Jason Whyte, of EY, was speaking about cashflow modelling at the Star Wars-themed event at the Intercontinental Hotel at London’s O2 today.
The theme of his presentation was ‘Scenario planning in uncertain times.’
He said: “It’s great we have all this technology but we have to use it appropriately.
“The only thing we know for sure is that our Financial Plan is wrong.
“Things conspire against you.”
He added: “The more guesses we make the more confident we can be that we’re correct.
“Our job is to be guides in an ever-changing landscape.
“There’s no way you can accurately map the future so it needs to be simple, it has to be something you can understand.”
He said assumptions should be “stress-tested” to ensure that if things went wrong would there still be a good outcome for clients.
“How bad can things be and we can still hit what we’re trying to achieve,” he said.
“That’s what we’re trying to achieve with cashflow modelling.”
He said unpredictable factors could include serious illness, stock market crashes or loss of earnings.
• Financial Planning Today will be covering the event live today so check back for updates and follow us on Twitter @FPTodayMagazine