What is Financial Budgeting?

 

Financial budgeting is the projection of income and expenditure for a given period. It calculates the income you will earn and save concerning your expenses. The budgeting plans can be long-term and short-term, depending on your objectives. 

 

Budgeting comprises balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, etc. It is typically done annually, although some companies have a budgeting forecast of three to five years. 

 

An effective budget can help companies analyze their financial performance. Also, comparing different budgets helps to identify problems within the company. In addition, capital operations become more manageable with a maintained financial budget. 

 

In short, the financial budget is the roadmap to future stability. And it provides the entire economic picture of the company. A 360 image helps identify the problems with every operational department in an organization. 

Historical background of Financial Budgeting

National budgeting began in England in 1760, presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The purpose of giving the budget was to prepare tax cuts and control spending for the general public. After that, in the early 20th century, American accounts and finance executives Donaldson Brown, Alfred Sloane, and James o McKinsey started the development of business budgets. As finance experts, they developed the factors affecting return on investment. The factors included turnover, cost of sales, inventories, account receivables, and administrative expenses. 

 

In 1970, Marvin Bower revolutionized business budgeting. He advised the US government on government budgets and is the pioneer in developing future forecastings. After the launch of Microsoft Excel in 1987, complex financial budgets and financial modeling became more accessible and understandable.

 

In the current business world, financial budgeting is completely digital. The entire complex structure of financial budgeting is online and financial analysts use advanced programs to manage company budgets. Companies such as Mosaic Tech, Prophix or Financli are some examples of the online financial service platforms. They help emerging companies with financial budgeting, forecasting, analysis, and more.

Types of Financial Budgeting

There are different financial budgeting methods with their advantages and disadvantages.

• Incremental Budgeting

Of all the available budgeting types, the most common is the incremental budgeting approach. Companies use inflation as an adjustment factor to create a future cumulative forecast. It is the easiest and oldest approach to budgeting and is therefore used by many top-notch businesses. 

 

Incremental budgeting changes the value of factors that scale up yearly, such as depreciation and inflation. The past figure is accepted in this scenario; only gradual changes need justification. This budgeting process can not justify rapid growth in businesses with patterned and limited incremental change in the cost structure. As a result, technology companies are least likely to use incremental budgeting for their forecasting. One major drawback is that incremental budgeting does not involve changing economic conditions. 

• Activity-based Budgeting (ABB)

As the name suggests, activity-based budgeting follows a pattern involving all the activities required to complete a goal. Analysts record every cost occurring in an activity. All these costs combine to form a budget.

 

This budgeting process helps manage every activity at the individual level. It helps minimize the activity level to a minimum and saves costs. Activity-based budgeting contrasts with traditional budgeting practices that involve using past performances. Rather than past performances, ABB operates on current financial values and activities in a particular period. All these activities have a specific expected budget. 

 

Companies with high volatility and rapid growth use ABB methods to form future budget predictions. Established or entirely new startups find other budgeting methods to follow.

• Value Proposition Budgeting (VPB)

 It is a budgeting process ensuring that all the budgeted activities provide some value to the company. Based on a company’s priorities, the value proposition justifies value for every expenditure involved in the decision-making process. Such activities create financial restructuring for the company. 

 

The motive of value-proposition budgeting is that the value of an element of the expenditure list must outweigh its cost. Startups producing new and unique products use this budgeting system to find their most valuable and least valuable products or services. In addition, due to continuous restructuring, governments use VBP to find practical programs that they offer. The purpose of VBP is to eliminate all irrelevant expenses occurring in an organization.

 

• Zero-based Budgeting

When a company wants to structure its business budgeting from scratch, it uses zero-based budgeting. In this scenario, a manager or financial analyst justifies every expense. Unfortunately, it is the most time-consuming approach and comes into action in times of severe crisis.

 

During the pandemic, the stock market crashed in March 2020. Publicly traded companies faced heavy losses in their stock prices. They used zero-based budgeting techniques to consider every expense. It became the basis of many layoffs and salary cuts during the pandemic.

