...machinists in the company. He had been with Ferguson & Son for many years and was promoted to supervisor of the machine shop when the company expanded and moved to its present location. The president (Robert Ferguson, Sr.) had often stated that the company’s success was due to the high quality of the work of the machinists like Tom. As a supervisor, Tom stressed the importance of craftsmanship and told his workers that he wanted no sloppy work coming from his department. When Robert Ferguson, Jr. became the plant manager, he directed that monthly performance comparisons be made between actual and budgeted costs for each department. The departmental budgets were intended to encourage the supervisor’s to reduce inefficiencies and to seek cost reduction opportunities. The company controller was instructed to have his staff “tighten” the budget slightly whenever a...
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...Russian Budget System: A Move to More Devolved Budget Management? Jack Diamond © 2005 International Monetary Fund WP/05/104 IMF Working Paper Fiscal Affairs Department Reforming the Russian Budget System: A Move to More Devolved Budget Management? Prepared by Jack Diamond1 May 2005 Abstract This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. The Russian federal government has recently initiated a fundamental reform of its budget system, encompassing important policy, procedural, and institutional changes. This paper reviews this reform agenda with reference to the experience of industrial countries that over the past two to three decades have followed a similar reform path toward a more devolved budget management system. From this perspective, the importance of the strength of existing public expenditure management systems to accommodate increased devolution and the scope for employing decentralized agencies is explored. An assessment of the present Russian reform plans in light of this review reveals a number of concerns. First, the speed of the reforms contemplated appears overly ambitious when judged by the experience of other countries. Second, the preparedness of budget institutions...
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...Correctional System Budget Student’s Name Institution Introduction Different states in the United States are faced with the worst financial crisis in history. Declining revenues had led to forced cuts in almost all government functions among them being the correctional facilities which were considered off limits before this crisis began. The budgets of more than 26 state department of corrections have been significantly cut, and those that have not been cut are reducing their expenditure on non-core areas. The correctional departments faced with the budget cuts have all reduced operational costs as it is one of the easiest and quickest steps to take (Mears, 2010).Corrections departments all followed this path by reducing personnel costs, reducing beds and eliminating certain programs. The specific strategies that were adopted for such savings however differed. For example, Maine changed the way it provided medication to inmates and renegotiated its health contract with its healthcare provider. Even more controversial, some states reduced the amount of food given to inmates. An example is Georgia which reduced the meals given to inmates, but still provided the same calories. Other states including New York and Kansas stopped their planned technology upgrades and postponed their expenditure plans. However, the cost-cut measures that were employed by different states correction facilities included downsizing programs, closing facilities and reducing personnel costs. Downsizing...
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...Correctional System Budget Student’s Name Institution Introduction Different states in the United States are faced with the worst financial crisis in history. Declining revenues had led to forced cuts in almost all government functions among them being the correctional facilities which were considered off limits before this crisis began. The budgets of more than 26 state department of corrections have been significantly cut, and those that have not been cut are reducing their expenditure on non-core areas. The correctional departments faced with the budget cuts have all reduced operational costs as it is one of the easiest and quickest steps to take (Mears, 2010).Corrections departments all followed this path by reducing personnel costs, reducing beds and eliminating certain programs. The specific strategies that were adopted for such savings however differed. For example, Maine changed the way it provided medication to inmates and renegotiated its health contract with its healthcare provider. Even more controversial, some states reduced the amount of food given to inmates. An example is Georgia which reduced the meals given to inmates, but still provided the same calories. Other states including New York and Kansas stopped their planned technology upgrades and postponed their expenditure plans. However, the cost-cut measures that were employed by different states correction facilities included downsizing programs, closing facilities and reducing personnel costs. Downsizing...
