Bedrijfsmodellen voor rentabiliteitsprognoses *

Summary In the introduction, it was stated that the development of quick calculating methods has to he regarded as of great importance for the total planning process in a company. The drawing up of the profit forecasting model is one of the most succesful contributions to this. Not only is the objective fulfilled to give a concrete content to the suppositions in the planning process in terms of contributions to more profit, but numerous subsidiary advantages are obtained. The drawing up of afore‐casting model demands a thorough analysis of the behaviour of revenue and expenses at fluctuating volumes. This in itself is already very useful. Further, one will experience that ‐ after first hesitating ‐ many in the concern will be interested in simple forecasting models. This is because these models can often elucidate what complicated administrative application systems leave unsolved. In setting up a model it is better, if one's time is limited, to start with a simple one and improve it gradually as experience is obtained rather than to try to create a more realistic but also more complicated model which will require a long research time. Moveover, a simple model can always be extended to a more complicated one.