Ch 7 Flashcards
define budget
formal statement of company’s future plans
define budgeting
processing of planning formal business actions and expressing them as formal plans
what three things must mgmt focus on for budgetary analysis?
- future transactions
- future events
- future opportunities available
define control function
requirement of mgmt to evaluate (benchmark) business operations against some norm
what are the two usual alternatives that evaluating business operations involves comparing actual results against?
- past performance
2. expected performance
when is budgeted performance computed?
after careful analysis and research that attempts to anticipate and adjust for changes in important company, industry and economic factors
What are the three important guidelines in budgeting process?
- Participatory budgeting (employees affected by budget should be consulted when its prepared
- goals reflected in budget should be attainable
- evals should be made carefully when opps explain any failures
what are some potential negative outcomes of budgeting? (4)
- some employees might understate sales budgets and overstate expense budgets to allow cushion
- employees overstate expense budgets for budgetary slack (or cushion) to aid in meeting targets
- pressure to meet budgets might lead employees in unethical behavior or commit fraud
- some employees might spend entire budget even if not needed to ensure budgets aren’t reduced next year
Which departmental budget drives all other budgets?
sales
Budgets figures and estimates developed through what process are usually more useful?
bottom-up process
define continuous budgeting
practice of preparing budgets for a selected number of future period and revising those budgets as each period is completed
define rolling budgets
new set of budgets a firm adds for the next period (with revisions) to replace the ones that have lapsed
what three groups usually determine or influence the budgets
creditors
directors
management
define master budget
formal, comprehensive plan for company’s future.
contains several individual budgets that are linked with each other to form a coordinated plan
how do mgrs often express the expected financial results of planned budgeted activities
wth budgeted income statement for budget period and
budgeted balance sheet for end of budget period
what are the three overall categories that should be included in a master budget
operating budgets
capital expenditures budget
financial budgets
what are the six budgets that should be included in the master operating budget
- sales budget
- merchandise purchases budget (for merchandisers)
- production budget (for manufacturers)
- manufacturing budget (for manufacturers)
- selling expense budget
- general and admin expense budget
what is the merchandise purchases budget
units to be purchased
define capital expenditures master budget
expenditures for plant assets