Managerial 8:Operating Budget

Major benefits gained from budgeting

1. Budgets communicate management's plans throughout the organization. 2. Budgets force managers to think about and plan for the future. In the absence of the necessity to prepare a budget, many managers would spend all of their time dealing with day-to-day emergencies. 3. The budgeting process provides a means of allocating resources to those parts of the organization where they can be used most effectively. 4. The budgeting process can uncover potential bottlenecks before they occur. 5. Budgets coordinate the activities of the entire organization by integrating the plans of its various parts. Budgeting helps to ensure that everyone in the organization is pulling in the same direction. 6. Budgets define goals and objectives that can serve as benchmarks for evaluating subsequent performance.

What is a budget? Budgetary Control?

A budget is a detailed quantitative plan for the acquisition and use of financial and other resources over a given time period. Budgetary control involves using budgets to increase the likelihood that all parts of an organization are working together to achieve the goals set down in the planning stage.

What is a master budget?

A master budget represents a summary of all of management's plans and goals for the future, and outlines the way in which these plans are to be accomplished. The master budget is composed of a number of smaller, specific budgets encompassing sales, production, raw materials, direct labor, manufacturing overhead, selling and administrative expenses, and inventories. The master budget usually also contains a budgeted income statement, budgeted balance sheet, and cash budget.

What is a self-imposed budget? What are the major advantages of self-imposed budgets? What caution must be exercised in their use?

A self-imposed budget is one in which persons with responsibility over cost control prepare their own budgets. This is in contrast to a budget that is imposed from above. The major advantages of a self-imposed budget are: (1) Individuals at all levels of the organization are recognized as members of the team whose views and judgments are valued. (2) Budget estimates prepared by front-line managers are often more accurate and reliable than estimates prepared by top managers who have less intimate knowledge of markets and day-to-day operations. (3) Motivation is generally higher when individuals participate in setting their own goals than when the goals are imposed from above. Self-imposed budgets create commitment. (4) A manager who is not able to meet a budget that has been imposed from above can always say that the budget was unrealistic and impossible to meet. With a self-imposed budget, this excuse is not available. Self-imposed budgets do carry with them the risk of budgetary slack. The budgets prepared by lower-level managers should be carefully reviewed to prevent too much slack.

"As a practical mater, planing and control mean exactly the same thing" Do you agree

No. Planning and control are different, although related, concepts. Planning involves developing goals and developing budgets to achieve those goals. Control, by contrast, involves the means by which management attempts to ensure that the goals set down at the planning stage are attained.

What does Responsibility accounting mean?

Responsibility accounting is a system in which a manager is held responsible for those items of revenues and costs—and only those items—that the manager can control to a significant extent. Each line item in the budget is made the responsibility of a manager who is then held responsible for differences between budgeted and actual results

How can budgeting assist a company in planning its workforce staffing levels?

The direct labor budget and other budgets can be used to forecast workforce staffing needs. Careful planning can help a company avoid erratic hiring and laying off of employees.

Describe the flow of budget data in an organization. who are the participants in the budgeting process, and how do they participate?

The flow of budgeting information moves in two directions—upward and downward. The initial flow should be from the bottom of the organization upward. Each person having responsibility over revenues or costs should prepare the budget data against which his or her subsequent performance will be measured. As the budget data are communicated upward, higher-level managers should review the budgets for consistency with the overall goals of the organization and the plans of other units in the organization. Any issues should be resolved in discussions between the individuals who prepared the budgets and their managers. All levels of an organization should participate in the budgeting process—not just top management or the accounting department. Generally, the lower levels will be more familiar with detailed, day-to-day operating data, and for this reason will have primary responsibility for developing the specifics in the budget. Top levels of management should have a better perspective concerning the company's strategy.

Why is the sales forecast the starting point in budgeting?

The level of sales impacts virtually every other aspect of the firm's activities. It determines the production budget, cash collections, cash disbursements, and selling and administrative budget that in turn determine the cash budget and budgeted income statement and balance sheet

"The principal purpose of the cash budget is to see how much cash the company will have in the bank at the end of the year?" do you agree

The principal purpose of the cash budget is NOT to see how much cash the company will have in the bank at the end of the year. Although this is one of the purposes of the cash budget, the principal purpose is to provide information on probable cash needs during the budget period, so that bank loans and other sources of financing can be anticipated and arranged well in advance.