UW Seminars Designed to Assist Small Businesses with Financial Forecasting

Small businesses in Wyoming can learn how to create rolling financial forecasts, based on key business drivers. These forecasts, combined with project-based planning, can provide a framework that will support better decision making by small businesses.

A seminar, titled “Financial Forecasting for the Small Business,” will be presented by the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Gillette and Casper. The Gillette seminar is scheduled Wednesday, March 15, 2-4 p.m., at Gillette College, 300 W. Sinclair St. The Casper program will take place Thursday, March 16, 2-4 p.m., at the Wyoming Technology Business Center, 2435 King Blvd.

The SBDC is a partnership among the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Business Council and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBDC focuses on educating small-business owners and potential owners on how to successfully start and operate small businesses. The SBDC’s main office is located at UW.

Carl Young, nationally recognized author and speaker, and a former CFO, will teach Wyoming businesses how to create rolling financial forecasts, based on key business drivers. 

The traditional business budgeting process utilizes past data in order to forecast data for the upcoming year. This method can work well, if costs, sales and margins remain the same as in the past year. In times of fluctuating information, however, results from last year may not be a great predictor. Rolling forecasts allow business managers to consistently add new data into their process to create a more accurate picture in rapidly changing times.  

“This will be a great opportunity to get some new ideas about how to forecast financials,” says Cindy Beth Unger, business adviser for the Wyoming SBDC. 

Due to grant funding from an SBA Portable Assistance Grant, these seminars will be free of charge, but attendees must register at www.wyomingsbdc.org. 

Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least two weeks in advance. For more information, call Greg Jordan at the SBDC at (307) 766-3593 or email him at gregj@uwyo.edu. 

The Wyoming SBDC Network is a business advising group of the Wyoming SBDC, Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Market Research Center and SBIR/STTR Initiative. The network’s mission is to help Wyoming entrepreneurs succeed. Advising and most market research activities are free of charge to Wyoming residents.

The SBDC is funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. SBA. Additional support is provided by the Wyoming Business Council and UW.

For more information, go to www.wyomingsbdc.org.