If you’ve managed to get your own business off the ground in the past few years, then there’s a good chance you’ve started looking into developing a more serious business budget.
This might be new territory for you. Perhaps you’re wondering where you can start and what advice you might need to know to make things easier.
The tips below will help you begin managing your business budget. That way, you can see exactly where your incomings and outgoings are going…and what improvements you might make.
Prioritize, Then Section
When developing a budget for your business, you must prioritize your finances for your business’s essentials.
This should be pretty easy to manage if you only have one department. However, if you have a few departments that you need to budget for, you might find that it becomes a little trickier.
First of all, put your hand to the information from the previous financial year. After that, you might find that therein lies the key to understanding where best you can allocate the budget to each department.
Take a look at factors such as if there were any leftover budgets in any departments. Check to see if some departments needed more financial aid than others. Then consider how important that financial aid was to the business. This could be anything from the literal sales to your employees’ comfort and wellbeing.
You can also take a look at if any other funds had to be allocated where there was not enough budget and if there were any departments that were struggling to meet targets or are not making as much as they require in budget.
Doing this will help you allocate your budget to the right place. It will also give you invaluable insight. You’ll see at once if you need to take remedial steps.
How many times have you heard the budgeting advice, “Essentials first, niceties last.” It’s a solid tool for prioritizing expenses. However, it shouldn’t mean that your employees work in substandard conditions. If it does, your budgeting is out of whack.
Make Sure You Plan Ahead
Planning is important with any budgeting, whether business or personal.
If you have more than one budget to think about, it’s best to know what is going on in advance. This is also true if you know there are going to be some changes coming up.
This could be anything from moving the building location, beginning a major renovation in the office, or investing in some office equipment that you desperately need. For outdoor tasks, if you have such a space, it’s also essential to plan for the right tools—like a reliable chainsaw if you’re handling landscaping or maintenance projects. Whether you’re trimming overgrown trees, cutting firewood, or clearing fallen branches after a storm, having the right equipment ensures the job gets done efficiently and safely.
If you know what the changes will be, it can be easier to budget for them.
However, if these are the kinds of changes that catch you off-guard, such as having equipment break down or needing to relocate premises, it can be really helpful to have an emergency budget dedicated to times such as these.
Not Too Little…But Not Too Much, Either
Here’s a pro tip. Always round up when you are planning a budget.
That way, you are more likely to have over the amount of money you need. This is far better than being caught short.
That being said, if you do know the exact price that something is going to cost, be sure to overestimate it instead. As a business, you want every single penny allocated.
When you are planning a specific budget for a department, another way to ensure there is no overspending is to consider a money management strategy such as a virtual business credit card.
A virtual business credit card behaves exactly like a physical business credit card. However, anyone with the correct information can access it. These are particularly great for making online purchases for the business. You can even use them in person assuming you can remember all of the details.
If you are interested in using this technique for money management, then read up on how to choose the best business virtual credit card so you can find the right option for you and your business.
Prepare for (Potential) Devastation
One of the best ways to manage a budget is to prepare for the worst. This might include your office flooding, a powerful tornado, theft, and so on.
If the worst happens, then you are ready for it.
If it doesn’t, well…you have the income to allocate elsewhere the next year. Alternatively, you might carry on saving for any unforeseen circumstances to give yourself a bigger emergency pot.
Your Employees Matter!
For some businesses, it can be tempting to put employee needs and desires low on the priority list. However, this would be a mistake. Your employees are the backbone of your business.
As a result, the budget should reflect their efforts and importance fairly. Talk to them about what they want to prioritize. Let them have input on where they think the budget should go.
Related Post: Use a Budget Binder
