Actual, forecast, and budget sales
In the Flash Report, actual, forecast, and budget sales are three key financial terms used to track and manage business performance. Here's a breakdown:
Actual Sales: These are the real sales figures recorded from your point-of-sale (POS) or sales system for a specific day, week, or month. These figures can be manually imported or synced automatically from your POS system, provided it is integrated with Rota King.
Forecast Sales: These are your estimated or predicted sales for an upcoming period, based on trends, seasonality, or past performance. These figures are entered manually. After the rotas are published, you can adjust them using the Forecast Adjustment Sales.
Budget Sales: Budget sales refer to the target sales that your business aims to achieve. These figures are imported manually.
Comparing actual, forecast, and budget sales
Comparing actual, forecast, and budget sales allows you to improve performance and make data-driven decisions.
Actual vs. Forecast
This comparison helps you evaluate the accuracy of your sales predictions.
If actual sales are consistently lower than forecast sales:
Your forecasts may be too optimistic, or unexpected external factors (like weather or events) could be affecting results.
If actual sales exceed forecasts:
That’s a good sign! But check whether you were adequately staffed to handle the demand. It may be time to update your forecasting to reflect recent growth.
👉 Tip: Use this comparison to fine-tune your sales forecasting over time and reduce reliance on guesswork.
Actual vs. Budget
This tells you whether you’re meeting strategic goals or falling short.
If actual sales are below budget:
Investigate potential causes—low customer traffic, stock shortages, or under-performing promotions may be factors.If actual sales exceed budget:
Great outcome! But also consider whether your initial budget targets were set too low.
👉 Tip: Analyse results by location and rota to pinpoint areas of over- or underperformance.
Forecast vs. Budget
This shows how your operational planning aligns with financial goals.
If forecast sales are lower than budget:
This indicates a potential under-performance and could lead to a shortfall in financial goals.If forecast is higher than budget:
This could indicate growth—or it might mean your forecasts are too aggressive.
👉 Tip: Use this comparison before building rotas to ensure labour plans are aligned with expected sales.
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