Fellas ive been tasked to create a budget at work and really dont know where to start. I understand there are templates to go by that are useful, we have never really had anything that i am aware of and i really want to wow them. Any help you can provide would be appreciated, i work in facilities management.
I'm assuming you have access to the accounting system? You will need historical financials and trial balances. I would begin with a line by line analysis on expenses. You can break this out and analyze it further: fixed costs versus variable costs, by department, by project, etc. You will likely need an operating (payroll, rent, utilities) and capital (large expenses like new computers, equipment, machines) budget. So get your data and start doing a year by year trend analysis. What are your biggest expenses? Why were there large changes year to year if there were? What upcoming expenses can you anticipate? Hiring more folks? Firing? Finally take into consideration the other side. Revenue projections. If business is going to increase expenses are likely to increase. If it's your job to actually create the budget based on what you anticipate expenses are going to be you have to take this into account and not just copy over last year's expenses.
You should also keep a running list of key assumptions that you make in the budget, and list them out to get input from your superiors where there is uncertainty.
This is very good advice. A budget always needs input from department heads, supervisors, etc. We just finished ours and we go over it with each department. Do they anticipate additional expenses for training, continuing education, temp workers, additional personnel, travel, meals, etc.?
