Budgeting Blues
The Division Manager looked at me balefully. “Don’t ask me why we didn’t meet the budget. Those budget numbers aren’t mine. They’re way too high. I never agreed to that.” He had a case of the budgeting blues. If you …
Category: Budgeting
3 Tips on Narrative Budgeting
Nobody likes administration expenses. And if your organization owns a building, the same thing goes for repair and maintenance cost. Introducing: Narrative Budgeting. Imagine running a church in a small community. Not only does it function as a house of …
Budget Spreadsheets are Complex!
Budget Overview Chart
Even as a professional accountant, I find other people’s budget spreadsheet models complex and difficult to follow. This article is about simple steps that budget preparers can do to help other people understand how their spreadsheets interact with one another. …
Clarise’s Budget Gap
Nobody likes administration expenses. And if your organization owns a building, order the same thing goes for repairs and maintenance. Imagine running a church in a small community. Not only does it function as a house of worship, adiposity but …
Work Versus Mission
What work do we actually do? Aligning the charity’s work to its mission. Do all your programs line up with your mission? For many charities, the answer is “not quite”. There are all kinds of historical, personal and diplomatic reasons …
Financial Reporting System Weakness
How much time is spent preparing financial reports? For many organizations, the simple answer is “a lot”. As a consultant, much of my time is spent helping companies with financial reporting systems for: Results analysis and forecasting by management, Oversight …
Habits of Successful Accountants #5 – Upgrading
Personal professional development is very important for accountants, but have you noticed how often the accounting system languishes, still at the version that was installed years ago? As an implementation consultant, I would talk to clients about features they were …
Budgeting Blues
The Division Manager looked at me. “Don’t ask me why we didn’t meet budget. Those budget numbers aren’t mine. They’re way too high. I never agreed to that.” If you are a financial analyst, that quote might be very familiar …
Sound, Practical Financial Advice From a Bank??
A round of applause to the bank president who wants the Federal Government to reduce the maximum mortgage limit from 30 years back to 25. (I guess he doesn’t realize that he could order his own people to do just …
Accounting Crisis Response
Major David Ebel, of the Escondido Salvation Army, is one of the moderators of the Emergency and Disaster Responders Support web site. I spoke to him about training as a volunteer to help people in crisis. “You may think of …