Developing pro forma financial statements and cash flow forecasts depends heavily upon sales forecasts. Imagine you are a financial analyst working for a major stockbroker, and you are trying to develop a one-year sales forecast for a major national department store. List five pieces of information you want to obtain to aid you in your forecast, and explain why they will aid you in your forecast.

Now that you have made your best prediction of next year's sales, you will want to estimate next year's cost of goods sold. Pick two pieces of information you definitely want to obtain in order to help you with this task, and explain why they will be helpful.