21-22 January 2027
Singapore
TBA
Overview
Welcome to “AI-Powered Budgeting & Forecasting for Non Finance Managers: Utilizing AI for Smarter Planning & Sharper Forecasts”, a practical two-day programme led by Ted Wainman, a published author and finance expert with over 20 years of experience. Held from 21 – 22 January 2027 in Singapore, this programme goes beyond budgeting fundamentals to help you translate business strategy into financial plans, challenge budget assumptions, optimise resource allocation and evaluate investment proposals.
COURSE OVERVIEW
The course is designed for professionals with some prior budgeting experience - it moves quickly past the basics and concentrates on the judgement, challenge and leadership strategies that senior roles demand. The course starts with how budgets can turn strategy into numbers, with a brief refresher on the financial building blocks that every budget rests on. Then, participants work through driver-based budgeting and analyse the budgeting process from a senior manager’s side of the table - from setting direction for the team, reviewing and challenging submissions, allocating scarce resources and judging investment proposals.
Participants then control the budget through the year – analysing variances, flexing the budget, using KPIs and taking corrective action, before moving on to Rolling Forecasts, scenarios, presenting & defending their numbers to Finance and the Board. Throughout the workshop, participants will use AI assistants such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to test assumptions, draft commentary & challenge their own numbers – always alongside real figures and their own Excel models, checking the output, rather than trusting it.
Case study materials will be drawn from published company accounts. The content can then be built around your own budget templates, planning cycle and approval processes.
Workshop Preparation: Participants are asked to bring a recent budget and a budget vs actual report for their own area (anonymised where needed) so they can apply their own numbers. A laptop with Excel and access to an AI assistant approved by their organisation is required.
KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this programme, you will be able to:
- Align Budgets with Business Strategy and key priorities.
- Build Smarter, More Accurate Budgets using key drivers of revenue, costs, margins and cash flow.
- Lead the Budgeting Process effectively and confidently.
- Challenge Budget Assumptions to uncover inflated figures, unrealistic projections and hidden gaps.
- Optimise Resource Allocation and evaluate investment decisions.
- Analyse Financial Performance using variance analysis, KPIs and corrective actions.
- Develop Agile Rolling Forecasts and assess scenarios to navigate changing business conditions.
- Present and Defend Budgets Confidently to finance, senior management and the board.
- Leverage AI for Smarter Planning, forecasting and analysis.
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND?
Budgets are where strategy meets the numbers.
For heads of department and general managers, budgets are also where resources are won and lost, where performance is judged and where the toughest conversations with Finance and the Board take place.
This course takes professionals who already work with budgets to the next level by building budgets around the real drivers of the business, challenging the budgets their teams submit, making trade-offs between competing priorities and using forecasts to steer performance through the year. Participants will also learn how AI can take the drudgery out of the budget cycle – suggesting drivers, generating scenarios, drafting commentary and acting as a sceptical reviewer – freeing their time for the judgement calls that only they can make.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This programme is ideal for Directors, General Managers, Department Heads, Senior Managers & Team Leaders with budgeting, forecasting or financial decision-making responsibilities from:
- Operations & Corporate Planning
- Sales, Marketing & Commercial
- Procurement & Supply Chain
- Projects, Engineering & Technical Services
- Human Resources & Administration
- IT & Digital Transformation
- Facilities & Asset Management
Prerequisites:
- Practical experience working with budgets strongly recommended.
- No previous experience of AI or formal financial qualifications needed.
Rave Reviews
“Ted has been a wonderful and knowledgeable trainer. His presentations were very lively and interesting.”
- Clement Lee, COO, St. Joseph's Institution International
“Very knowledgeable and fun. Ted teaches passionately and is easy to understand.”
- Mundun Anak Undau, Senior Accountant, Sarawak Water
“Wonderful presentation and materials. He kept the entire session interesting with lots of hands-on examples. Ted explained complex topics with easy examples."
- Bruce Tan, Director, SLS Bearings
“Ted’s training was informative, well-paced and engaging. This was a very useful session with many valuable takeaways that I can apply to my work.”
- Michelle Alphonso, CEO, PS Global Consulting
“Ted is knowledgeable, fluid in finance, and energetic. His proactive materials were easy for participants to understand.”
- Mark Remijan, Partner & Group CFO, YAANA Ventures
COURSE FACILITATOR
Ted Wainman
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRAINER | PUBLISHED AUTHOR | YOUTUBER
Achievements
Ted began his career at EY (Ernst & Young), where he trained and qualified as an Associate Chartered Accountant. He then spent six years at JPMorgan Investment Management, rising to Vice President, and completed a company-sponsored MBA in International Management of Financial Services, graduating top of his class with merit.
