Question regarding the integration of Net Investment Income on the
book of assets with the Non-Investment (Operating) income within the
Plan/Forecast process. My understanding is that businesses need to 
provide estimated cash flow into the investment portfolio before the 
investment area can project Net Inv Income. However the businesses need 
the net Investment Income projections to make cost assumptions in order 
to meet Plan (sort of a chicken/egg situation). Would be interested to 
hear what the best/usual practice is - if there is separate
responsibility for Investment and Operating earnings and what their
sequence of events is. What level of granularity should exist in the
investment forecasts and analysis? Businesses expect the Investments
area to provide very granular analysis
of the forecasted data and that only lengthens the cycle time.

1. predit sales
2. predict costs
3. predict cash-flows
4. predit profit and loss account
5. predit a balance sheet
Granularity depends on the firm and your data. If you used budgeting
for years you have historical information how precise were predictions
you can easier predict the future. If you are a small company you must
be very careful - the smaller the company, the most volatile financial
data.