Beyond Budgeting: Rethinking Planning Cycles in the Age of Volatility

In a world where business conditions can shift overnight, many are questioning whether it’s still realistic to rely on an annual budget.

It’s a conversation quietly gaining traction among finance leaders. The traditional budget — once seen as the cornerstone of financial control — is increasingly viewed as a barrier to adaptability. It locks teams into assumptions that often don’t survive past Q1, while demanding significant time and effort to produce.

Dan Wells, a former leader in PwC Consulting’s planning and budgeting practice and GrowCFO’s CEO, has been raising this issue for over 20 years. The events following 9/11 first highlighted the urgent need for more adaptive planning — and today’s climate of constant uncertainty only reinforces it.

The Problem with Traditional Budgeting

Conventional budgeting processes are often slow, rigid, and politically charged. They:

• Take months to build, only to become outdated within weeks
• Encourage sandbagging and “gaming the numbers”
• Create a false sense of certainty in an unpredictable world

When competitors, suppliers, or customers pivot overnight, a 12-month financial plan built the previous October may not just be irrelevant — it might be a liability.

Rolling Forecasts and Scenario Planning: The Agile Alternative

In response, leading finance teams are shifting toward rolling forecasts — dynamic models updated monthly or quarterly to reflect real-time conditions. When paired with scenario planning, these tools allow businesses to explore multiple “what if” scenarios rather than anchoring decisions to a single static plan.

This isn’t about losing control. It’s about replacing rigid targets with a continuous performance view that supports faster decisions and greater agility.

Wells recalls implementing this approach for a major pharmaceutical client back in 2003. While effective, it’s a method that has yet to see widespread adoption — until now.

The Tech Enablers Behind the Shift

Technology is finally catching up to modern planning needs. Today’s tools make this approach far more accessible, enabling:

• Driver-based forecasting tied to real business levers
• AI-powered insights that anticipate trends, not just extrapolate history
• Real-time integration of financial and operational data

Platforms like Pigment, Planful, Workday Adaptive, Drivetrain, and Anaplan are empowering FP&A teams to plan more flexibly, collaborate more deeply, and act more quickly. These tools are being reviewed in depth in the upcoming GrowCFO Tech Innovation Report.

But It’s Not Just a Tech Problem

Technology alone won’t solve the issue. This transformation also requires a mindset and culture shift:

• From fixed targets to flexible plans
• From siloed finance control to cross-functional collaboration
• From perfectionism to continuous learning and adaptation

It demands new skills — like storytelling, systems thinking, and data literacy — along with restructured planning processes. These topics are core to the GrowCFO FP&A Bootcamp, led by Catherine Marks.

Real-World Impact

For organisations that get it right, the benefits are significant. Companies that adopt rolling forecasts and agile planning report:

• Greater agility in resource allocation
• Faster response to market changes
• Stronger trust and alignment between finance and the business

They spend less time debating what changed — and more time taking action.

Ready to Move Beyond Budgeting?

On 24th September, join the GrowCFO Tech Showcase to explore the systems and tools enabling real-time, collaborative forecasting.

Then in October, take a deeper dive in the FP&A Bootcamp, where the focus will be on people and process transformation to build truly agile planning functions.

This isn’t about abandoning budgets — it’s about evolving them. It’s time to build planning processes that are fit for the future.