Since 2003, Ted has designed, developed and delivered practical, high-impact learning programmes for both the private and public sectors. He works closely with senior stakeholders to ensure training is commercially relevant, tailored to the organisation’s strategic objectives, and focused on delivering sustained behavioural and decision-making change.
Ted has worked with over 400 companies – from blue chips to financial services across industries. With a strong foundation in finance, Ted’s core focus is on:
- Financial and commercial awareness
- Strategy and leadership
- Reading and interpreting financial statements
- Global Macro-Economics and market dynamics
Ted has worked in more than 40 countries globally and is experienced in addressing the needs of programmes across varying cultural backgrounds.
Has Worked With
Trainer Videos
Watch Ted in Action: SpaceX Financial Analysis - June 2026
Book(s) Published
Agenda
AI-Powered Budgeting & Forecasting for Non Finance Managers
Day 1:
Strategic Budgeting & Resource Allocation
Align budgets with business strategy, challenge assumptions and make informed resource allocation decisions.
1 | Why Plan? Strategy, Business Plan & Budgets
- The cost of not planning.
- Budgets, forecasts and targets.
- Budgeting as part of the business plan.
- Linking the budget to strategy: turning priorities into resources.
- What the board and senior management want to see in your budget.
AI in Practice: Using AI to summarise your organisation’s strategy and list the budget assumptions it implies.
2 | Budget Fundamentals
- Revenue, costs, margins and cash.
- Fixed vs variable; direct vs indirect costs – what they mean for decisions.
- Contribution and break-even.
- Opex vs Capex.
- How the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow interact – and why a budget that shows a profit can still run out of cash.
Case Study: Tracing budget decisions through the published accounts of a well-known listed company.
3 | Leading the Budgeting Process
- The budget cycle.
- Top-down vs bottom-up, and how to reconcile the two.
- Incremental vs zero-based budgeting.
- Identifying & modelling the key drivers: volume, price, headcount and productivity.
- Structuring & compiling the budget – avoiding pitfalls.
- Setting guidelines and assumptions for your team.
AI in Practice: Ask AI for the drivers of a cost line, then compare its list with your own.
4 | Challenging the Budget & Allocating Resources
- Reviewing the budgets your team submits.
- The behaviour behind the numbers – padding, sandbagging, optimism bias and “use it or lose it”.
- Questions that test a budget: a challenge checklist for budget approvers.
- Allocating resources between competing bids & priorities.
- Judging an investment proposal.
- Exercise: Sit as an approval panel to challenge a set of real budget bids.
AI in Practice: Use AI as a second reviewer to find the weakest assumptions in a budget submission.
Day 2:
Budget Control & Forecasting
Strengthen budget monitoring, analyse variances and develop reliable forecasts to drive better business decisions.
5 | Reviewing & Controlling the Budget
- Budget Review: Monthly reporting insights.
- Variance analysis: Price, Volume and Mix.
- Flexible Budgeting: Adjust budgets to changing business conditions and identify costs within your control.
- Choosing KPIs that give early warning.
- Identifying corrective action and holding people accountable.
AI in Practice: Draft a variance commentary with AI, then rewrite it with the real reasons behind the numbers.
6 | Forecasting
- Forecasting vs budgeting.
- Rolling forecasts – Do you still need an annual budget?
- Scenario and sensitivity analysis: Which drivers really move the result?
- Forecast accuracy and bias – building a culture of honest forecasts.
AI in Practice: Generate the Best, Base and Worst-case scenarios, then test them against your own Excel model.
7 | Presenting & Defending the Budget
- Telling the story behind the numbers.
- Anticipating challenge from finance, senior management and the board.
- Negotiating for resources: making the case and knowing what to trade.
- Exercise: Present a budget and handle a round of tough questions.
AI in Practice: Ask AI to play a sceptical finance director and fire questions at your budget.
8 | Working with AI in Budgeting & Forecasting
- What AI does well (and badly) in the budget cycle.
- Prompting for drivers, scenarios and commentary.
- Checking AI output: Numbers, sources and confident-sounding errors.
- Using AI alongside real figures and validated Excel models.
- Responsible & Ethical AI use: Confidentiality, your organisation’s AI policy and what never to share.
- Using AI to keep building your financial fluency after the workshop.
AI in Practice: Your take-away prompt pack and personal action plan.
