Budget Mastery: Process, Problems, and Solutions

Overview

The budgeting process can be a mundane one for accountants. Let’s be realistic and agree that even the word “budget” does not bring excitement to you and your departmental colleagues.  The constraints and pressures can lead to poor decisions in both the technical and human components.  This session is the first part of a four part series and will cover the big picture of keeping the process fresh, pragmatic and useful. We discuss these keys in an engaging manner by discussing both our flaws and strengths, including how to build on these characteristics towards an enjoyable solutions-based method that should deliver effective results for your organization. 

Objectives

• Understanding and Preventing Budget Calamities
  • Recognize and find solutions to the budget process 
• Define the budget process
  • Understand varying budget cultures and choosing the right one for your organization
  • Walk through a 12-step cure for the typical Budgetaholic
  • Use Balanced Scorecard Budgeting
• How to build a model that works
  • How the right Chart of Accounts can simplify your work 
  • Building a volume sensitive model
  • Budgeting to GAAP and for Board understanding
  • Efficiently modeling payroll and benefits
  • Identifying controllable and uncontrollable expenses
  • Using variables to stress test your budget
• Understanding core personality types
  • Learning the type of person you are
  • Managing and coping with the budget team
  • Dealing with A, B and C players
  • Connecting through disconnection
• Identifying the ‘big picture” and your communications role 
  • Communicating so others can understand us
  • Understanding a presentation’s anatomy 
  • Tips and tricks for budget presentation

Highlights

• Defining the budget process
• Common budgetary cultures and discussion of solutions
• Does your budget need an overhaul or just a tune up?
• How to make the budget flexible
• Making a better budget and maybe even a better you (or at least improving the perception of the budget work itself)