, there are many emerging modern technologies that have used for financial
forecasting. Such technologies include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine learning, Microsoft
Power BI, SAP ERP, MS Excel 365, etc. The use of these technologies for finical forecasting
created a business to do more accurate forecasting which results in an effective strategy setting.
These modern technologies are discussed in detail in this report.
• Assess the financial viability of a new business activity and construct a model of how
your business might perform financially.
• Able to compare the actual financial operations of the business to the projected
financial plan and make required adjustments.
• Help to guide your business in the right direction and take control of your cash flow.
• Develop benchmark to measure future performance.
• Keep the business out of financial problems by reducing financial risks and cash
shortfalls.
• Estimates future cash requirements and determines whether further private equity or
borrowing is required.
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world of possibilities for improving the accuracy and efficiency of financial forecasting.
(Smooth sailing ahead: applying AI to financial forecasting, 2021).
Machine Learning (ML) is a technique for extracting knowledge/patterns from large
amounts of data. Machine learning can be applied to forecast financial outcomes, predict market
supply/demand/inventory, and improve corporate performance. ML can assess historical data
to determine demand, supply, and inventory, and then estimate demand, supply, and inventory
in the future. ML can forecast a client's budget as well as a variety of other economic variables,
allowing businesses to improve their performance (Financial Forecasting using Machine
Learning, 2016).
Business may leverage more data from more sources and conduct more complicated and
sophisticated querying of that data with machine learning, resulting in more accurate
projections being produced faster. Traditional spreadsheets and financial tools can't even come
close to this. Machine learning allows businesses to go beyond typical datasets in their studies,
potentially revealing unexpected correlations between measures (Ali, 2020).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the technologies that has shown to be incredibly
useful and efficient in allowing automated computerized systems to become more personalized
in order to fulfill human desires. The key technology being used to make machines intelligent
and capable of emulating human actions and behaviors is artificial intelligence (AI). On
average, computer systems are much better at data collecting and analysis than humans (Annor
et al., 2019).
Artificial intelligence includes machine learning as a subset (AI). Machine learning
techniques, unlike artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is designed to closely resemble
human thinking, do not “think” or “learn” in the same way that humans do. To better express
its distinctiveness to an audience inexperienced with the complexities of software engineering,
ML is commonly referred to as AI in marketing efforts. ML, on the other hand, is not the same
as AGI (Ali, 2020).
It's important to note that the phrases artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
(ML) are sometimes used interchangeably. However, AI is a broad word, and machine learning
is a subclass of it; the distinction is that machine learning is a data-driven method of achieving
AI, but it is not the only one. Similarly, big data analytics encompasses statistical learning as
well as machine learning (Posth et al., 2021). Multi-Layer Perception (MLP), Time Series
Forecasting, Window Method, and Gaussian Process are some of the most prominent methods
for ML forecasting (Financial Forecasting using Machine Learning, 2016).
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AI and machine learning are used in forecasting to analyze market patterns and generate
a systematic trend that may be used in the future. Businesses can now utilize software to help
with stock market modeling and forecasting to avoid being caught off guard (Chrisos, 2018).
IBM Planning Analytics is a fast, flexible and AI-powered Extended Planning and
Analysis (EP&A) solution. It can be deployed on-cloud, on-premises or as a hybrid option, and
it helps organizations large and small drive greater process efficiency and deliver the foresight
they need to steer performance effectively. It has been praised for its ease of use by customers
and analysts alike. This solution not only automates manual tasks to accelerate forecasting
cycles, but goes beyond automation to help the enterprise uncover new insights directly from
data. IBM Planning Analytics puts the power of algorithmic forecasting in the hands of every
day users for more accurate, consistent, and timely forecasts even those without data science
skills. Predictive forecasting augments human intelligence by using statistical and predictive
analytics to identify and assess trends and seasonality patterns in historic values, greatly
improving forecast accuracy. It also reduces the time required to produce an accurate forecast,
allowing users to focus on process optimization, managing exceptions and making adjustments.
IBM Planning Analytics embeds statistical algorithms directly into the solution so users don’t
have to export data to an external solution. The algorithms assess the historical values and
applies the algorithm that yields the best accuracy and fewest errors, to predict a future value.
Once a prediction has been generated, the statistical details page provides easy to understand
facts about how it was generated and provides users with more granular information as well as
increased the ability to explain and accountability in their financial forecasts (IBM Planning
Analytics with Watson - Overview, 2021).
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Planful is another leading Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) cloud platform.
Planful delivers a vision of Continuous Planning by accelerating the end to end FP&A process
and fostering business wide participation in agile planning, forecasting and decision making.
Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud platform is a complete planning, budgeting, and
forecasting solution that enables organizations of any size to rapidly adopt world class planning
applications, improving forecast accuracy with minimal IT resources.
SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) is a famous platform for faster and more
accurate platform for planning and forecasting. The SAP BPC software delivers planning,
budgeting, forecasting, and financial consolidation capabilities in a single application. Ability
to easily adjust plans and forecasts, speed up budget and closing cycles, and ensure compliance
with financial reporting standards are major advantages of the SAP BPC.
PlaceCPM is the comprehensive financial forecasting solution built specifically for
technology and services companies. It delivers unrivaled flexibility and transparency that small
and medium-sized finance departments which need to generate more models with greater
business impact in less time. It gives finance teams the flexibility and freedom to build more
resilient financial models on demand that can be easily adjusted to reflect business changes on
the ground. The result for finance teams and their businesses is easily accessible data with less
day-to-day financial ground, more proactive business and growth planning and enhanced
confidence in their preparedness for the future.
