CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
Budgeting
is a key policy instrument for public management and management of the firm; it
is a familiar activity to many as it is practiced in our private lives as well
as in businesses, government and voluntary groups. The use of budgets in
government circle long preceded its application in enterprises or the business
sector. In the stable economic environment of the period before the world wars,
few large companies particularly in the U.S.A and U.K used budgets for variety of
purposes. The use of budgets created its own conflicts, as some pioneer companies
reported budgeting as a significant tool to management, while others reported
same as having an ill or even a negative effect on efficiency and productivity.
However, the world depression of the 1920s and its attendant negative effects
that created “business worries and troubles” made the use of budgeting
imperative in order to plan the overall growth of an economy and the
enterprise.
Lambe
(2012) writing on Budgeting and Planning aptly defines budgeting as a
comprehensive and coordinated plan which is packaged by the management of an
organization, and expressed in financial terms for the operations and resources
of an enterprise for some specific period in the future. Pandey (2008) defines budgetary
control as the establishment of departmental budgets relating the
responsibilities of the executive to the requirement of a policy, and the
continuous comparison of actual budgeted result either to secure desired actions.
The objective of that policy is to provide a firm basis for its revision. Thus,
a budget could be seen as a plan showing how resources will be required and
used over a specific period of time. It represents a plan for the future
expressed in quantitative terms. The Institute of Cost and Management
Accountants (1999) put the concept of budget in perspective when they defined a
budget as, a plan quantified in monetary terms prepared and approval prior to a
defined period of time, usually planned income to be generated and expenditure
to be incurred during that period and the capital to be employed to attain a
given objective.
Individuals
draw up household budgets for the entire family showing the sources of the
family’s income and their day to day expenditure. In the same way businesses
whether service oriented, oil industry, manufacturing or government agencies
all draw up their budgets showing expected revenue and proposed expenditure for
a given period of time usually as a way to ‘insure’ themselves against any serious
disasters that may occur. Sometimes, a forecast may be wrong, yet it provides a
basis for necessary adjustments in cases of deviations and as such budgets are
expected to be kept flexible to accommodate change. The management of an organization
normally sets objectives or goals, so that the organization clearly identifies
what it wants to achieve in a future time period and these targets or goals
differ among several organizations. Budgeting therefore involves the setting of
targets and monitoring of actual performance against the anticipated
performance. It is a technique, which is essential and critical to most
businesses and it requires the involvement of all levels of management and all
functions of the organization.
1.1 Background of the study
Traditionally,
budgeting has always been viewed as a way of limiting expenditure, hence a
great part of management’s time is devoted to the allocation of fund. However,
empirical evidences in today’s globalized world, suggest that budgeting goes
beyond merely showing expected revenue and project expenditure. Rather, a budget
protects and controls the way management reacts to proposals brought before it,
while also examining the present and future cost as well as benefits associated
with such a proposal. In achieving this though, it must not lose sight of the
environment in which it operates. This same principle goes with the preparation
of a budget, such that in preparing a budget, management of businesses must
realize that it is indeed a part of the economic system and as such, can
influence as well as be influenced by activities within the economic system.
A
number of controllable and uncontrollable factors also influence an
organization and these factors must be well appraised in drawing up a budget.
Due to the existence of uncontrollable factors, which are usually not within
the purview of management, provisions must be made in the budget to allow for
diverse results (whether favorable and adverse factors), depending on the state
of the economy at any given time, and it is this provision that inputs
flexibility in budgeting. According to Joseph Baggot (1976), flexible budget is
any type of budget which recognizes the difference in behavior between fixed
and variable cost relative to fluctuation in output and turnover, and it is
designed to change appropriately with such fluctuations. Whereas a fixed budget
according to ICMA (1999) is a budget which is designated to remain unchanged
irrespective of the output or turnover actually attained.
