Resources for Planning a Budget
Managing a home or a business requires proper attention to finances. Controlling expenses and evaluating all sources of income through the budgeting process leads to financial awareness and stability. Resources are readily available for planning and implementing a budget, whether for a business or for a household.
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Snapshot
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A budget provides a snapshot of a business's or household's financial position. Business budgets forecast the need for expansion or downsizing through an accurate assessment of the fiscal health of the enterprise. A household budget tracks monthly income and expenses, with the emphasis placed on options for investing, saving and spending.
Business
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Most businesses begin operations with a cash budget. Accounting software programs have templates for cash budgets, as do many spreadsheet programs. A cash budget's preparation begins simply, with cash on hand. From that point, the person in charge of the enterprise's finances estimates inflow of cash from sales, credit collections and investment return. Expenses fall in the cash outflow column, and include invoices from suppliers, loan payments, payroll expenses and investor compensation. Other business budgets could revolve around grant procurement, departmental requirements or operational needs.
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Business Budget Support
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The Service Corps of Retired Executives, a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, offers assistance to small-business owners. SCORE volunteers help with start-up of a new enterprise and give advice to owners of established businesses. Assistance is available in person and online. The organization provides web-based instruction through a variety of online courses, some dealing specifically with budget issues. Since its organization in 1964, SCORE has helped more than nine million people with their business concerns.
Household
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Creating a household budget involves tabulating all sources of income and balancing that income against all expenses. By setting all income and expenses down on paper, shrewd consumers use the information from the household budget figures to eliminate unnecessary expenses, thus increasing the household's solvency.
Household Budget Support
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Extension services at any state university offer a variety of support options for individuals and families wishing to start or maintain a household budget. Sources for free budgeting software are available online as well. In addition, personal financial software offers budget templates that make the budget process easy to understand and simple to set up.
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References
Resources
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