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...Correctional System Budget Student’s Name Institution Introduction Different states in the United States are faced with the worst financial crisis in history. Declining revenues had led to forced cuts in almost all government functions among them being the correctional facilities which were considered off limits before this crisis began. The budgets of more than 26 state department of corrections have been significantly cut, and those that have not been cut are reducing their expenditure on non-core areas. The correctional departments faced with the budget cuts have all reduced operational costs as it is one of the easiest and quickest steps to take (Mears, 2010).Corrections departments all followed this path by reducing personnel costs, reducing beds and eliminating certain programs. The specific strategies that were adopted for such savings however differed. For example, Maine changed the way it provided medication to inmates and renegotiated its health contract with its healthcare provider. Even more controversial, some states reduced the amount of food given to inmates. An example is Georgia which reduced the meals given to inmates, but still provided the same calories. Other states including New York and Kansas stopped their planned technology upgrades and postponed their expenditure plans. However, the cost-cut measures that were employed by different states correction facilities included downsizing programs, closing facilities and reducing personnel costs. Downsizing...
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...China’s budgetary system Year III Finance and Banking Balea Calin Dobrovolschi Natalia 2012 Content Introduction………………………………………………………………..pg 3 Traditional Budget Accounting…………………………………...……… pg 3 1.Taxonomy of Chinese Accounting……..…………….......................... pg 3 1.1 The Domain of Budget Accounting……….…………...………... .pg 3 1.2 Chinese units……………………………………………………... pg 4 2. Public Financial Management Process……………………..……….. pg 4 Conventional Budget Accounting …………………………………………pg 5 1. Overall and Unit Budgets…………………….…………………….. pg 5 2. Characteristics of the Chinese Budget Accounting System ….….…..pg 6 2.1 Accounting as a Budget Tool…………………….…………….. pg 6 2.2 Characteristics…………….…………………….……………… pg 7 The 1994 Budget Law………………………………..…………………… pg 8 1. Scope…….……………………………………………………….....pg 8 2. Institutional structure…………………………………………….....pg 8 3. Budget policy……………………………………………………….pg 9 3.1 General Policy…………………………………………………. pg 9 3.2 Separate Revenue System……………………………………....pg 9 3.3 Dual Budgeting System………………………………………...pg 10 3.4 Functional Classification of the Budget………………………...pg 10 3.5 Increased Budgetary transparency………………………………pg 11 3.6 Increased Effectiveness in resource utilization………………….pg 11 Further development………………………………………………………...
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...Kenya Ratcliff American Intercontinental University FINA425 – Budgeting January 24, 2016 Abstract This is a research paper about financial budgets. This research paper talks about a management director would establish policies and system for a business and/or organization. This research paper will help to explain the different style of budgets, budget cycles and the guidelines rules for set up a financial budget for a business and/or organization. Unit 3 Individual Project Introduction This is a report from the management director to establish policies and systems for the new business, I Can Business Incorporated (ICBI). This report will be delivered to the board of directors of ICBI. This report will describe what a financial reporting system is and explain how management for ICBI should use an activity based budget instead of an operating budget. This report also gives examples of budget guidelines for ICBI. Describe the meaning and the components of a financial reporting system Financial reporting is the process of compiling statements that shows a glimpse of an organization’s financial “health” or status to management, investors and the government. There are four basic reports that are included in a financial report. There is a balance sheet, an income statement or sometimes called the profit & loss statement, a cash flow statement and a statement of shareholder’s equity. The balance sheet gives a detailed picture of the financial condition of a business at...
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...the budgeting process and primarily focuses on the planning problems with budgeting. The other advocates abandoning the budget and primarily focuses on the performance evaluation problems with budgeting. This paper provides an overview and research perspective on these two recent developments. We discuss why practitioners have become dissatisfied with budgets, describe the two distinct approaches, place them in a research context, suggest insights that may aid the practitioners, and use the practitioner perspectives to identify fruitful areas for research. INTRODUCTION udgeting is the cornerstone of the management control process in nearly all organizations, but despite its widespread use, it is far from perfect.1 Practitioners express concerns about using budgets for planning and performance evaluation. The practitioners argue that budgets impede the allocation of organizational resources to their best uses and encourage myopic decision making and other dysfunctional budget games. They attribute these problems, in part, to traditional budgeting’s financial, top-down, commandand-control orientation as embedded in annual budget planning and performance evaluation processes (e.g., Schmidt 1992; Bunce et al. 1995; Hope and Fraser 1997, 2000, 2003; Wallander 1999; Ekholm and Wallin 2000; Marcino 2000; Jensen 2001). We demonstrate practitioners’ concerns with budgets by...