 

The structure of this approach makes it valuable at times of economic breakdown and significant losses.

Importance of Financial Budgeting

Financial budgeting is essential as it helps analyze all the cash outflows going toward a company’s expense report. Following a budget makes investment decisions more straightforward and more effective. 

• Money Control

One primary reason companies go out of business or bankrupt is how they use their debt and equity. Many companies use more debt than required to save themselves from taxation. In addition, some industries dare to use more debt while doing business. These include real estate, pharmaceutical, and rapidly growing technology companies. Although this case can also backfire, as seen in the housing market crash of 2007-08. 

 

Companies must stick to an orderly budget in which debt and interest payments have priority. This budgeting is the quality of an established and long-term business model. 

 

Quality financial budgeting helps to pay debt and interest payments on an annual basis. In the future, companies can minimize their debt payments and use the capital to develop better goals and strategies for their profitability. 

• A Happy Future

The optimum goal of a business is to stay profitable for a very long time. Companies that utilize their capital to grow their business are the most successful ones in the market. The market requires the creation of financial budgets in today’s business world. Not only do these budgets help advance your company, but they also find economic flaws. 

 

A business analyst optimizes data to formulate a financial budget that can stabilize the company in the future. A long-term approach to reducing the debt-to-equity ratio also builds interest-free cash flows. 

• Cost Fluctuation

Inflation is the rate at which a commodity price increases over time. After the pandemic, inflation reached an all-time high. Prices of assets are rapidly increasing with higher interest rates and currency devaluation. Many organizations have had massive budget cuts to ensure they stay at the breakeven level.

 

Financial analysts predict this rate will keep increasing for a few more years. To manage this cost fluctuation, analysts use financial budgeting. The budgeting process considers every price change and its effect on the expenditure.  

• Emergency Fund

We have always heard that the best things happen unexpectedly. However, the worst happens unexpectedly, too. Many macroeconomic factors can affect a company’s environment. In such situations, the best companies are the ones that have a backup plan.

 

An outstanding financial budget comprises an emergency fund that a company can rely on for at least one year. The purpose of this emergency fund is to handle a company’s financial pressure in times of crisis. 

Budgeting Problems

Besides all the excellent advantages, several problems are attached to a company’s financial budgeting.

 

First, a budget is an assumption of various factors and company data provided. Economic conditions can change the way a company operates entirely. In such cases, financial budgeting will give unwanted results. Furthermore, these undesirable results become the grounds for significant capital loss for the company. Change in exchange rates or increase in interest rates can affect the efficiency of a budget. 

 

Another major drawback of budgeting is the check and balance of budgeting strategies. Managers only handle the system created at the beginning of a year and stay the same throughout. Within one year, a business environment can rapidly change, considering the impact technology has on the business world. 

 

The third most crucial disadvantage of a financial budget is the cost and time consumption for the creation. Budget creation uses many skilled finance professionals and can be a lengthy process. 

 

There are changes in financial fraud as well. Managers might present a budget with high expenditure costs that favors them later. That is why it is essential to use external analysts to form a company’s yearly budget. 

Technologically Advanced Financial Budgeting

The world has already become a global village, and due to technology, data is available everywhere and easily accessible. The ease of availability creates more competitors in the industry, challenging sustainability in the long run. Businesses need updates regularly on their capital environment through the finance department.

 

To maintain the normal business financial condition and analyze the competitors, it is essential to create a financial budget—the future demands a straightforward budgeting system.

 

Furthermore, specific fintech changes are developing in the global financial market. These changes will shift the entire budgeting structure online and quickly accessible. One primary reason for creating these technological advancements is to minimize the labor-intensive workforce. 

Summing Up

Financial budgeting is the ultimate solution to manage a company’s expenditures. Whether you own an international company or run a small business in the neighborhood, making a budget should be the first step in any financial decision-making process. Budgeting also enhances a company’s control of capital.

 

Financial analysts try to create a financial budget that involves every money transaction. The entire budgeting process includes many skilled professionals for decision-making purposes. Combining the expertise provided by all the professionals manages to build a solid financial budget.