By changing the emphasis from reporting on historical backwards-looking data to identifying underlying and emerging trends – and potential financial and economic tipping points – allows ‘what if’ analysis to be performed. The result is that decision makers can be alerted to potential future risks and pitfalls to enable better decision making.
- Formulating business strategies – be realistic and recognise the limitation of forecasting techniques.
- Understand the nature of timeliness.
- Use good data to develop potential scenarios and sensitivity analyses to support business decision making.