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...Financial Management Author’s name: Stuart Lauderdale Student ID: 21330588 Date: 21st January 2014 Module: Managing budgets and Interpreting Financial Statements Module Code: BM459DO Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Method 4 3.0 Budgeting Systems Overview 4 3.1 Budgeting-Key Considerations 6 3.2 The Difference between Profit Centres and Investment Centres 7 4.0 Lightning Limited Illustration 8 4.1 Lightning Limited Analysis Using Accounting Ratios. 9 4.2 Lightning Limited Summary 10 5.0 DPG Budgeting Method 11 6.0 Summary 11 Bibliography 13 1.0 Introduction The purpose of this report is to analyse the system employed by the Operations department of Dominos Pizza Group (DPG) in creating budgets with reflection on the system’s suitability by reviewing alternative methods. The importance of timeliness and other budgetary measures will be factored into the report. The key inputs for designing a budget will be explored along with further research to illustrate the difference between both a Profit and Investment Centre. The financial statements provided for the Lightning Company will be analysed and a minimum of eight financial ratios will be used to determine accomplishment of said company from two perspectives. One being management of the said company and the other being as a prospective investor. All findings will be reported and presented as clearly as possible to enable anyone new to...
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...Rhonda Moore According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a budget can be defined as “the amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose”. Many people think of budgeting as something to do when they're short on cash. College students might turn to a budget to figure out how to make due with their high expenses and limited incomes. Two purposes for budgets are planning and control. Planning is a way of constructing the budget to meet the pre determined goal and, it also controls the feedback system to ensure proper execution of the plan. The advantages of budgeting are communication of management plan in the organization, provides guidelines for managers to think and plan for future, allocate resources, uncover bottle necks, co-ordinate activities for entire organization and provide benchmark for evaluation of future performance. Typically budgets can be prepared annually, and they can represent a company’s plan in specific, quantitative terms. A budget can help companies plan for the future. So companies can also take advantage of a budget by shaping the well-organized line for making money and increasing assets. “A budget may span any period of time. It may be short-term (one year or less, which is usually the case), intermediate (two to three years), or long-term (three years or more). Short-term budgets provide greater detail and specifics. Intermediate budgets examine the projects the company currently is undertaking and...
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...Vershire Company & Aluminum Industry Industry of Aluminum Aluminum. Less spillage or breakage, ease of storage at home or when people travel, maintenance of soft drink carbonation, ease of lithograph and ease of recycling, aluminum production is one of the modern era’s great economic stories. The world’s primary aluminium industry produces over millions ton of aluminium metal per year. The most important markets for aluminium products are the transport, building and packaging sectors, however aluminium also finds application in electrical and mechanical engineering, office equipment, domestic appliances, lighting, chemistry and pharmaceuticals. The United States aluminum industry is the worlds largest, annually producing about $.1 billion in products and exports. U.S. companies are the largest single producer of primary aluminum. The U.S. industry operates over 00 plants in 5 states , produces more than billion pounds of metal annually and employs over 145,000. Aluminum is one of the few products and industries left in America that truly impacts every community in the country, either through physical plants and facilities, recycling, heavy industry, or consumption of consumer goods. The aluminum industrys performance is noteworthy, particularly in light of the proliferation of alternative materials and global competition. Transportation represents the largest market for aluminum in the United States. In 000, transportation accounted for .5 percent of all US...
