Budget versus actual
Finance Career Foundry — original fictional practice exercise

Explain the gap between budget and actual operating profit for a fictional business.

TASKS
1. Calculate budget and actual operating profit.
2. Build a variance bridge, treating higher costs as adverse.
3. Write a 150-word note with two questions for the business.

Deliverable: one worksheet and a short written recommendation. Label your portfolio entry as a practice project using fictional data.

WORKED CHECK
Budget operating profit is £30,000. Actual operating profit is £20,500. The adverse variance is £9,500: revenue −£6,000, cost of sales −£3,000, staff −£2,000 and other operating costs +£1,500. Do not infer causes from totals alone. Ask about volume, pricing, mix and one-off costs.