Track · 2:30 · Liner note
Plan versus Actual, Politely
Variance analysis compares planned figures with actual results and breaks the difference into its causes, such as volume, price and timing, instead of only reporting it.
The budget said one thing and the quarter did another. Plan versus Actual, Politely is variance analysis done with manners: show the gap, then decompose it into what caused it, such as volume, price, mix or timing, instead of only reporting that it exists.
Separate what was controllable from what was not. Agree the plan baseline in advance, keep it frozen and record reforecasts as labeled revisions. A variance explained is a conversation. A variance merely displayed is an accusation.