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Even
if you're not an accountant, knowing how to prepare and maintain
budgets will add value to your resume. Taking time now to know the
ABCs of budgets should make you more marketable in the future.
Budgeting is an important tool used by management to control a
company's cash flows. According to investment banker Andy Lazarus of
CIBC World Markets, reviewing a company's budgets and forecasts is a
key step whenever his company is analyzing a company for a deal.
"Budgets should be set with worthy goals, and should always be
realistic and attainable," Lazarus advises.
Budgeting is so crucial to doing business that, chances are, your job
description already includes some aspect of budgeting. What if there
are no budgets in place--and you've managed to graduate without taking
a single accounting class?
Here
are a few budget basics to keep in mind.
Set
Realistic Goals
Top-level managers use departmental budgets to control spending
without having to oversee each and every expense. As a result,
executives expect departmental managers to prepare and maintain their
own budgets; department heads assign budget management to their
underlings.
How
Does the Department Fit In?
When managers prepare their budgets, they first determine inflows,
which depends on whether their department is a cost center or a profit
center. A department that provides administrative support, such as
human resources or accounting, is considered a cost center. In that
case, determining the projected inflows is as simple as asking upper
management how much money has been allocated to the department.
Figuring out the inflows of a profit center is much more difficult.
Unlike cost centers, profit centers bring in money by selling products
or services. Since the department's inflows will fluctuate, projecting
the department's revenues requires considerable thought and effort.
Analyze a History of Expenses
Now comes the fun part: spending an employer's money. To determine
this aspect of the budget, managers analyze expenditures during the
previous three or four years. Once they've digested the historical
data, they begin budgeting the current year's expenditures in terms of
fixed costs and variable costs.
Fixed
Costs Don't Fluctuate
Certain costs, such as rent and management salaries, don't change much
during the year. When forecasting a department's expenditures, it
helps to figure out how much will be spent on each of the department's
fixed costs each month. Then managers can project the remainder of
their department's costs. These costs, known as variable costs,
fluctuate in relation to a department's inflows and include staff
hours, units of products sold, or miles driven. The secret to
budgeting variable costs is to determine what causes these costs to
fluctuate.
Use a
Year-Round Budget
Managers periodically compare a department's actual inflows and
outflows to their budget, and make adjustments as needed. Most
professionals agree that, to be a useful tool, budgets should be
reviewed and updated either monthly or quarterly.
To
learn about budgeting, consider taking one or more courses on this
topic offered through local universities, adult education centers, or
online seminars. And don't overlook the information and templates
available over the Internet. If you prefer to teach yourself new
skills, there are many books about budgeting available on Amazon.com
and elsewhere.
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