I believe its your estimated income at a certain date so that you can estimate what you can afford to purchase/spend. Hope this helps
what is sales forecast
Sales budgeting is the starting point of budgeting process as in sales budget first of all the sales demand is determined and after that all other budgets are prepared to fulfill that demand.
Sales plan is prepared based on sales forecast which is from previous experiance or on based on market research or intuition, an estimate that how much sales will be required in future.
If you have a stable market in which you operate, then you could forecast for the sales. Normally sales budget should not exceed the sales forecast. Exceeding the sales budget over the forecasted sales can help the firm invest more capital in marketing and promotions. The Sales forecast would be beneficial for the production department.
Starting with sales forecasts in the budgeting process is advisable because it provides a foundation for estimating revenue, which is crucial for determining the financial feasibility of the budget. Additionally, sales forecasts can drive production forecasts, helping to align production capacity with expected demand. Capital expenditure forecasts should follow sales and production forecasts to ensure that investments are made strategically to support the anticipated sales and production levels. This sequential approach ensures that the budget is realistic and well-aligned with the overall business strategy.
what is sales forecast
Sales budgeting is the starting point of budgeting process as in sales budget first of all the sales demand is determined and after that all other budgets are prepared to fulfill that demand.
There are many places where one could obtain sales forecast software. One could check sites such as Sales Force for purchasing sales forecast software.
the role of the internal and external role players in budgeting
Roughly, a Sales Plan is your strategie for achieving sales (purchases). A Sales forecast is an estimate at the beginning of a time period of how much one expects to sell.
Sales plan is prepared based on sales forecast which is from previous experiance or on based on market research or intuition, an estimate that how much sales will be required in future.
sales forecast
the sales forecast or sales budget.
Difference between Budget and Forecast Once the financial objectives have been set, it is possible to prepare and agree a budget. A budget should relate the overall plan in figures. It is different from a forecast in the sense that the plan, and therefore the budget, sets minimum requirements, whereas a forecast is usually an expectation of what is likely to happen. Example: You might choose to budget for sales of £180,000 and use this figure in calculating your likely expenditure, profit and so on. Based on your market research, however, you predict sales of £200,000, and set a target of £220,000, in order to stretch your sales force. If all your costs are covered by the budgeted figure, then you will make a greater profit if you achieve the forecast and a still greater one if you achieve the target. (Whilst this is an important distinction, in practice for most businesses the forecast and budget will be the same.)
The role of the supervisor in budgeting is to ensure that the budget is not exceeded. The supervisor allocates the money properly.
The percent of sales can be used to forecast the price of different types of goods. This can help the marketers know which goods are the most marketable.
A sales plan and a sales forecast are essentially the same, however the big difference is one is a set plan for the whole year. It is mostly used with larger corporations to single out units. A sales forecast is set at the store/branch level and is there to help with the changing situations (ie weather, natural disasters, and the such) A plan is what you are going to do and a forecast is what you think is going to happen. There should be a link between the two, but you may not have the capacity to make all that you could sell.