Page 126 - Budgeting for Managers

Preparing for Presentation
nary, such as unusual methods or missing information. Your
boss, on the other hand, is likely to want to know where you got
your numbers and what you will be using the money for. So,
you may want to prepare two different pages of budgetary
assumptions for your two audiences. 109
Here are some other things you should do when you review
your notes and put together your page of budgetary assumptions.
Look at each note:
• Is it clear? Could someone other than you understand it?
•Are all references clear? Would someone else know how
to find the files or people you’re referencing?
Ask if each note will help your audience:
•Will this note help make sense of the budget to others?
• Is this what your audience really wants to know?
•Are you justifying what you’ve done (trying to show
you’ve done a good job) or explaining it (telling others
what they really need to know)?

Creating Templates and Formatting a Budget
How important is a clear presentation? How important are fonts
and underlines? If the figures are right, does appearance really
matter?
The answer is that, while getting the numbers right is most
important, making the budget look good matters as

Know Your Audience
I used to think that I had to explain every point of my budg-
et just to show that I was thinking carefully.That wasn’t man-
agement; that was insecurity. Generally, our bosses will trust us to do
good work.The budgetary assumptions we show them should focus
on what concerns them:Are we using money well? Are we planning to
do all the work we need to get done?
Of course, your boss may want to know the details or there may
be an audit of the department. So it makes sense to keep careful
notes. Just don’t present those notes as budgetary assumptions. Keep
them in reserve in case someone asks for them.