Our Virtual CFO Circle is an exclusive, confidential exchange for CFOs of mainly listed companies held twice a year and by invitation only. Discussions are held under the Chatham House Rule to enhance the sharing of perspectives and to gain valuable insights for their own work. Participation is limited to a small group of CFOs.
At our last CFO Circle, one topic in particular sparked discussion: Can a company really be agile if its most important management process is still built around an annual budget?
For CFOs, this is no longer simply a question of Finance processes. It goes to the heart of how organizations set direction, allocate resources, manage performance and make decisions in an environment where assumptions can change faster than the planning cycle.
Our next CFO Circle will therefore explore “Real-time control versus traditional budgeting” and challenge some of the assumptions behind the way companies have traditionally steered their business.
We are delighted to welcome two speakers who approach this question from very different angles:
Bjarte Bogsnes, Founder of Bogsnes Advisory, will introduce Beyond Budgeting and explore how organizations can become more adaptive by rethinking the traditional relationship between targets, forecasts, resources and performance management.
Marc Augustin, CFO at Corden Pharma, will take a deliberately provocative perspective in “Three Jobs, One Number – Why the Annual Budget Has to Be Taken Apart.” He will explore why many attempts to implement rolling forecasts fail, what distinguishes the successful ones, and why the answer may not be to forecast more frequently – but to fundamentally rethink what the annual budget is supposed to achieve.
At the center of the discussion is a question that increasingly matters at the CFO table:
Is the annual budget still a useful management instrument – or has it become a constraint on agility, accountability and value creation?
Following the two impulses, we will use the CFO Circle to exchange experiences and perspectives on what this means in practice – including targets, incentives, organizational behavior and the emerging role of AI in corporate steering.
The discussion will be held under the Chatham House Rule, allowing for an open and candid exchange among peers.
Agenda
07:30 Welcome and mutual introductions
07:40 Impulse by Bjarte Bogsnes, Founder of Bogsnes Advisory to "An introduction to Beyond Budgeting - Business agility in practice"
Background and philosophy, challenges and benefits and how to get started
07:50 Impulse by Marc Augustin, CFO at Corden Pharma to "Three Jobs, One Number – Why the Annual Budget Has to Be Taken Apart"
Strategic rationale and key drivers, why most moves to rolling forecasting stall, and what distinguishes the ones that don’t.