There are many similar kind of modern platforms for financial forecasting and those are
used different business entities according to their applications.
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always used. Nearly every employee at every company has a copy of Excel available to them
and most users are familiar with Excel’s interface. Another reason for people prefer excel is the
simple nature and inputs give rise to the outputs is transparent, by virtue of formulae and
methodologies that can be clearly seen, reviewed and audited (insightsoftware, 2020).
. By considering this preference of the users and the organizations towards excel,
Microsoft keep on adding more functions and formulas under the financial. Microsoft has rolled
out a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature call Insights to Excel in 2018 which Driven by
machine learning. Excel Insights will analyze the Excel data to search for patterns and return a
series of important facts or trends about the data. In addition to these, Microsoft add Forecast
Ribbon, Pivot table, Pivot chart and power pivot to enhance the features to support financial
people. There are many occasions, people extract data from sophisticated ERP systems and do
the analysis in excel to prepare the forecasting models.
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with financial process automation, encumbrance, budget planning, budget control, and three-
way matching of the Invoice, the Purchase Order and the Product Receipt. It protect data and
workloads with enterprise-grade Service Level Agreements, round-the-clock tech support, and
built-in disaster recovery without the added costs of a data center.
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informed decisions and forecasting future outcomes. This helps control the manufacturing
process and leads to lower costs through more effective decisions in procurement.
Furthermore, changes in a specific market location throughout the world can be easily
detected and used to cushion the financial sector in other regions. This has been made possible
primarily by a complicated database and network infrastructure that connects people all over
the world.
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3.2.1. Higher Cost Involvement
Most of the times, using modern technologies for financial forecasting involves higher
cost. Implementation of the new ERP systems and AI systems will incur a higher initial cost
and there are several costs associated with hardware, software, licensing, service agreement,
maintenance, recruiting skilled people and training involved in the integration etc. Although as
time passes, benefits surpass the cost provided that the right system is in place, initial
implementation budget is very high. Making the right choice among different available modern
financial forecasting technologies which matches the company needs and optimizes the
financial forecasting and budgeting process of the organization is crucial. This may involve a
rigorous project appraisal process. And also organizations have to bear additional cost to
customize most of the ERP systems. This higher cost involvement of implementation and using
modern technologies for financial forecasting may lead to budget constraints and cut down the
other budget allocations such as for advertising, payroll etc. And also there are possibilities for
the organizations to miss other beneficial projects due to lack of money to invest.
3.2.3. Security Threats by Placing Sensitive Information in the hands of a third party
Although cloud service providers implement the best state of art security standards, there
is a security threat of providing sensitive information to a third party. Therefore the
organizations need to look in to the trustworthiness of service providers and the obligations of
the cloud service contract that the service providers agreed upon. Otherwise it would bring
negative consequences to the organizations such as misuse of sensitive information by the
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competitors by hacking, generating wrong forecasts etc. and this will be a threat to
organization’s activities and profitability.
4. Conclusion
Financial forecasting is an essential part of business planning and it is crucial for the
success of businesses. By undertaking a good financial forecasting, businesses can reduce the
risk and uncertainty. As financial forecasting is indispensable strategic contributors, finance
executives are realising the need of transforming their rigid yearly financial forecasting
processes by adopting modern technological systems which include on-premise and cloud-
based analytical tools.
There are many emerging modern technologies that can be used for financial forecasting
which have already proven their accuracy, timeliness, usefulness and user friendliness and
started to penetrate deeper and deeper into businesses' activities, becoming a necessity to
survive in the dynamic environment. Those include Artificial Intelligence (AI), ERP systems
and analytical software such as IBM Planning, Planful, Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud,
SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, industry specific solutions like Place CPM and
widely used solutions like Microsoft Excel 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Adapting to new technologies for financial forecasts bring both positive and negative
impact on business activities. Negative impacts can be eliminated by adapting to FOSS – Cloud,
selecting the service providers carefully etc. However, if the right choice is made which matches
the organization’s requirements and if it is properly implemented and maintained, organizations
can enjoy many benefits through financial forecasting using real time information and can
achieve competitive advantage through big data in the long term.
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References
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2021,from https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/pdf/Services/consulting/insights/
annual-budgeting-process-reimagine-agile-forecasting.pdf
Ali, R. (2020, September 18). Financial Forecasting Using Machine Learning. Oracle
management/financial-forecast-machine-learning.shtml
Ali, R. (2020, October 15). The Importance of Financial Forecasting. Oracle NetSuite;
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Annor, A., Ayman, A., & Chunting, Y. (2019). Application of Artificial Intelligence in
Blanchard, D. (2014, May). Top Ten Tips for Automating Financial Forecasting and
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financial-markets/?rltd_article
Dynamics.microsoft.com. https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/finance/capabilities/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-forecast-in-excel-for-windows-
22c500da-6da7-45e5-bfdc-60a7062329fd
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Financial Forecasting using Machine Learning. (2016). Harvard.edu.
https://scholar.harvard.edu/linh/financial-forecasting-using-machine-learning
https://www.ibm.com/products/planning-analytics?cm_sp=Scheduler-_-CopyChng2-
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https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/finance/cash-bank-management/cash-
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Annexure 1 Members’ Contribution
Members’ Contribution
Registration
Name Signature Focus Area/ Contribution
Number
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