This podcast is brought to you by www.powdr.co.uk, powerful financial forecasting software that can help you visualise your forecasts in a way that makes them easy to analyse and use to your advantage.

The podcast discusses how to ensure that your financial forecasts make sense before presenting them to investors or stakeholders. Key points include:

1. Common Sense Check: Get a second opinion from someone, preferably someone comfortable with numbers, to ensure your strategy is understandable. They may notice issues you're blind to as the business owner.

2. Visual Representation: Use dashboards or charts to visualize your forecasts. Look for anomalies like disproportionate growth in revenue without corresponding cost increases (e.g., staff, marketing). If something looks odd, stakeholders will likely question it.

3. Realism in Forecasts: Ensure that rising revenue is matched by expected increases in costs, such as overhead, staff, or production expenses. Addressing these areas helps create a credible forecast.

4. Explainability: If you can clearly explain why costs rise (or don’t), and how they relate to revenue growth, investors will find your forecast more convincing.

Tools like Powdr can assist in spotting and addressing inconsistencies through visual analysis, aiding in creating a reliable and sensible financial forecast that you can feel confident in presenting to an investor or stakeholder.