Essay about Budget Critique

For example interest rates, the cost of raw materials including fuel, the number of sales or orders that we make and in turn all of these rely on other factors. The best therefore that can be done when developing a budget is to look at all the factors that are likely to affect the budget and decide how to take account of each one. If there is a previous budget (last year or last month) then it is sensible to look at how this has been achieved or not as the case may be, and what factors affected the outcome. If we are looking at monthly budgets it might be a better comparison to look at the same month twelve months ago as well as the previous months. The more factors we take into consideration when estimating a budget, the more accurate our budget will be.

Budgeting is perhaps the most essential process involved in the United States government. While this process seems to exist only in the background, it is, in reality, what allows all other processes of government to function as they do. In order to satisfy the most necessities of modern society, changes must be made to each of the three major categories of the budget: the big five, the middle five, and the little guys.

5. How would you identify timescales, priorities and financial resources when preparing a budget? [2.3]

This research paper is a brief discussion of budget management analysis. Budgeting is the key to financial management, and is the key to translates an organization goals or plan into money. Budgeting is a rough estimate of how much a company will need to get their work done, and provides the basis for evaluating performance, a source of motivation, coordinating business activities, a tool for management communication and instructions to employees. Without a budget an organization would be like a driver, driving blinded without instructions or any sense of direction, that’s how important a budget is to every organization and individual likewise (Clark, 2005).

The adopted budget for fiscal year 2011-12 contains $4.86 billion, which is 2.0% lower than the Fiscal Year 2010-11 budget. The Operational Plan of San Diego county also includes a total of 15,687 positions or 155 fewer than were budgeted in Fiscal Year 2010-11.

It helps in comparing past financial data with current one. Another advantage to line-item budgets is that they are clear and simple to read. Sometimes line-item budget provides little information on the overall use of fund and so, it is hard to justify the amount allocated to a particular line item.

All departments of the City are required to submit requests for appropriation to the Finance Department on or before the first week of January each year. The Finance Department uses these requests as the starting point for developing a proposed budget. The government’s manager then reviews this proposed budget and makes adjustments to be presented to the Council at the annual budget retreat held at the beginning of March. The Council then makes any suggestions or changes in programs and policy and instructs staff to provide a budget document by the end of April, sixty days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year ("City of North Myrtle Beach," n.d.). Council then holds a public hearing and as soon thereafter as possible, adopts a budget and passes a tax levy ordinance and such other ordinances as may be required for accounting and budgetary control ("City of North Myrtle Beach," n.d.). Budget-to-actual comparisons are provided in this report for each individual governmental fund for which an appropriated annual budget has been adopted ("City of North Myrtle Beach," n.d.).

Superintendent Mary Kamerzell gave an update on the FY18 straw budget. There were no proposed changes since the governing board reviewed it on May 9. Dr. Kamerzell informed board members that at the June 13 regular board meeting there would be two minor adjustments to the budget that will include information on property liability premiums and substitute costs for their consideration and possible adoption.

The State of Nebraska has a biennium budget that is set from 2013 all the way to 2015. Knowing what is in your budget and how to properly gauge what will be needed for the coming two years in each department is an important aspect to a successful budget. The person in charge of the budget for each department needs to know how to properly budget and respond to the needs of the state in the most fiscal way possible. A budget is only as good as the person who is running it. The Nebraska State budget is complex, but with the right amount of team work and dedication, it seems to run very smoothly.

These three objectives are: i) to summarize the annual municipal budgets; ii) to display information on key cost drivers; and iii) to better explain the municipal budget’s impact on local property taxes. As described by the LFB, these objectives were adopted to address the fact that local municipality budgets tend to be complicated and confusing and can run upwards of 50 or more pages. Creation of the User-Friendly Budget was intended to result in a simplified presentation of the actual municipal budget. Information included in the User-Friendly Budget consists, among other items, of the tax impact, revenue summary, appropriation summary, structural imbalances, tax assessment, and personnel costs. This information is designed to give citizens a brief understanding of the how a local municipal budget is going to operate based on revenue and expenditures for the coming fiscal year.

A company's budget serves as a guideline in planning and committing costs in order to meet tactical and strategic goals. Tactical goals such as providing budgetary costs for daily operations, and strategic objectives that include R&D, production, marketing, and distribution are all part of the budgeting process. Serving as a guideline rather than being set in stone, the budget is a snapshot of manager's "best thinking at the time it is prepared." (Marshall, 2003, p.496) The budget is a method in which to reign-in discretionary spending, and will likely show variances between what costs have been anticipated and what costs are actually incurred.

The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) budget criteria framework covers 27 budgeting categories and was launched in 1984 to encourage the preparation of high quality budgets (Bland, 211). The following memo evaluates the budget of the City of Lake Oswego using GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Criteria, and also compares it to the budget of the City of Detroit.

"The detail (line-item) spending plan speaks to the most generally utilized planning technique for exceptional libraries" (Chand, 2016). In a detail spending plan, every class of movement is managed its different appearance. Detail spending plans encourage low levels of detail for both arranging and cost control purposes. Frequently, the bookkeeping capacity of the parent association creates records and sub-accounts on an extensive premise. All things considered, the library utilizes the organization bookkeeping plan.

Whether you are a new business owner looking to decorate your new space or you just want to give your existing space a freshening up, the budget is always a major factor. You want to stay on budget, but you don’t want your clients to be able to see that in your décor, do you? The aesthetic that you choose can have a serious impact on your customer base and in whether they return time and time again.

Once a budget is formulated a regular reporting system can be established so that the extent to which plans are, or are not, being met can be established and some form of