We’re #1There are unpleasant surprises (a parking ticket on your windshield, for example) and then there are pleasant surprises. Well, XLerant received a very pleasant surprise recently being named the #1 Pick for Budgeting Software by Accounting-Payroll Software. Goodness knows there are a lot of alternatives out there, but BudgetPak is the only budgeting application that… Read More |
My day at EACUBOI had the pleasure of participating in the annual EACUBO workshop at the end of March. Hands down, it was one of the best events I’ve ever attended. For those of you who do not know EACUBO, the acronym stands for the Eastern Association of College & University Business Officers, and it is a regional… Read More |
Naked Budgeting(The Streaker of ’74 behind Oscar presenter David Niven) For those of you who are squeamish, I apologize for the Streaker of ’74. He won’t show up again in this post, but I have to get your attention somehow. Now on to more serious matters… When it comes to budgeting, most organizations are not that… Read More |
Is Your Budget Process Fair?I realize that the question isn’t one you stop and think about during the heat of the budget battle. There are templates to be created, links that need to be validated, formulas to be edited. And that’s just preparation! All of that work represents just a fraction of the time spent developing, reviewing and reworking… Read More |
It Takes A Village To Build A BudgetThere’s no doubt that Finance runs the budget process, and probably should. But we can get so focused on the mechanics of getting the budget done, that we can almost forget that it takes a village to build it. Let’s keep in mind that the purpose of budget process is to allocate resources, and a… Read More |
Someday is now… Somebody is youSomeday we’re going to make our budget process better… somebody should really do that. How often have you thought that? How often have you discussed that with the people you work with? Well… that some day is now, and that somebody is you. I know firsthand that leading an effort to redesign the planning process… Read More |
The Malcolm Baldrige Award Criteria and Better Software PurchasingYou’ve been through the drill before. Some process in your organization needs fixing and a team is formed to address it. Before you know it, you’re looking at software as a solution. That’s not a bad thing, but the way we go about it often is. The team comes up with a requirements grid (often… Read More |
Unique Challenges of Budgeting in Not for ProfitBudgets matter in the not-for-profit world to a degree I rarely see in the for-profit world. In the for-profit world, the budget is just a snapshot in time. It can be forgotten about the first time the company produces a reforecast (which, incidentally, can be forgotten with the second reforecast). It’s not that for-profit organizations… Read More |
What a National Survey on Budgeting RevealsXLerant recently completed a survey on budgeting and I wanted to share some of the highlights with you here. Budgeting is mission critical. You probably already knew that, but isn’t it comforting to know that a majority (over 90%) of your peers agree with you? Budgeting is getting more scrutiny than in the past. Given… Read More |
Rolling Forecast – A False Choice?Instead of debating the relative merits of rolling forecasts over annual budgets, the right question to ask is “What’s the best way for us to plan in our organization?” Because maybe the answer involves elements of both. There’s an annual budget process that’s approved by Management and/or the Board of Directors, and it’s used among… Read More |
