Page 131 - Budgeting for Managers

cially when it states a clear goal and asks people to read mate-
rial in advance. People are more likely to come to the meeting
and the meeting is more likely to run on time. You can move
through the agenda and finish topics promptly.
114 Budgeting for Managers
How Much to Include

In deciding how much material and detail from your budget to
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include in a presentation, you should be guided by the purpose
of the presentation. There are two main things to consider:
scope and level of detail. Scope is the amount of material you
cover—an outline of everything to be included in a budget, a
department’s responsibilities, or a project. Level of detail is the
depth of coverage. How much detail is important in a budget
presentation? Do you need to show sub-items? Do you need to
show small items or do you want to show only items over a cer-
tain dollar amount?
In matching the scope of the meeting and the scope of the
budget, here are some things to consider:
• If all of the work of your department is being reviewed,
then you should include the entire departmental budget.
• If you don’t control salary and there are no plans to
change staffing levels, then don’t include the salary
budget.
• If only salary and positions are being reviewed, you
don’t need to present the expense budget.
• If the meeting is reviewing only a project or only some of
your department’s work, present a budget only for the
work under review at the meeting.
When considering the level of detail of your budget, think
both about how much (or how little) information you want to
present and about what size dollar figures are really going to
matter for the purpose of the meeting. It’s best to fit the budget
on a single page if you can. One page is much easier to read
than pages and pages of detail. Remember that you are familiar
with your department and your budget, but that others are read-

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