All formal forecasting procedures involve extending the experiences of the past into the

future. According to (Panko, 2017), forecasting can help management to cope with the uncertainties
of the future by relying mainly on data that is given by the past and present events. Forecasting
cannot predict the future like a prophecy does, instead it provides a more reliable perspective on
what could possibly happen in the future. Often, forecasts are approached with skepticism because
they are necessarily a best guess of what the future will bring for a business and this can result in
them being approached as a management task of little value [ CITATION Mos17 \l 1033 ].

In business industry, a look into the future is essential and necessary as it involves a huge
amount of risks and uncertainties. Managers cannot base their decisions merely on guesswork. With
the help of forecasting, uncertainties and risks that would likely be met in the future with regards to
the decision-making are reduced into minimum [ CITATION Dee09 \l 1033 ] . They can use forecasting
in terms of predicting variables for an enterprise or one of its components. In order for a business to
grow efficiently, it needs to have a goal, and a plan to achieve that goal. Planning, according to an
article shared by [ CITATION Cha17 \l 1033 ] , is the backbone of effective operation and forecasting
plays an important role in the planning and operation of a business entity.

Making a suitable and appropriate forecast model for the operation of a business can help
the managers decide if a venture is worth tracking or assess which possible alternative is most
beneficial to the company. [ CITATION Cha17 \l 1033 ] listed issues on how helpful forecasting is to
the business: having a good forecasting model is most advantageous to the businesses that are just
starting, it can help the management to see if the business can succeed and face the possible
competition that is already existing in the market; second, it will help the management in estimating
the financial requirements and on how to properly manage the capital of the business while avoiding
major setbacks. Forecasting provides the information which helps in the achievement of effective
control. The managers become aware of their weaknesses during forecasting and through
implementing better effective control they can overcome these weaknesses.

There is a need of a good forecasting model for a business to succeed. Sales forecasting,
for example, helps to procure necessary materials needed to meet the demand of the market that
will lead to a better control of funds. Without sales forecast, operations can only respond
retrospectively, leading to lost orders, inadequate service and poorly utilized production resources
[ CITATION Fil09 \l 1033 ].

In spite of many advantages of forecasting for a business, some people regard it as

unnecessary and just a waste of time. The reason of this is that despite of precautions, there is still
the element of error that is bound to arise in the forecasting, and thus forecasting still has the
guesswork and logical judgments of managers. [ CITATION Das18 \l 1033 ] Argued that forecasting is
influenced by the pessimistic or optimistic attitude of the forecaster. It may not be possible to make
forecasts with the pinpoint accuracy. But, it still cannot undermine the importance of
business forecast.

Danduan, Krisdan Levi Y. ACCY-1