Plansmith Blog

Everyone probably has their budgets in place for 2020 by now. And now comes along the Coronavirus and messes everything up. The Fed has already lowered rates by half a point. So, now you’re scrambling to figure out how this will impact your 2020 plans?

Seems like you have a few choices:

I know my numbers, but how do I communicate them to others within my organization?

Everyone relates to numbers, no matter who you're talking to, but not everyone reads them in the same way. So, how do you make the most out of your conversations with everyone who needs to relate to the same numbers?

As we move into a new year, you may still be working on a few of those items you didn’t quite get to in 2019. And for a lot of our clients, one of those items is often backtesting. Given all the confusion surrounding backtesting, it can be pretty easy to keep pushing it to the bottom of the “to-do” list.

So, we thought it might be a good idea to dust off a blog I wrote back in 2015 to jump start your 2020 so you can get one more thing crossed off your list. In that blog, we looked at a few of the most common questions we get on backtesting. Specifically, we discussed who should do it; how often it should be done; what period should be covered; and if you need to backtest just model results, or also key model assumptions.

Most of us have been building annual budgets forever. First on paper spreadsheets, then with electronic spreadsheet like Excel, and now with software budgeting tools that amount to little more than more convenient spreadsheets. But a budget is typically all numeric built with trending and last year’s information. Usually the CEO provides a growth and earnings expectation and we build the budget to make the math work. If you have a system that can also provide rate risk analysis and draw detailed data from your core system, you really have a great system. So, what’s the problem?

A budget without a Playbook is just numbers on a page.

But many managers say they just don’t have the time or resources.

Plansmith’s Playbook is a simple online platform to help you create clearly defined initiatives, track progress, and reach your targets by creating an action plan for your budget.

Over the past 20 years I’ve experienced the usual ups and downs of home ownership. A leaky roof, a flooded basement, as well as the two-week bathroom remodel that turned into an eight-week job. I’ve seen it all. At first, I tried to tackle many home projects on my own. I soon discovered that I was a pretty good painter and a really bad plumber. After I accidentally caused an upstairs toilet to leak into the family room ceiling, I resolved to get help from a trusted plumber that had the proper tools and know-how to get any plumbing job done right.

For almost 50 years, Plansmith has helped financial institutions remove the stress from budgeting and interest rate risk.

As customer preferences and regulatory challenges progress, we create new solutions to complement our core in-house budgeting and IRR solutions.

Are you familiar with all of the ways Plansmith helps financial institutions like yours?

Technology is a beautiful thing. It allows people to seamlessly engage in business interactions from thousands of miles away. It helps strangers grow real, meaningful relationships. It bolsters professionalism and deepens client/company relations.

However, we find it can leave you feeling like something’s missing.

Knowing and understanding your organization's risk position is important. Regulators expect you to keep a close eye on your IRR exposure and be ready for a rising rate environment.

Does your organization have the IRR and Liquidity knowledge it needs to succeed?

Regulatory guidance emphasizes the importance of effective corporate governance and outlines expectations for both board members and senior management personnel. Specifically, interagency guidance identifies the board of directors as having the ultimate responsibility for the risks undertaken by an institution – including IRR and liquidity.