Do You Have Of Business But Not A Budget? | Budgeting

By MargotBrandlin
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Year-end always brings a significant list of financial tasks to complete. We start thinking about closing the books, organizing taxes, selling investments, enrolling employees in benefits and establishing budgets.

And when that list gets long or one item seems overwhelming, human nature kicks in and it's not often pretty. Nowhere have I see business owners procrastinate more or make more excuses than when I bring up the topic of budgets. So determined are they to "get out of" putting together a budget that they've offered up everything short of a permission slip from their mom to be relieved of the obligation.

Here are some common excuses for not organizing a budget, and why you should make one anyway.

Excuse 1: Budgets are too confining; I can't stick with my initial estimates for 12 months. It doesn't make sense to create a budget and then disregard it, but here's news: your budget is yours. You don't file it with the IRS, you're not legally bound by its contents and you (hopefully) didn't make a pinky-swear promise to adhere to it with unwavering exactness. By some estimates, almost 80% of companies that create budgets don't change them even once during the fiscal year. That's not how things work in real life. You can and should change your budget as circumstances require. Budgeting for a shorter timeframe, such as quarterly, might even be a viable option for you.

Excuse 2: I won't be able to react as flexibly to an unforeseen crisis if I have a budget in place. The reality is that companies that create budgets tend to be more flexible and more proactive than companies without budgets. When you're actively tracking your progress toward a specific goal you can tell much earlier on if you've hit a snag. You can react while the situation is smaller and more manageable, and sometimes you can even see a problem before it occurs.

Excuse 3: It's too complicated to go through setting up a budget. In fact, this is a reality for many companies, but it doesn't have to be true. Even though many companies spend a lot of time sweating over their budgets and may even devote as much as 20% of their management's time to budget creation, this just doesn't have to be true. It's true that a certain level of detail is necessary in order for budgets to be effective. However, budgets can be pretty simple and still function just fine. Whatever time you invest in planning your budget, it's not wasted. You'll save time by being prepared for what may come up down the road because you've got a budget; when the time comes for you to make a decision on the spur of the moment, you'll know what to do, because you took the time to prepare.

Excuse 4: Things change too quickly in my industry for me to commit to a budget. Sorry. Conditions change at break-neck speed in every industry, and it's not a valid reason to excuse yourself from planning for the future. A budget doesn't ask you to predict unknown events (i.e., Will gas prices go up? Will I have turnover in staff? Will new legislation be passed that impacts my business?). A budget requires you to look at the big picture and commit to the goals you want to achieve and the actions you plan to take - things that are largely under your control. If you're unable to look critically at your business and determine what it is you want to accomplish in the next 12 months, you need to ask yourself why that is.

Excuse 5: Budgets don't mean anything. Everyone just creates the numbers they want so that the picture they paint is perfect. It's true that if you construct your budget based on unrealistic terms and goals in hopes of inspiring yourself to actually reach them, in fact this is a sure way to invite frustration and failure into your life. In fact, one Internet post compared budgets to pornography, saying that they were a fantasy based on what the author wanted the world to look like but with no connection to reality, and "designed to titillate, stimulate and motivate the reader, but ultimately resulting in a sense of alienation and despair." If this is your intention when you set up your budget, it's of no use to you. To help you, your budget needs to be based on reality.

Excuse 6: I have a budget that I keep in my head instead of on paper. Of course, it's good if you can keep a running total of a few figures in your head for quick access if you need them. However, it's not realistic to be able to do this for every expense, number and project. You might be able to do it for a while until your business reaches a certain size, but eventually it will be too much to keep all the details straight just in your head. In addition, if you have people working for you, you're keeping them from taking some responsibility and accountability for your business' success or failure along with you. Even if you think you're of a small enough size that you don't need a budget right now, you will someday. Start good habits now and begin to keep one while your business is small so that it will be second nature when your business grows.

Finally, remember that a budget is really just a plan. It makes you step out of the small details that bombard you on a daily basis and forces you to look at your business from a strategic standpoint, so that you have to take note of where you are in comparison to where you want to go. If you don't establish a budget as a formal tool to prod you into action, it's likely that you'll put it on the back burner in favor of dealing with the other problems that crop up daily and demand you take care of them.

So what is it? Your dog ate it? You need to shampoo your hair and won't have time? You've got relatives in from Iowa? Or are you ready to drop the excuses and start crunching numbers?

About the Author

Author: Margot Brandlin is a Minneapolis Bookkeeper for OWL Bookkeeping and CFO Services. Owl has a Bookkeeper in Minneapolis eager to help with your business finances.

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