Unit 3 Flashcards
When are Budgets set?
Typically on an annual basis
Budgets can be developed for….
The entire business or around individual business functions (eg: production, marketing, finance and human resources)
A master budget is comprised of
Cash budget, projected profit and loss, projected balance sheets
Actual budget results are….
Compared to the budgeted values by using a variance analysis
Variance formula (Not in FB)
Variance = actual income - budgeted income (not in FB)
How is variance labelled?
Variance is labelled either favourable or unfavourable depending on the line item being compared
Budgets and variance analysis provide a business a way to
Monitor and control costs, measure departmental and corporate objectives, motivate and help managers identify problems, allocate resources, and prioritise activities
Positive and negative variance example
A positive variance doesn’t always mean it’s favourable: ie: positive for expenses would mean that the business experienced higher costs than bogeyed which is unfavourable
Disadvantage of budgets
Setting of budgets can be costly, time consuming, and ultimately not very accurate
What effects the outcome of a variance analysis or budget
The dynamic nature of business and changes in the external environment
One way to set budgets
Based on profit and cost centres
Profit centre
Part of the business that directly generates measurable revenue and costs
A cost centre does not
Generate revenue that can be directly measured
A cost centre
Generates measurable costs
Profit and cost centres can be created within a business based on….
Location (eg: China vs Europe), departments/functions (eg: human resource and marketing departments are often considered cost centres as they do not directly generate measurable revenue) Brands/products (eg: Toyota can separate sales and costs by car model)
Advantages of using profit and costs centres tend to be short-term and….
Increase accountability and responsibility, improve cost control, ability to monitor revenues and profit, increase in employee motivation in the short-term. Help identify strengths and weaknesses
Some disadvantages of using profit and cost centres are….
Unhealthy competition within w business, difficulty in allocating costs and revenues accurately and fairly, too much focus on own area of concern of quantitative aspects (eg: loss of the big picture)
Cash flow statements
Record the cash inflows and outflows of business
Cash flow forecasts
Provide projected cash inflows and outflows rather than historical ones
Investment appraisal used net cash flows….
To estimate the payback period or return on an investment - these projected cash flows come from a cash flow forecast
Net cash flow formula (Not in FB)
Net cash flow = cash inflows - cash outflows (Not in FB)
Closing balance formula (not in FB)
Closing balance = opening balance + net cash flow (not in FB)
Usually, cash flow forecasts are done
On a monthly basis
Inflows
These are usually made up of projected cash sales from the current month and cash coming in from credit sales sold in previous months