Prepared by Debby Bloom-Hill CMA, CFM CHAPTER CHAPTER 10 10 Budgetary Planning and Control Slide 10-2 Budgetary Budgetary Planning Planning and and Control Control Budgets are the formal documents that quantify a company’s plans for achieving its goals For many companies, the entire planning and control process is built around budgets Slide 10-3 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Use Use of of Budgets Budgets in in Planning Planning and and Control Control Planning Budgets enhance communication and coordination The process of developing a formal plan forces managers to consider their goals and objectives and to specify means of achieving them Budgets become the vehicle for communicating information about where the company is heading Slide 10-4 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Use Use of of Budgets Budgets in in Planning Planning and and Control Control Control Budgets provide a basis for evaluating performance Control makes sure the company is heading in the proper direction and operating efficiently To control a company, it is essential to assess the performance of managers and their operations for which they are responsible Slide 10-5 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Use Use of of Budgets Budgets in in Control Control Often performance evaluation is carried out by comparing actual with planned or budgeted performance Significant deviations from planned performance associated with three potential causes: Slide 10-6 The budget was poorly conceived Conditions have changed Managers have done a particularly good or poor job managing operations Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Test Your Knowledge Which of the following statements regarding budgets is false? a b c d They are formal documents that quantify a company’s plans They enhance communication and coordination They are useful in planning but not in control They provide a basis for evaluating performance Answer: c They are useful in planning AND in control Slide 10-7 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Developing Developing the the Budget Budget Budgets are prepared for: Departments Divisions of a company For the entire company Often the group within a company that is responsible for approval of the various budgets is the budget committee Slide 10-8 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Developing Developing the the Budget Budget The budget committee consists of senior managers The budget committee works with departments to develop realistic plans that are consistent with overall company goals In some cases the budget committee may impose a budget without soliciting input from department managers Slide 10-9 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Developing Developing the the Budget Budget In a top-down approach budgets are developed at higher operational levels without substantial input from lower level managers In a bottom-up approach, lower level managers are the primary source of information used in setting the budget Slide 10-10 Learning objective 1: Discuss the use of budgets in planning and control Flexible Flexible Budgets Budgets A flexible budget is a set of budget relationships that can be adjusted to various activity levels Thus, flexible budgets take into account the fact that when production increases or decreases, variable costs can change Slide 10-45 Fixed costs, however, stay the same Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Flexible Flexible Budget Budget Slide 10-46 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Test Your Knowledge A budget is not adjusted for the actual level of production a b c d Static Flexible Pro forma None of the above Answer: a Static Slide 10-47 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Spreadsheets Spreadsheets Slide 10-48 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Investigating Investigating Budget Budget Variances Variances Significant deviations from the budget, called budget variances, may have three causes The budget may not have been well conceived Conditions may have changed Managers may have performed their jobs particularly well or poorly Slide 10-49 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Investigating Investigating Budget Budget Variances Variances Using a management by exception approach, only exceptional variances are investigated Generally, variances that are large in absolute dollars or relative to budgeted amounts are considered exceptional It is important to point out that both exceptional “unfavorable” and exceptional “favorable” variances should be investigated Slide 10-50 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation “Unfavorable” “Unfavorable” Budget Budget Variance Variance Slide 10-51 Learning objective 3: Explain why flexible budgets are needed for performance evaluation Conflict Conflict in in Planning Planning and and Control Control Uses Uses of of Budgets Budgets Budgets are used for both planning and control With respect to planning, they communicate company goals and help coordinate various activities With respect to control, they focus the attention of managers on meeting or beating budget targets There are inherent conflicts when budgets are used for both planning and control Slide 10-52 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Issues Issues With With Budget-Based Budget-Based Compensation Compensation The following slide helps understanding of the two related problems The illustration shows a common budget based compensation scheme in which a manager receives a “hurdle” bonus once a target is hit Performance better than 80% of budgeted profit results in additional “variable” bonus Slide 10-53 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Common Common Budget-based Budget-based Compensation Compensation Scheme Scheme Slide 10-54 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Issues Issues With With Budget-Based Budget-Based Compensation Compensation The first problem is that managers have incentive to pad a budget and create budget slack Budget slack is a budget with targets that are easy to achieve The lower the budget target, the more likely it is that managers will receive the hurdle and variable bonus Managers can create slack by lowering sales and increasing cost forecasts Slide 10-55 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Issues Issues With With Budget-Based Budget-Based Compensation Compensation The second problem relates to the fact that managers who are evaluated may have an incentive to shift income from one period to another Consider a manager who estimates that it is unlikely that the target will be met The manager has an incentive to shift income from a future period to the current period Slide 10-56 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Issues Issues With With Budget-Based Budget-Based Compensation Compensation The best that can be done to mitigate the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets is to assure managers that their performance in comparison to the budget will be fairly evaluated and compensated Managers should be confident that they will be allowed to comment on the real causes of budget variances and tell their side of the story Slide 10-57 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Budget Budget Padding Padding Slide 10-58 Learning objective 4: Discuss the conflict between the planning and control uses of budgets Copyright Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc All rights reserved Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted in Section 117 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without the express written permission of the copyright owner is unlawful Request for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc The purchaser may make back-up copies for his/her own use only and not for distribution or resale The Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages, caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein Slide 10-59