Fix the cause, not the symptoms
Your Pain
Why do organizations budget in the first place?
- To align the organization and disparate departments to the strategic plan goals.
- To determine who gets what resources… and for what purpose.
- To establish and communicate priorities.
- To create a baseline to measure actual performance.
- And To avoid surprises.
But:
- Line managers view budgeting as a chore
- People budget to history or politics not to strategy
- Lack of familiarity with system causes frustration
- Lack of realistic spreading flexibility causes frustration
- No effective way to do salary planning (70% of costs yet done outside budgeting system)
- Managers think in terms of their business initiatives not Chart of Accounts by time period
- Users don't know where they are in the process (versions and against target)
- And then, financial people try to lock down spreadsheets
