4. Our Position
As financial managers, we are in a unique
position to promote fiscal responsibility and
making informed and educated decisions within
our organizations. As we continuously interact
with different functional and leadership team
members, we are able to identify best practices
and spread the word to others who can benefit
from it.
5. Main Capital Planning and Capex
Management Activities at Cricket:
Budgeting
for new
projects
(New Build,
and Life
Cycle)
Forecasting
Procurement
Approvals
Expenditure
monitoring
Reporting
(Actual vs. Budget
Forecast vs.
Budget and Ad
Hoc Reports)
Cost, Risk
and
Alternative
evaluations
Capex Management Responsibilities
6. Cross-Functional Synergies
Capital Planning & Capex Management Team works
closely with Fixed Assets, Accounting, Treasury and
Internal Audit functions to support GAAP rules and
SOX Compliance.
We provide financial / risk analysis and spending
status information to Executive Management in
support of Awareness and Executive / Strategic
Decision making
7. Position Yourself for a Successful
Capex Journey
Have your policy and procedures in place
(Capitalization, Procurement, Conflict of Interest policies,
etc.)
Have your rules of engagement in place
Establish your KPIs
Get your “Tool Kits” in place
Get serious about “Training”
12. Booked Capex vs. Cash Capex
Booked Capex : Deliveries of Goods and Services
Recognized
Cash Capex: Money out the door. Vendors paid.
Challenge: Reconciliation of Booked Capex and
Cash Capex within a certain period of time.
What Helps?
Streamlined vendor payment terms and forecasting
made easier.
13. Upgrades and Replacements
• Do an apple-to-apple comparison between the
current state and the future state (components,
functionality, etc)
• Any cost component that may not have been
included in the business case, if realized later,
can make the business case virtually
unprofitable
14. Reporting and Forecasting
Status of Capital Spending Relative to the Approved
Budget
100% Build Forecast = Actuals (Booked Capex) + Open Commitments
+ Uncommitted Purchases (What is left to open)
Periodic Reporting on Capital Spending
Inception to Date, Incremental Monthly, Quarterly
and Yearly Figures (Actuals and Forecast Figures for
upcoming months), Variance analysis between
budget & forecast, and current forecast to actuals.
15. Forecasting Process Tips
Make forecasting an ongoing/continuous activity for all Subject Matter
Experts (SMEs) to reflect changes in the market/budget/spending in real
time and to promote fiscal responsibility.
Avoid Email Jungle: Prevent SMEs getting dozens of emails with huge
attachments from Budget Managers. Cut down on redundancy, bureaucracy
while relieving network bandwidth and freeing up scarce IT resources.
Central, Secured Repository of Forecasts: House all forecasting
information in a single, access-controlled and backed-up network location
which is easy to access and manage, where SMEs can easily go and
update their forecasts dynamically to reflect developments/changes taking
place in their markets.
16. Task-Centric Forecasting
Capital Planning Team introduced a bottom-up
approach to forecast the A66 markets build
activities capital spending. This new approach
evolves around forecasting at build task level to
promote granular accuracy and fiscal awareness
and responsible spending amongst all Subject
Matter Experts (SMEs) that were part of the A66
build project.
18. Project Schedule and Capex
Schedule Alignment
– Realistic time-phasing of deliveries / booked capex
– Accurate allocation of costs by task
– Accurate assessment of “lead time” for procured
goods /services.
19. Security of Information
• Keep all of your forecast files in a central and
backed up and access-controlled electronic
library
• Avoid email attachments.
20. Things To Watch Out for Budgets
• Scope Changes
– Monitor what is being build against what was in the original budget.
• Unbudgeted / Under-budgeted Items
– Additional sites, stores, underestimated budget amount
• Project Schedule Changes
– Unforeseen, beyond-control market realities such Spectrum
Clearing, municipal bottlenecks, force majeure, capital constraints
• Schedule and Cost Integration
– Realistic time-phasing of deliveries, cost needs to align with
schedule
– Accurate allocation of costs by task - Stay alert on coding errors,
catch them before requisitions turn into POs.
Always keep track of these and detail them in budget management kits. Bring to
Management’s attention in a timely manner.
No surprises in the end!!!! No After the Fact Reporting!!!
22. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
As Capex / Opex Managers, we are the Main
Ambassadors in our organizations to promote
awareness of TCO.
Shift focus in procuring
materials, services and
equipment from price to
total cost!
25. Procurement ‘To Dos’
Monitor all of the POs
Make sure every requisition/ PO requested is in the budget.
Get in the PO approval route (during requisitioning) or put in key
budget management folks
Stay alert on coding errors, catch them before requisitions turn
into POs.
Catch an unbudgeted item and push it back. If that item is badly
needed, then you need to raise awareness and take appropriate
action…explain in the kit and look for a “shock absorber”.
26. Procurement Without A PO?
Who may NOT be accepting a PO?
Government entities, Local jurisdictions, municipalities…
What To Do?
Keep a “Tracker” for those non-PO items and keep
backups.
Rule: Make sure every vendor that will be getting paid by your company is
in your system and is established as an “approved vendor” to do business
with. For that you need to have a “New Vendor” policy..work with
Accounting to get it established if you do not have one in place.
