This index is not intended to represent an exhaustive list of topics and terms addressed within this manual. If the index does not include a reference to a particular topic or term, we encourage users to refer to the table of contents or search the document electronically. Conversion factor. totals person # dbi, u or e pay 1 pay 2 pay 3 pay 4 pay 5 total divide by average conversion factor. totals person # dbi, u or e pay 1 pay 2 pay 3 pay 4 pay 5 total divide by average conversion factor. totals average monthly gross income (enter on line 4 of budget worksheet) dbi u e month 1 month 2 month 3 quarter total (3. Take charge of your finances with Mint’s online budget planner. Our free budget tracker helps you understand your spending for a brighter financial future.

• Cf Manual Budget System
• Cf Manual Budget Form

Creating a budget manual is an absolute necessity for detailing how your company will govern its finances. Your budget manual will show a prospective lender how you manage company money. Correctly written budget manuals tell the type of budget you work with, company earning goal(s), expense payment method and project financial growth for your company. Budget manuals should present to any reader the system of clear, easy-to-understand rules and standards for managing the budget you create.

Establish a budget panel. Select department heads and put them on the budget panel. Require input and department budgets from every department represented on the budget panel. Meet with every partner, if you are a smaller company, and solicit input from each of them in creating the budget and its manual. Make creating the budget manual a cooperative effort. Get your panel (or partners) invested and committed to it through their creation efforts of it.

Lead your partners or panel through the review of previous annual budgets. Look at, in detail, each department’s expenditures and contributions to the company’s bottom line. Compare these annual figures to discern any existing patterns and/or inconsistencies. Address any anomalies that stand out. Examine budget goals from previous years. Celebrate your budget goal accomplishments and re-examine goals not realized. Start planning your next goals based on your examination of previous years.

Calculate the cost of your new goal plans. Keep this bottom line cost of goals as your key for new goal setting. Be realistic with these costs. Set cost ranges. Anticipate and fix costs to the high side of the range; this will keep your budget within parameters and make it easier to manage. Separate your budget into two basic categories of fixed costs and flex or variable costs. Include fixed costs, since they represent a significant budget commitment.

Set your budget plan up in spreadsheet format. List and give each item its own line under each of the two categories listed at the end of Step 3. Resist the tendency to include other similar or related costs into single listed expenses. Give every listed cost its own line and specific name.

Look closely at incomes as part of your budget plan. Use last year’s salaries plus exact projected increase amounts to arrive at a reliable, usable figure. Make projections challenging but realistic. Set selling goals based on what production costs are, and more importantly, good estimates of what they will be. Include pay for your invested time with production. (Keep in mind the sales cycle length.) Add production and sales costs to get a realistic product cost estimate. Add in the markup percentage you know the market will pay to arrive at final sales costs. Use these three estimates, with sales projection figures, to get a good idea of your earning potential.

• Do the most important comparison of costs versus income to get a solid earnings estimate.

  It is OK if your budget does not balance, if you know and can explain why. Major improvements and purchases can throw any budget out of kilter.

Cf Manual Budget System

• Anticipate and include new equipment and/or equipment repair costs for the coming year. No budget is legitimate without inclusion of these “emergency” estimates.

Cf Manual Budget Form

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