Financial Analyst how-to
How to Build a Simple Revenue Forecast
Forecasts help leaders plan spending and hiring.
Quick answer
Forecasts help leaders plan spending and hiring. In short: gather; identify; choose, then complete the remaining steps below.
Step by step
Gather historical revenue by month.
Identify drivers such as customers, price and volume.
Choose a method: trend, driver-based or seasonal.
Build assumptions in a separate input section.
Calculate the forecast and check it against history.
Run scenarios and document assumptions.
Safety reminders for financial analysts
- Protect confidential financial data
- Use version control for models
- Check formulas to prevent costly errors
- Manage workload and screen time
Key terms
Financial model · Forecast · Variance analysis · Income statement · Balance sheet · Cash flow statement: see the full financial analyst glossary.