There
are basically two very common types of budgets in every organization, whether
(private of public) and these include the capital and cash budgets. This does
not in any way negate the importance of other forms of budgets, as every
organization has its own way of classifying budgets, such as (the preparations
of) sales budget, production budget, general budgets, administrative budget,
research and development budgets among others. These budgets could be short
term, intermediate or long term. The capital budget indicate the amount of
funds that an organization or governmental agency will devote to capital
project for a specific period of time. It details the projects assets and
activities in which an organization will invest these outlays and it answers
several fundamental questions such as: What are the long-term asset needs of an
organization? What capital funds will an organization required in periods/years
ahead in other to remain a going concern. The cash budget on the other hand is
a detailed financial forecast presented in a schedule showing cash flows
(inflows and outflow) for an organization, over a specific period of time.
Batty (1968) opined that a cash budget is the estimation of cash receipts and
payment for a future plan after due consideration has been given to expected condition
and the overall budget plan. The cash budget rather than being a budget in
itself is derived from other budgets. It gives the financial highlight and
takes into account the timing of receipts and payments. The important aspect of
cash budgets cannot be overemphasized as it influences the liquidity position
of an organization. A decision not to plan cash inflow and outflow adequately
could create structural rigidities and limited choice of financial sources, as
well as high interest rate or opportunity cost of money. The essence of any budget
is to control expenditure and enable management carry out projects in order of
importance; hence the budgeting process is seen as a way of improving
management efficiency and performance in operations.
Similarly,
the foundation of a firm’s financial plan is a sales forecast or budget. The
sales budget provides the source of information and guidance for drawing up
other budgets. This is because the sales revenue shows how well a firm is
performing or is expected to perform both in the present and in the future. A
good sales budget allows management enough financial caution for other
expenditure, while at the same time allowing for a good study of the pattern of
sales revenue receipts which enable the organization draw up its cash budget
for the purpose of liquidity and capital projects.
In
drawing up a financial plan, management must set a standard for comparing
actual performance with what was budgeted, thus creating a basis for
controlling performance both in terms of production and cost incurred. This
control is primarily referred to as budgetary control; that is the use of
budget to control firms’ activities. The Institute of Cost and Management
Accountants (1999) defines budgetary control as the establishment of budget
relating the responsibility of executives to the requirement of a policy and
the continuous comparison of actual with budgeted result, either to be secured
by individual action the objective of the policy or to provide a basis for its
revision. It is essential to compare at regular intervals, actual performance with
budgeted results or standard set to ensure that deviations from planned results
are kept down to a minimum and that the necessary corrective actions are taken
as soon as possible after investigation of such deviations have been
undertaken. In some circumstances, it may be necessary to revise the target or
goals set, but this should only occur in exceptional circumstances.
The
basic concept of budgeting and budgetary control however entails the
establishment of a goal by management that will guide it in drawing up its
planned activities, quantified in financial terms as a budget. It also involves
the comparison of actual performance with the established standard or goal, and
if any deviations occur, corrective actions are taken. Budgeting is closely
connected with control and the exercise of control in the organization with the
help of regulatory or policy framework is known as budgetary control.
Consequently, the process of budgetary control involves; the preparation of
various budgets, continuous comparison of actual performance with budgetary
performance and the revision of budgets in the light of changed circumstances.
Budgetary
control (if not made to be excessively rigid), is an important device for
making any organization more efficient on all fronts, and it serves as an
important tool for controlling costs and achieving the overall objectives. In
the light of the above, it is important to state that planning and control is the
essence of profit planning in any business organization and the budgeting
system provides an integrated picture of the firm’s operation as a whole.
All
companies require for their successful operation and continuity in business,
effective financial planning and control. Budget represents planning and
control devices that require management to anticipate changes and adopt them.
Business operations in today’s economic environment are complex and are subject
to heavy competitive pressures, and as such different kinds of changes take
place. The state of the fluctuations in the economy in turn affects different
industries in a number of ways.
Consequently,
in other to critically articulate the issue in question, a government owned
company in Nigeria will be brought into focus and this is the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The NNPC is an organization that prepares budget
for production, sales, capital expenditures, research and development etc, but
at the same time it is a major player in the oil industry, which is faced with
changing national and global situations which exerts wide ranging influence on
budget preparation and execution. The common changing situations that usually
affects the oil industry includes; fluctuations in oil price and production
quota as regulated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
at the international front and the government financial policies and statutory
regulations at the national level.
