A budget is a
calculation
A calculation is a deliberate mathematical process that transforms one or more inputs into one or more outputs or ''results''. The term is used in a variety of senses, from the very definite arithmetical calculation of using an algorithm, to th ...
play, usually but not always
financial
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
, for a defined
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated
sales
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
volumes and
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
s, resource quantities including time,
cost
In production, research, retail, and accounting, a cost is the value of money that has been used up to produce something or deliver a service, and hence is not available for use anymore. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which ...
s and
expense
An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is a ...
s, environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, other impacts,
asset
In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value ...
s,
liabilities and
cash flow
A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money:
*a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...
s. Companies, governments, families, and other organizations use budgets to express
strategic plan
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals.
It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the s ...
s of activities in measurable terms.
A budget expresses intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them with resources. A budget may express a
surplus, providing resources for use at a
future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
time, or a deficit in which expenditures exceed
income
Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...
or other resources.
Government
The budget of a
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
is a summary or plan of the anticipated resources (often but not always from taxes) and expenditures of that government. There are three types of government budget: the operating or current budget, the capital or investment budget, and the cash or cash flow budget.
United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
United States
The federal budget is prepared by the
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
, and submitted to Congress for consideration. Invariably, Congress makes many and substantial changes. Nearly all American states are required to have
balanced budget
A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...
s, but the federal government is allowed to run deficits.
India
The budget is prepared by the Budget Division Department of Economic Affairs of the
Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
annually. The Finance Minister is the head of the budget making committee. The present Indian Finance minister is
Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist and politician serving as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India since 2019. She is a member of the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian Parliament, since 2014. ...
. The Budget includes supplementary excess grants and when a proclamation by the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
as to failure of Constitutional machinery is in operation in relation to a State or a Union Territory, preparation of the Budget of such State.
The first budget of India was submitted on 18 February 1860 by James Wilson.
P C Mahalanobis is known as the father of Indian budget.
Philippines
The Philippine budget is considered the most complicated in the world, incorporating multiple approaches in one single budget system: line-item (budget execution), performance (budget accountability), and
zero-based budgeting
Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) is a budgeting method that requires all expenses to be justified and approved in each new budget period. It was developed by Peter Pyhrr in the 1970s. This budgeting method analyzes an organization's needs and costs by ...
. The
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) prepares the National Expenditure Program and forwards it to the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives to come up with a General Appropriations Bill (GAB). The GAB will go through budget deliberations and voting; the same process occurs when the GAB is transmitted to the
Philippine Senate
The Senate of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Senado ng Pilipinas'', also ''Mataas na Kapulungan ng Pilipinas'' or "upper chamber") is the upper house of Congress of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines with the House of Representatives a ...
.
After both houses of Congress approves the GAB, the President signs the bill into a General Appropriations Act (GAA); also, the President may opt to
veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
the GAB and have it returned to the legislative branch or leave the bill unsigned for 30 days and lapse into law. There are two types of budget bill veto: the
line-item veto
The line-item veto, also called the partial veto, is a special form of veto power that authorizes a chief executive to reject particular provisions of a bill enacted by a legislature without vetoing the entire bill. Many countries have different ...
and the veto of the whole budget.
Personal
A personal budget or home budget is a
finance plan
In general usage, a financial plan is a comprehensive evaluation of an individual's current pay and future financial state by using current known variables to predict future income, asset values and withdrawal plans. This often includes a bud ...
that allocates future personal
income
Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...
towards
expense
An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition is a ...
s,
savings
Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...
and
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
repayment. Past spending and
personal debt are considered when creating a personal budget. There are several methods and tools available for creating, using, and adjusting a personal budget. For example, jobs are an income source, while bills and rent payments are expenses. A third category (other than income and expenses) may be assets (such as property, investments, or other savings or value) representing a potential reserve for funds in case of budget shortfalls.
Corporate Budget
The budget of a business or corporation
is a
financial forecast
A financial forecast is an estimate of future financial outcomes for a company or project, usually applied in budgeting, capital budgeting and / or valuation; see .
Depending on context the term may also refer to listed company (quarterly) ea ...
for the near-term future, aggregating the
expected revenues and expenses of the various departments - operations,
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...
