Variance analysis is an important part of any profession related to finance. Companies constantly measure their actual results against plans, forecasts, past periods, competitors, etc. Such comparisons inevitably lead to differences and deviations that need to be explained. These deviations are most often related to the elements of the Profit and Loss report (P and L) and Cashflow compared with Plan and Previous year.

At first glance this is a purely technical exercise, however actually variance analysis has a significant impact on the management of the organization and the quality of decisions made. A high quality variance analysis allows to answer such questions as:

• WHAT happened?
• WHY did this happen?
• HOW does this affect the future?

The last question obviously leads to the need to develop tactical solutions or refine the strategy

Having mastered the skills of variance analysis, a financial specialist will be able to go beyond the technical role of a “calculator”, become a business partner in his/her area of responsibility and make a significant contribution to business decision making

During this course, you will learn how to conduct a variance analysis of:

• absolute values (revenue/cost/gross profit/net profit, etc.)
• relative measures (average price per 1 kg; cost per 1m, etc.)
• measures expressed as a % (% of gross/net profit)
• mix of various kinds (geography, products, customers, SKUs, ingredients of the recipe, etc.)
• total P and L from Revenue to Net earnings, as well as visualize the result using the Waterfall chart

The course is of particular value for employees of companies with a wide range of raw materials, semi finished products and finished products (manufacturing and retail)