Keep every scenario as a plan version next to the approved budget. Each one is compared with the same live actuals, so the only difference between two versions is the decision you are testing.
Month-end cash with the Q2 hires starting a month later. Example Group, illustrative data.
In Control a scenario is a budget version with a purpose: the annual plan, a management-review version, a later forecast or an alternative you want to test. Keep them side by side and compare their totals.
Start a scenario as a copy of the approved budget or the latest forecast, then change only what the decision moves. The base version stays as it was.
Lock the version the board approves and its numbers stop moving. Actuals keep arriving with every sync, so every version, locked or not, is measured against current results.
Compare actuals with the approved budget or any forecast, monthly or year to date. Open a gap to the entities, accounts and transactions behind it, and read the version’s history for the planned value.
Ask Claude, ChatGPT or Codex over MCP to branch a scenario and change it, for example to start the Q2 hires a month later. The client asks before it writes and leaves the locked original as it is. Every value it saves carries its reason.
A scenario is a copy you can change without touching the plan the board approved. The comparison does the rest.
The number the board signed off becomes the fixed comparison point.
Start from the approved budget or the latest forecast.
Edit the rows by hand, from a workbook or with your AI client.
Put the scenario next to the original and the actuals, then decide.
Copy a base version, such as the approved budget or the latest forecast, and change the values the decision moves: in Control, from an Excel workbook, or with your AI client over MCP. The base version stays as it was.
No. Lock the approved version and it stays fixed. Scenarios and forecasts are separate versions compared with it.
Every version compares with the same actuals, from the synchronized Control ledger used for reporting. Syncs run at least daily, and a refresh can be started on demand.
Yes. A plan can hold the balance sheet and the cash flow follows from it, so a scenario shows its effect on month-end cash next to the original budget.
Book a demo with the Control team. Bring your accounting systems and one question, and we walk through how a group like yours runs on Control. Or start for free and set it up yourself.