From the Desk of Tony
The start of January is a time when a large proportion of the population make a vow to change (ideally for the better). We may sign up for gym memberships, buy fitness equipment, throw out food, join a church and so on. Ultimately, few of us stick to the changes we know deep down we need to make to be better. Our plans change, we get busy (lazy) and things fall apart.
It’s the same with annual budgets, we look at every single expense and try and allocate dollars to them, we look at customers and markets and do the same thing. My first real job (not including working at a Fitness Center and Harrod’s) was for a Swiss company who loved the budgeting process. Every month, we analyzed where we varied from sales budgets by item group and whether it was volume or price related. The meetings were brutal. I can’t remember if we changed anything because of them or not.
As we looked at budgets over the Christmas holiday, I had resolved to do some work between Christmas and New Year. Between flu season and a massive snow storm those plans were trashed before Christmas Day even arrived. Given how that went, we decided to simplify the budget process.
We chose one major development project, one big marketing expense and two capital expenditures to go after and worked out what we needed to achieve those aims and keep the lights on. It took less than a day to complete and I suspect it will be at least as accurate as last year’s “proper” budget.
Oh – and for my resolution, I’m going to be more mindful and waste less – time, money, you name it. It’s broad, and maybe hard to measure but I’m already a week ahead because of the budget.
Happy New Year.