Budget
can be defined as a detailed financial statement that shows details of
anticipated revenue and prepared expenditure, (Yakubu ,2011). Is also a
forecast of expenditures and revenue for a specific period of time; usually one
year. The word budget originated from a French word bougette meaning little
bag. In Britain, the word was used to describe the leather bag in which then
chancellor of the exchanger used to carry to the parliament the statement of
governments needs and sources as describe by several thought of consensus, the
budget became the document contained in the bag which represent plans of
government expenses in money and submitted to legislative for approval,
(Abdullahi & Angus, 2012). According to Olurankinse (2012), budget making
and budget implementation involve the process of identification of public needs
and the determination of the quality of goods and services to satisfied these
need through the political process, by economic analysis with the overall
developmental plan objective.
Government prepares
budget in form of public policy to serve as a driving force through which are
mission could be achieved. As good as our budget is, the performance of which
can be measured in terms of accomplishment is noting to right home about.
Budget accomplishment is far from reality and the disparity between budget and
accomplishment are so wide and kept on abating as years pass by. The government
plays a leading role in shaping and development of any nation and giving there
explicit important, it is necessary to provide a suitable frame work to enable
the achievement of this noble-role. This is accomplished through the apparatus
public administration, a field which refers to the manner in which federal,
state, and local institutions with their procedural, legal, regulatory,
financial, human resources and asset aspect are organized, institutionalized
and managed with respect to regulatory, revenue generation, speeding and
procurement functions, and the provision of such services as defense, social
service, and economic infrastructures, (Kenneth, 2012). Public sector according
to Olurankinse (2012) simply refers to the part of the economy that is
controlled by the government for the purpose of basic government services.
These basic services that the government needs to provide is so enormous due to
increase in the number of people they service. As economics will put it “human
wants are unlimited, but the means to satisfy them are limited”, this therefore
calls for the use of an efficient management tools that will harness the
limited resources for optimal use. One of the machineries of government that
can be use for this purpose is budget.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Government
prepares budget in form of public policy to serve as a driving force through which
are mission could be achieved. As good as our budget is, the performance of
which can be measured in terms of accomplishment is noting to right home about,
(Olurankinse, 2012). Budget accomplishment is far from reality and the
disparity between budget and accomplishment are so wide and kept on abating as
years pass by.
It
is based on the above premise that the study sought to examine the degree of
relationship that exist between expenditure and revenue of some selected public
corporations in Osun state. The selected public corporations are: Property
Development Corporation, Broadcasting Service Corporation, Water Corporation,
Agricultural Development Corporation and College of Education Ila Orangun.
1.3 Objective of the Study
In
budgeting, the focus is not only to prepare the budget, but more importantly:
·
To have a follow up operation for
budgeting
·
To act according to known data. In
addition, budget is also known as a financial expression of a countries plan
for a period of time, (Falk, 1994). Therefore, the specific objective of this
study is
·
To look at the extent of relationship
that exists between the expenditure and revenue generated by the UBA Bank Plc.
1.4 Statement of Hypotheses
H0: There is a relationship between
expenditure and revenue of public corporations
H1: There is no relationship between the
expenditure and revenue of public corporations.
1.5 Research Questions
• Determining
whether the central feature of budgetary control is that of determining
variances and identifying those saddled with the responsibilities of managing
these variances.
• Determine
whether government own companies in the design of their budgets report variance
to officers who have responsibility for them.
1.6 Significance of the study
This study is
important because it will guide management of UBA Plc in future financial
decision making. It will also serve as a reference for ensuring prudent
financial management in UBA Bank. Also it will be an added value to the
knowledge base on budget and budgetary controls and serve as an impetus for
future policy making. Lastly, it will also serve as a guide to policy makers,
development workers and stakeholders in Ghana and the world as a whole.
1.6 Scope and limitation of the
study.
The limitations of this study are the
following:
(a) The study is
done alongside the tough academic work and as a full time worker, not much time
was available for the study;
(b) Data
gathering under the area of study because of lack of effective information
storage example filing;
(c) Poor
responses to interviews and questionnaires as the respondents said the topic
was too sensitive and could expose the Assembly’s secrecy and confidentiality;
(d) Money for transport and materials
has been difficult to come by.
1.7 Operational Definition of terms
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