Motivation, budgets and responsibility accounting

8 important questions on Motivation, budgets and responsibility accounting

Disadvantages to a budget based on past performance

1. A limitation to using past results, is that in incorporates past miscues and substandard
    performance.
2. The future may be expected to be very different from the past.

Steps in preparing an operating budget

1. Revenue budget (production, stock levels and cost depend on level of revenue)
2. Production budget (in units)
3. Direct materials usage and purchases budget 
4. Direct manufacturing labour budget
5. Manufacturing overhead budget
6. Closing stock budget
7. Cost of goods sold budget
8. Other (non-production) costs budget
9. Budgeted operating profit statement

Padding or Budgetary Slack

Underestimating budgeted revenues or overestimating budgeted costs, to make budgeted targets more easily achievable.
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Financial Planning models

Mathematical representations of the relationships across operating activities, financial activities and financial statements.

4 Key steps in Activity-based budgeting

1. Determine budget costs of performing each unit of activity at each activity area.
2. Determine demand for each individual activity, based on budgeted production, new product
    development, etc.
3. Calculate costs of performing each activity.
4. Describe budget as costs of performing various activities

Benefits of Activity-based budgeting

1. The ability to set more realistic budgets
2. Better identification of resource needs
3. Linking of costs to outputs
4. Clearer linking of costs with staff responsibilities
5. Identification of budgetary slack

Variance analysis and its benefits

In lookin at variances, managers should focus on whom they should ask and not on whom they should blame. Variances only suggest questions or direct attention to persons who should have the relevant information.

Benefits:
1. Early warning
2. Performance evaluation 
3. Evaluating effectiveness of the strategy
4. Communication of the organizational goals

Self-liquidating cycle (Working Capital Cycle / Cash Cycle / Operating Cycle)

The movement from cash to stock to debtors and back to cash.

In some industries, cash receipts from customers typically lag behind sales. To fund this a self-liquidating cash loan is used. The loan is self-liquidating in the sense that the borrowed money is used to acquire resources that are combined for sale. And the proceeds from sales are used to repay the loan.

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