Page 129 - Budgeting for Managers

Budgeting for Managers
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relevant and clear. You need to think about the purpose of the
presentation and the interests of your audience. Based on that,
you decide what to include, how much to include, how to deal
with estimated ranges, and the format for presentation.
A presentation can be as simple as the delivery of a docu-
ment of two or a few pages. Or it could be best to prepare a
slide show using a tool such as Microsoft PowerPoint. In addition
to the printed presentation, you should also prepare to give an
oral presentation of the budget at a meeting. This helps people
understand the work you plan to do and the money you need
and gives them a chance to ask questions about anything they
do not understand. You may also have to negotiate to get the
money you want; we’ll discuss that further in Chapter 12.
What to Include for Different Audiences
There are three questions to ask when preparing a budget pres-
entation:
• Who will attend the presentation?
• Why do they want to see the budget? Why do they want
to talk to you? What are they concerned about?
•What will the results of the meeting be?
Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail.
Who will attend the presentation? Will the audience be com-
posed mostly of executives with a focus on business or of finan-
cial and accounting people with a focus on money? If the focus
is on business, then the issues will be more about productivity
and success. If the focus is on finance, then the issues are more
likely to be cost-cutting or financial controls. Financial controls
can include such issues as ensuring that the money is spent as
planned and that there are few inventory losses or no inappro-
priate uses of funds.
Why do they want to see the budget? What is the biggest con-
cern? If you’re not sure, ask them by phone or email. It is not a
problem admitting you don’t know; the problem is showing up