November 24, 2025
As the Autumn Budget 2025 approaches on 26 November, UK businesses face unprecedented uncertainty. The Budget will impact operating costs, tax obligations, and cash flow—but financial leaders don't need to wait for the Chancellor's announcement to prepare.
For financial leaders, accountants, and CFOs, this is the moment to move from reaction to readiness. When the Chancellor announces new policies on 26 November, clients will look not only for clarity but for confidence. They will want to understand what these changes mean for their cost base, their cash position, and their ability to plan ahead.
Each year, accountants and CFOs face the same challenge. Policy announcements hit the headlines, and teams are expected to turn political statements into financial clarity.
New costs. Shifting thresholds. Changes to reliefs. Even the possibility of higher operational expenses. Any one of these can trigger hours of rework,spreadsheet adjustments, reconciliations, and urgent client conversations.
Our recent LinkedIn poll captured the feeling across the industry. We asked accountants and finance leaders how confident they felt about responding to major Autumn Budget changes quickly.
The gap in confidence was clear. Most respondents understand exactly what they need to do. They simply lack the time and tools to do it fast enough.Manual re-entry and inflexible systems make it difficult to stay ahead of change.
As one respondent put it: “We have the expertise, but not the time.”
Readiness becomes the real differentiator.
Fathom’s new Forecast Snapshots feature was designed for moments like this. It allows firms to save multiple versions of their forecast without overwriting the original budget. You can test assumptions, create alternate versions, and compare outcomes instantly, all while keeping your baseline intact.
You can model different pressures, track forecast accuracy, and view results across multiple entities. In short, you can plan for conditions before they arrive.
To bring these ideas to life, Fathom’s Product Strategy and Research Lead, Antoni Gomez, demonstrates how scenarios and Forecast Snapshots help firms prepare for the business impacts of the Autumn Budget well ahead of the announcement.
Many of the predicted Autumn Budget measures focus on personal tax,pensions, or inheritance rules. These do not always flow directly into business forecasting, which is why it is more useful to focus on the operational consequences businesses will feel regardless of the policy detail.
From rising operating costs to tighter liquidity and new VAT obligations, the impact of the Budget will show up in everyday business decisions. The videos below show how to prepare for those ripple effects using Forecast Snapshots and scenario planning.
Staff costs are one of the first places businesses feel pressure. A small increase can quickly affect margins, cash flow, and year-end performance.
This short demo shows how to model a five percent rise in staff costs and compare it with your baseline using scenarios and Forecast Snapshots. It is a practical way to help clients understand the full-year impact of wage pressure and prepare for tightening margins.
Rate rises are another likely outcome of the Autumn Budget and can directly increase fixed operating costs.
Here, Antoni demonstrates how to set up two simple scenarios for higher and lower rate increases and comparethem in a report. This visual approach helps accountants explain how rising costs will affect expenses and profitability, giving clients clarity before changes take effect.
If VAT thresholds change or if a business grows into registration sooner than expected, cash flow can shift quickly.
In this demo, Antoni walks through how to apply VAT in the forecast and compare cash positions with and without registration using a scenario fan chart. This gives clients a realistic view of how VAT obligations could affect liquidity over the coming months.
The Autumn Budget will test the resilience of every business, but it also provides an opportunity for financial leaders to show foresight and clarity. With the right tools, you can move from reacting to policy changes to guiding clients confidently through them.
Forecast Snapshots and forecasting scenarios give firms the ability to model multiple outcomes in advance. They create time to plan, space to think,and clarity for clients when uncertainty rises.
If you want to explore Fathoms latest forecast features for yourself,you can start a free 14 day trial and see how easy it is to model different Budget scenarios ahead of the Chancellor’s announcement on 26 November.
To help you get started:
Ellie is a campaign marketing manager at Fathom, with a degree in branding and marketing. With a background in campaign strategy and creation, Ellie is passionate about showcasing how Fathom can make a real difference to finance professionals and businesses.
