If you own your own business, no doubt the end of the year brings you not just the holidays, but a lot of work to complete. You're probably thinking about wrapping up the books, selling any investments, organizing documentation for your taxes, setting your employees' benefits up, and creating your budgets for next year.
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 of the more common excuses, as well as the reasons they just don't fly:
Excuse 1: Budgets aren't flexible enough, so that it's impossible to stay with initial limits for the entire year. In fact, your budget doesn't have to be cut and dried. You didn't swear on your grandmother's best brownies that you'd stick with it no matter what. It's yours and if needed, you can be flexible with it. However, you should not just make a budget and then ignore it. It's estimated that up to 80% of companies who create budgets don't change even one detail during the fiscal year. In fact, that's not realistic. Not only is it possible for you to change your budget as circumstances require, but it's necessary. If appropriate, perhaps budgeting every quarter instead of yearly would be a better option for you.
Excuse 2: I won't be able to be as flexible with unforeseen circumstances or a crisis if I have a budget. In fact, the reality is that if a company has created a budget, it tends to be more proactive and flexible than one without a budget. If you actively track your progress as you move toward a specific goal, you'll be able to foresee any problems much easier with a budget that without one. You'll be able to react to the situation while it's less of a problem and easier to manage. Sometimes, you can even predict and forestall problems before they occur.
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: My industry is in flux and ever changing, so I can't commit to a budget. In fact, every industry is in flux at every moment. Your industry is the same as every other, and you need a budget regardless. Of course, you can't predict unknown events, such as if gas prices will rise, whether laws will be passed that will impact your profit margin, or whether you'll need to hire new staff, but you can still use a budget to plan and set goals over the long haul. For this, you need to plan to take action at given times, which is under your control. You need to be able to look at your business with a critical eye and decide what you want to achieve in the next 12 months. If you can't do that, then it's time to sit down and figure out why that's true.
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, it's just in my head not on paper. Keeping mental note of your company's projects, numbers and expenses is overambitious. You may be able to do it for a while, but eventually your business reaches a size that makes it impossible for you to keep in touch with all of the details. If you have managers and employees working for you, it also prevents them from taking on some of the ownership and accountability for results with you. Even if you don't feel like you're big enough for a budget right now you will be one day. It's never too early to start a good habit.
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? - 15224
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 of the more common excuses, as well as the reasons they just don't fly:
Excuse 1: Budgets aren't flexible enough, so that it's impossible to stay with initial limits for the entire year. In fact, your budget doesn't have to be cut and dried. You didn't swear on your grandmother's best brownies that you'd stick with it no matter what. It's yours and if needed, you can be flexible with it. However, you should not just make a budget and then ignore it. It's estimated that up to 80% of companies who create budgets don't change even one detail during the fiscal year. In fact, that's not realistic. Not only is it possible for you to change your budget as circumstances require, but it's necessary. If appropriate, perhaps budgeting every quarter instead of yearly would be a better option for you.
Excuse 2: I won't be able to be as flexible with unforeseen circumstances or a crisis if I have a budget. In fact, the reality is that if a company has created a budget, it tends to be more proactive and flexible than one without a budget. If you actively track your progress as you move toward a specific goal, you'll be able to foresee any problems much easier with a budget that without one. You'll be able to react to the situation while it's less of a problem and easier to manage. Sometimes, you can even predict and forestall problems before they occur.
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: My industry is in flux and ever changing, so I can't commit to a budget. In fact, every industry is in flux at every moment. Your industry is the same as every other, and you need a budget regardless. Of course, you can't predict unknown events, such as if gas prices will rise, whether laws will be passed that will impact your profit margin, or whether you'll need to hire new staff, but you can still use a budget to plan and set goals over the long haul. For this, you need to plan to take action at given times, which is under your control. You need to be able to look at your business with a critical eye and decide what you want to achieve in the next 12 months. If you can't do that, then it's time to sit down and figure out why that's true.
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, it's just in my head not on paper. Keeping mental note of your company's projects, numbers and expenses is overambitious. You may be able to do it for a while, but eventually your business reaches a size that makes it impossible for you to keep in touch with all of the details. If you have managers and employees working for you, it also prevents them from taking on some of the ownership and accountability for results with you. Even if you don't feel like you're big enough for a budget right now you will be one day. It's never too early to start a good habit.
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? - 15224
About the Author:
About the Author: Margot Brandlin is a Minneapolis Bookkeeper for OWL Bookkeeping and CFO Services. Owl has a Bookkeeper in Minneapolis ready to take on your business finances.