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...the company faces is that customers in the industry are not reluctant to switch to another supplier if certain standards in quality and service are not met. Vershire’s main problems are its planning, internal control, and placing responsibilities on the correct managers. Planning System The first issue in planning system is that initial sales forecast is not made by divisional managers who are responsible for the operation management of each division. Rather, the sale forecast uses assumptions derived entirely from corporate headquarters’ analyses. Such assumptions include inventory carryovers, packing trends, and etc. The forecasting method also lacks a decentralized mindset which is vital when there are different markets and customer preference. By using a centralized system, the company’s decisions do not accommodate for these differences. This would greatly hinder the company’s performance in sensitive markets that require more attention to socially acceptable practices. Lastly, the plant managers are responsible for the budgeted profits since their performance is evaluated based on their plants’ profit. However, they do not possess full control on those profit components. Sales budgets are made by the district sale managers who are less knowledgeable on the logistics of the plant than the plant managers...
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...creative engineering and high accuracy analysis. On the other hand, the Letsgo Travel Trailer Company is experiencing challenges with quality, cash flow and a performance review and reward system. This is happening due to lack of integrative planning across different functions. Each functional unit is trying to maximize their own performance, which in turn is hampering the overall performance. The current appraisal and reward system is increasing this isolated and non-cooperative working of the different functional units. ▪ The sales department to improve their sales want to have high finished goods inventory ▪ The production department wants to have high inventory of raw material to have uninterrupted production schedule. They are not interested in implementation of Just-in-time inventory methods to reduce the overall cost. ▪ The current control and reporting system does not provide enough good quality data to guide management decision process. For example, no record for work in process is kept in the company. ▪ The accounts department is making the budget without getting any information from functional units. This way the budgets are not realistic and reflect only an accounting necessity rather than a decision making and control tool. ▪ The cash management system of the company is not good and company is facing the cash management problems. Validity and Reasonableness of Letsgo’s Sales Projections: Table-1: Actual and Projected Sales Growth ...
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...covered in detail in chapters one and two. Budgetary control is defined by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants (CIMA) as: "The establishment of budgets relating the responsibilities of executives to the requirements of a policy, and the continuous comparison of actual with budgeted results, either to secure by individual action the objective of that policy, or to provide a basis for its revision". Chapter objectives This chapter is intended to provide: marketing as a key marketing control technique An overview of the advantages and disadvantages of budgeting Structure of the chapter Of all business activities, budgeting is one of the most important and, therefore, requires detailed attention. The chapter looks at the concept of responsibility centres, and the advantages and disadvantages of budgetary control. It then goes on to look at the detail of budget construction and the use to which budgets can be put. Like all management tools, the chapter highlights the need for detailed information, if the technique is to be used to its fullest advantage. Budgetary control methods a) Budget: activities in a given period of time. -ordinate the activities of the organisation. An example would be an advertising budget or sales force budget. b) Budgetary control: can either exercise control action or revise the original budgets. Budgetary control and responsibility centres; These enable managers to monitor organisational functions. A responsibility centre can be defined as...
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...A budget is a financial plan for the future concerning the revenues and costs of a business. However, a budget is about much more than just financial numbers. Budgetary control is the process by which financial control is exercised within an organisation. Budgets for income/revenue and expenditure are prepared in advance and then compared with actual performance to establish any variances. Managers are responsible for controllable costs within their budgets and are required to take remedial action if the adverse variances arise and they are considered excessive. There are many management uses for budgets. For example, budgets are used to: * Control income and expenditure (the traditional use) * Establish priorities and set targets in numerical terms * Provide direction and co-ordination, so that business objectives can be turned into practical reality * Assign responsibilities to budget holders (managers) and allocate resources * Communicate targets from management to employees * Motivate staff * Improve efficiency * Monitor performance Whilst there are many uses of budgets, there are a set of guiding principles for good budgetary control in a business. In an effective budget system: * Managerial responsibilities are clearly defined – in particular the responsibility to adhere to their budgets * Individual budgets lay down a plan of action * Performance is monitored against the budget * Corrective action is taken if results...
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