Remember that shiny budget and those big goals you made in January when the year felt fresh and full of possibilities? If your business (or life) looks different now than it did months ago, you’re not failing, you’re simply running a real business in the real world. Things shift. You adapt.
In this episode, Danielle Hayden, CEO and founder of Kickstart Accounting, Inc., walks you through one of her favorite CFO tools: reforecasting. It’s not about starting over—it's about realigning your financial strategy with where you are right now.
Key Takeaways:
- Reforecasting = Realignment, Not Failure: Your original budget was based on what you knew at the time. Updating it doesn’t mean you failed—it means you're leading with clarity and making strategic decisions based on your current reality.
- Start with Solid Bookkeeping: Before you can reforecast, your financial foundation needs to be accurate. Without clean, up-to-date books, your forecast is a guess and isn’t providing you with proper clarity.
- Use Actual Data + Updated Insights: Effective reforecasting combines what you know now, your business’s year-to-date (YTD), with your revised budget to project the rest of the year.
- Reforecasting Should Be Routine: Use this tool anytime your business shifts, like if there’s a change in revenue, a team adjustment, a new offer, or even a personal life change that impacts your work.
- Rewire Your Mindset: There’s no shame in changing the plan. In fact, there’s power in it. Adapting your financial strategy is a sign of leadership, not failure.
Topics Discussed:
(00:19 – 01:14) Why is Reforecasting Important in Financial Planning?
(01:14 – 02:28) What is Reforecasting in Business?
(03:32 – 06:12) When Should You Reforecast?
(06:12 – 07:49) Real World Client Examples of Reforecasting
(07:50 – 08:49) Rewiring Your Mindset Around Changing Your Plans
(08:52 – 09:49) How to Reforecast Step-by-Step
Your Reforecasting Action Plan:
- Review your year-to-date and quarterly financials
- Ask yourself: What’s changed? What needs to shift or stay the same?
- Update your original budget with what you now know
- Download our free reforecasting template below!
Resources:
Free Reforecasting Template | KickstartAccountingInc.com/budget
Book a Call with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/book
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Episode Transcript
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:26:07
Danielle Hayden
Remember that budget you created back in January when you were full of goals, energy and big plans for this year? Let's be honest, things have probably shifted. That doesn't mean you failed. It means you're running a real business. Life shifts. Business shifts. Today, we're talking about a powerful CFO tool that puts you back in the driver's seat. It's called reforecasting.
00:00:26:09 - 00:00:49:00
Danielle Hayden
This isn't about scrapping your plan. It's about realigning your financial strategy with the business and life you're leading right now today. Welcome back to Business by the Books, the podcast for entrepreneurs who are ready to own their numbers, step fully into their CEO role, and lead their business with confidence. Last week we talked through your quarterly review process.
00:00:49:02 - 00:01:14:09
Danielle Hayden
This week we're going to go one step further by helping you reforecast the year based on where you're at now, not where you thought you would be months ago. So let's grab your year-to-date and quarterly data, take a big, deep breath, and let's create a financial game plan that fits your current season and sets you up for a powerful, profitable decision moving forward.
00:01:14:09 - 00:01:40:09
Danielle Hayden
So what exactly is reforecasting before we jump in? This is a tool that I used every single year in corporate. In my corporate days, every year we would create a budget in November-December and we had the best of intentions. We used all the information that we had at the time, and we created a strategic budget, which I know we do for so many of our clients here at Kickstart Accounting.
00:01:40:10 - 00:02:06:07
Danielle Hayden
Now, because we're living in real life, the economy shifts, businesses shift, our personal lives shift, our staffing shifts, and we need to react as the CEO and CFO of our business. And so reforecasting is a tool that allows you to update your financial plan based on the information that you have now. It's not starting over. All right.
00:02:06:07 - 00:02:29:15
Danielle Hayden
We're not going to recreate a whole 12-month budget. We're adjusting the path based on where you are now with the information that you have today. Like I said, this is a strategy that I have used and big companies all over use this all the time. And I want to give you the tools so that you can use the reforecasting tool in your business.
00:02:29:17 - 00:02:52:05
Danielle Hayden
Now do not jump ahead. Everything starts with bookkeeping. Your books have to be correct in order to be able to see where you're at today to see what happened. We can only create a plan if we have accurate bookkeeping in place. If you have not done that budget, hit pause, go update your bookkeeping, book a discovery call with Kickstart Accounting,
00:02:52:07 - 00:03:16:11
Danielle Hayden
let us do your catch up for you and get you financial statements that are correct and accurate so you can forecast for the future. If you're listening to this episode, I'm hoping that you already have your bookkeeping complete, you're an ongoing Kickstart Accounting client, you are in the process of doing monthly and quarterly reviews, both on your own as a CEO and with us as your money team.
00:03:16:13 - 00:03:37:10
Danielle Hayden
Now, you may be somebody who has created a budget with our team or our CFO team. Now, if you are doing any of those things, it's going to put you ahead, because that is what the tool that we are going to use to update the rest of the year. Now, to be clear where we’re reforecasting at this mid-year check-in point of the year.
00:03:37:12 - 00:04:04:01
Danielle Hayden
I like to reforecast the business every summer, so I can see how the back half of the year is going to land. But you can really reforecast at any time if your revenue is significantly above or below your target, if you're preparing for a big investment, hiring pivot, or offer shifts, if your life changes, your team has changed, the structure of your team, your health, your family, your capacity, your energy that impacts your work...
