--- title: "Budgeting and Forecasting for BC Businesses" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/budgeting-and-forecasting description: "Budgeting and forecasting for BC businesses: an annual budget built from how the business earns, and a rolling forecast updated monthly. See how it works." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-08 summary: "A useful budget is built from operating drivers — crews, seats, units, hours — rather than by adding a percentage to last year. It is then compared against actuals every month, and a rolling forecast carries the current best view forward so the number in front of you is never out of date." faq_count: 4 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) [Fractional controller](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo) Budgeting and forecasting Controller deliverable · Annual and rolling # Budgeting and forecasting — *built from the operations, not last year plus ten* A budget that was written in December and never looked at again is a document. A forecast that gets updated when the year turns out differently is a tool. Most businesses have the first and think they have the second. EverStone CPA is a sole practitioner Chartered Professional Accountant firm working remotely with owner-managed businesses across BC. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) [See published fees](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing) **Quick answer:** A useful budget is built from operating drivers — crews, seats, units, hours — rather than by adding a percentage to last year. It is then compared against actuals every month, and a rolling forecast carries the current best view forward so the number in front of you is never out of date. ## Why last year plus ten per cent fails Growing a prior year by a percentage assumes the business will do the same things in the same proportions, only more. That is almost never what happens. A contractor who wins one large project has a different cost shape, not a bigger one. An agency that hires two people has a step change in cost and a lag before the revenue arrives. A driver-based budget starts from the things that actually generate the numbers: how many crews, how many billable hours, how many units at what margin, how many staff at what point in the year. The financial statement then falls out of the operating plan rather than being invented alongside it. The practical benefit is that when the year goes differently, you can see which assumption was wrong. A percentage budget can only tell you that you missed. ## The difference between a budget and a forecast **A budget is a commitment.** It is set once for the year, it is what performance is measured against, and it does not move. Changing the budget mid-year to match what happened destroys the only benchmark you had. **A forecast is a current best guess.** It changes every time something material changes, and its job is to tell you what the rest of the year now looks like. Most businesses need a rolling forecast that always looks twelve months ahead, refreshed monthly or quarterly. Holding both at once is the point. The budget tells you how far off plan you are; the forecast tells you where you are actually going to land. Businesses that keep only one of the two are either flying blind or moving the goalposts. ## What the work involves **Understanding the drivers.** A conversation about how the business actually earns, which is usually the most useful hour of the process and often the first time the owner has had to state it explicitly. **Building the model.** Revenue by line, direct costs on their own logic, overheads by category, headcount with start dates, capital purchases with their timing, and the tax and payroll consequences that follow. **Wiring it to the actuals.** A budget that cannot be compared to the ledger without a manual exercise every month will not be compared to the ledger. The chart of accounts and the budget have to be built to match. **Reforecasting on a rhythm.** Monthly or quarterly, depending on how fast the business moves, with the variances explained rather than just displayed. ## Where this fits Budgeting and forecasting is one of the deliverables inside a [fractional controller engagement](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo). It depends on a reliable close, so it is usually the second thing built rather than the first — a forecast on top of numbers nobody trusts is a spreadsheet with a false sense of security. A forecast is usually built for someone else to read. [Financing and lender readiness](https://www.everstonecpa.com/financing-and-lender-readiness) sets out what a bank actually does with it. Where the decisions on top of the forecast are the difficult part rather than the forecast itself, that is [fractional CFO work](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo), and the two are often scoped together. ## Common questions about budgeting and forecasting **We have never had a budget. Where do we start?** With the drivers, not the spreadsheet. One conversation about how the business earns and what it costs to deliver gets you most of the way, and a first budget built from that is more useful than a polished one built from history. [Ask us →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **How often should the forecast be updated?** Monthly for a business with volatile cash or a construction cycle; quarterly is enough for a steady service business. The test is whether anything material has changed since the last one, and if the answer is regularly yes, the interval is too long. **Should the budget change when the year goes differently?** No. The budget is the benchmark, and moving it removes the only measure of how far off plan you are. The forecast is what changes. Keeping the two separate is what makes variance analysis mean anything. **Can this be done for a business with seasonal revenue?** It is more valuable there, not less. A seasonal business with an annual budget spread evenly across twelve months produces a variance report that is meaningless for ten of them. The budget has to be shaped like the season. ## Other fractional cfo or controller work The rest of what this covers, and the page each one is on. [Which level you need Bookkeeper, controller or CFO? The three do different jobs and buying the wrong one is expensive.…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bookkeeper-controller-or-cfo) [Month-end close A defined month-end close, run to a checklist on a stated day, with every balance sheet account…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/month-end-close) [Management reporting A management reporting pack a lender accepts and an owner actually reads: what belongs in it, when…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/management-reporting) [Cash flow management Cash flow management: a thirteen-week forecast, a working-capital view of receivables and payables,…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cash-flow-management) [Audit & review readiness Preparing for an external audit or review engagement: what auditors ask for, what to assemble…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/audit-review-readiness) [All fractional cfo or controller Contract CFO and controller in one engagement: a trustworthy month-end close and reporting pack,…](https://www.everstonecpa.com/contract-cfo) ### Starting fees Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month *This page* - **Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing included** from $325 a month - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=cfo#enquiry-form) ## Talk to a CPA about this One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) [Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) Email info@everstonecpa.com ★★★★★ “…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!” R. H. · Google review --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/budgeting-and-forecasting Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online