11 abbreviations I thought might be helpful to clear up:

◼️FP&A: Financial Planning & Analysis

𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘥, "𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘍𝘗&𝘈 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯...?"

◼️BVA: Budget vs. Actuals

How'd we do vs. what we expected?

◼️Budget: our projections for the year. This doesn't change.

◼️ Forecast: our best guess for the remainder of the year based on how things have gone so far.

Often called the "rolling forecast" b/c it is updated monthly.

Same exact idea as the budget, it just moves constantly instead of being frozen in place.

◼️ Actuals: accounting books that have been officially closed.

i.e., how did the business do last month (last quarter, last year, etc.)

◼️ LTM/TTM: Last Twelve Months ; Trailing Twelve Months

(they're the same thing)

◼️ YTD: Year-to-date

How have we done so far this year?

◼️ 6+6 (or 3+9, 4+8, 5+7, etc.): Months of actuals relative to months of forecast.

I.e., 3+9 means we have 3 months of actuals (thru March) and 9 months left of forecast.

◼️ Dashboard: a place where we can see all the key info.

Recently have heard this called "Flash Report" as well (or very similar output at least)

◼️ IS, BS, SCF: Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows

(IS very commonly called P&L as well)

◼️ KPI: Key Performance Indicator

Stuff you need to know about the business that isn't necessarily financial info, like headcount, new clients, etc.

◼️+100 others I'm not thinking of.

———

𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀:

Don't be afraid to ask what abbreviations means.

Unless you're in the day-to-day, it's very common to be unsure.

Also, sometimes the same abbreviation may mean different things depending on the context.

———

❓ What abbreviation were you glad you asked about? 👇

—Chris

If and when the time is right, I offer refreshingly straightforward Financial Modeling Courses for FP&A and Private Equity Professionals that have been recognized all over the world.  Check them out if you're interested (if not, that's cool too 👍).  Just click here.