00:04:04:02 - 00:04:28:00
Danielle Hayden
these are also a great time to reforecast. So any time that you feel out of alignment personally or professionally or you have a big strategic decision coming, you can use the reforecasting tool. Now the reforecasting tool is a combination of your actual results for the first six months of the year. Again I'm going to go based on we're doing this in July,
00:04:28:01 - 00:04:49:06
Danielle Hayden
and so we have the first six months worth of data called actual data. This is the activity that actually happened. Sales that came in, expenses that you spent, owner’s draws that you took. This is the actual activity for the first six months of the year. Then we're going to take the budget that we had created for the back half of the year.
00:04:49:07 - 00:05:12:15
Danielle Hayden
We can't just merge the two together. That's what we call rolling budget is when we merge actual data with our budget. What I want you to do is to take the budget you had originally created at the beginning of the year, and I want you to update it with the information that you have now. So all of those life changes I mentioned to you, I want you to put those dollars in the budget.
00:05:12:17 - 00:05:41:18
Danielle Hayden
If you plan on hiring, we're going to update the budget here with the new hires. If you have to update your salary both up or down, this is the time we're going to take that spreadsheet and we're going to update the budget. If your sales are coming in way faster than what you had originally projected, then we're going to update the sales budget along with any tools, subscriptions, technology and team members that you need to support the new hire revenue.
00:05:41:20 - 00:06:12:22
Danielle Hayden
If sales aren't quite coming in in the way that you originally thought, we might have to decrease those sales. So we'll start by updating the budget with the new decreased sales, and then eliminate any other expenses that might need to be eliminated so that you can stay profitable as a company. So again, we're looking at the first six months and then updating the budget for the last six months based on the current information that you have now.
00:06:12:23 - 00:06:48:06
Danielle Hayden
Now, we recently did a reforecast for one of our clients, and she was originally on track to hit about a half $1 million that year, and unfortunately, one of her team members had to pivot and take some time off for a family emergency. She knew that she needed to make shifts and pivots in her business to make up for the changes in her team dynamic, and through this reforecasting tool, we were able to help her pivot her offers, reduce her spending, and still hit her year-end profit goal.
00:06:48:08 - 00:07:13:03
Danielle Hayden
And she was able to do this with less stress and more clarity. Once you have that clarity on how to solve the new problem, it brings your stress levels down and you can continue to show up like a confident, empowered CEO. Now another client of ours, she was an amazing story. She thought that she was going to be doing about $250,000 in sales the entire year.
00:07:13:05 - 00:07:50:02
Danielle Hayden
She has already hit $250,000. It is not even summer yet. And so for her, we are updating her sales forecast based on the new information that we have. We're also planning her next two hires, as well as implementing some new software that she wants to use to manage her grow. And so for her, we're able to update the forecast with her new sales data and then plan on how she's going to manage the increase in sales and still hit her year-end profit goal.
00:07:50:04 - 00:08:13:21
Danielle Hayden
Again, both clients who were so stressed out in different ways, whether it be losing a team member or crushing your sales goals, this can produce anxiety. And as a CEO, I want you to be able to show up with clarity and focus. Now remember the reforecasting tool? It's important that we have the right mindset around this tool.
00:08:13:23 - 00:08:36:12
Danielle Hayden
You didn't fail. You are adapting. Every single year I do this reforecasting tool. I didn't fail. I don't have a magic crystal ball. I know that I projected in the budget with the information I had at the time. My life changed. I did not go off track. I'm taking leadership so I don't have any shame about changing the plan.
00:08:36:14 - 00:09:03:10
Danielle Hayden
And you shouldn't either. We are business owners who can flex, pivot and still profit. The goal of the forecast is to hit our goals while creating healthy, sustainable, profitable businesses. So I want to leave you with action. First step is to look at your updated quarterly and year-to-date activity. You have to look backwards first before you can project where you're going.
00:09:03:12 - 00:09:28:09
Danielle Hayden
Then I want you to ask yourself what needs to shift? What needs to stay. And we're going to take the budget we originally created back in the fall and update the budget with the new numbers based on the information that we have today to project how we're going to end the year for 2025. Now, if you need a tool to be able to map this out, I have a download for you.
00:09:28:09 - 00:09:50:01
Danielle Hayden
You can go to KickstartAccountingInc.com/budget to get the template that we use with our clients. So go to KickstartAccountingInc.com/budget to download our template there. Once you've downloaded it, you can add in your current actual data and then project the rest of the year with the information that you have today.
00:09:50:01 - 00:10:14:05
Danielle Hayden
I know that you can do this. I'm excited that you're here! Reforecasting was one of my favorite tools that I used to use as a CFO, and I love bringing these tools to you as a small business owner so that you can implement them, create profitable, healthy, sustainable businesses that you love. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Business by the Books.
00:10:14:06 - 00:10:54:05
Danielle Hayden
Don't forget to hit like and subscribe! This is the number one way we can help other entrepreneurs find this podcast, cause here at Kickstart Accounting, Inc., it is our mission to help entrepreneurs understand their numbers, get access to this information, and grow and thrive in their business. So please help me, help other entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can finally grow and thrive.