, IT, etc - and is then a key element in
integrated business planning
Integrated business planning (IBP) is a process for translating desired business outcomes into financial and operational resource requirements, with the overarching objective of maximizing profit and / or cash flow, while minimizing risk. The bu ...
, with targets
correspondingly devolved to departmental managers (and becoming
KPIs).
The budgeting process typically
requires considerable effort, often involving dozens of staff; final sign off resides with both the
financial director
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an Corporate title, officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finance, finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, r ...
and
operations director.
The budget is typically compiled on an annual basis, although this may be quarterly;
the monitoring here is on an ongoing basis.
Re the latter: if the actual figures delivered come close to those budgeted, this suggests that managers understand their business and have been successful in "delivering".
On the other hand, if the figures diverge, this sends an "out of control" signal;
additionally, the
share price could suffer where these figures have been
communicated to analysts.
Professionals employed in this role are often designated "Budget Analyst",
[Budget Analysts](_blank)
, Bureau of Labor Statistics
a specialized
financial analyst
A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job.
The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...
role.
This usually sits within the company's
financial management
Financial management is the business function concerned with profitability, expenses, cash and credit, so that the "organization may have the means to carry out its objective as satisfactorily as possible;"
the latter often defined as maximizin ...
area in general, sometimes, specifically, in "
FP&A
A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job.
The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...
" (Financial planning and analysis);
see also .
Types
* Sale budget – an estimate of future sales, often broken down into both units. It is used to create company and sales goals.
*
Production budget
Production budget is a term used specifically in film production and, more generally, in business.
A "film production budget" determines how much will be spent on the entire film project.
This involves identifying the elements and then estimatin ...
– an estimate of the number of units that must be manufactured to meet the sales goals. The production budget also estimates the various costs involved with manufacturing those units, including labour and material. Created by product oriented companies.
*
Capital budget
Capital budgeting in corporate finance is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term capital investments such as new machinery, replacement of machinery, new plants, new products, and research development project ...
– used to determine whether an organization's long-term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing.
* Cash flow/cash budget – a prediction of future cash receipts and expenditures for a particular time period. It usually covers a period in the short-term future. The cash flow budget helps the business to determine when income will be sufficient to cover expenses and when the company will need to seek outside financing.
*
Conditional budgeting
Conditional budgeting is a budgeting approach designed for companies with fluctuating income, high fixed costs, or income depending on sunk costs, as well as NPOs and NGOs. The approach builds on the strengths of proven budgeting approaches, leve ...
is a budgeting approach designed for companies with fluctuating income, high
fixed cost
In accounting and economics, 'fixed costs', also known as indirect costs or overhead costs, are business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business. They tend to be recurring, such as interest or r ...
s, or income depending on
sunk costs
In economics and business decision-making, a sunk cost (also known as retrospective cost) is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Sunk costs are contrasted with '' prospective costs'', which are future costs that may be ...
, as well as
NPOs and
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
.
* Marketing budget – an estimate of the funds needed for promotion, advertising, and public relations in order to market the product or service.
* Project budget – a prediction of the costs associated with a particular company project. These costs include labour, materials, and other related expenses. The project budget is often broken down into specific tasks, with task budgets assigned to each. A cost estimate is used to establish a project budget.
* Revenue budget – consists of
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
receipts of
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
and the expenditure met from these revenues. Revenues are made up of
taxes
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...
and other
duties
A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...
that the government levies. Various countries and
unions have created four types of tax
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
Jur ...
s: interstate,
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
,
local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
and tax jurisdictions with a special status (
Free-trade zones). Each of them provides a
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
flow to the corresponding revenue budget levels.
* Expenditure budget – includes spending data items.
* Flexibility budget – it is established for fixed cost and variable rate is determined per activity measure for variable cost.
* Appropriation budget – a maximum amount is established for certain expenditure based on management judgment.
*Performance budget – it is mostly used by organization and ministries involved in the development activities. This process of budget takes into account the end results.
* Zero based budget – A budget type where every item added to the budget needs approval and no items are carried forward from the prior years budget. This type of budget has a clear advantage when the limited resources are to be allocated carefully and objectively. Zero based budgeting takes more time to create as all pieces of the budget need to be reviewed by management.
*Personal budget – A budget type focusing on expenses for self or for home, usually involves an income to budget.
References
External links
*
*
*
Origin of the word
{{Authority control
Home economics