Top-down and Bottom-up budgeting methods co-exist in most companies. What happens it that first the Finance team creates the budget from the bottom up, and then senior management delivers top-down directives. Meeting those directives requires adjustment, often leading to a time-consuming and demoralizing cycle in Excel to complete the budget.
Utilizing an OLAP software can help streamline both bottom-up and top-down budgeting processes, making them faster and more efficient. OLAP solutions can help ties things together: set top-level targets and use agreed-upon formulas to incrementally adjust numbers throughout the budget to meet the given targets. Working from an OLAP model can also
Prevent unauthorized changes and ensure data integrity.
Watch the budgeting video to see an OLAP product in action: PowerExcel video