Master Budget Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Master Budget - Essay Example The first and foremost step in developing the master budget is the sales forecast in terms of quantities and values of products. After considering the opening and closing inventory levels, the production quantities are determined which is known as the production budget. The production budget is further divided into the direct materials purchases and usage, direct labor and factory overhead budgets. Likewise the indirect material and labor, other factory overheads, cost of manufacturing, cost of goods sold, ending inventory of finished goods, selling, administrative and operating expenses are budgeted. Finally, the cash budget is prepared in which cash receipts and disbursements are determined. The process ends with the completion of the Pro Forma Income Statement, Pro Forma Statement of Cash flows and Pro Forma Balance Sheet. Zero based budgeting is a method of budgeting where all expenditures are justified and every department function is reviewed comprehensively rather than only gauging the increases. The reasons for adopting a zero based budget are that it results in efficient allocation of resources, it helps detecting inflating budgets, cost effective ways to improve operations are determined, it increases the staff motivation and provides an initiative for decision making, it is highly useful for departments where the output is not identifiable, it identifies outsourcing opportunities, removes wastage and outdated operations, communication and coordination within the organization becomes more efficient, and the task of cost centers and their relationship to the overall goals are identified. Question 2 Usually a budget also contains non-financial information. This information is used to explain the financial information, qualify it and divide the financial information into sub information. Types of Non-Financial Information Information like the quality of the resources, quantity of the resource required, procedure for calculation and the mechanism is generally included. In some cases the workload on the employees and the human resources required to do the job is often included. This information is used injunction with the financial details and helps to clarify the budget. Calculation of Financial Information using Non-Financial Information Non-Financial information is used commonly to calculate the financial information. For example the quality of a certain product can be divided into 4 classes and each class is allocated a weightage. The price of the product will be multiplied with the weighted average of the product to give the actual total price. Another example can be the quantity of wood required to manufacture 1000 units of chairs. This will be calculated by first finding the number of planks of wood a truck of tree gives. Then the quality of wood will be quantified to manufacture one unit of chair and finally the total cost will be found out. Thus non-financial information is usually necessary to calculate financial information. Advantages of Including Non-Financial Information in Budgets The benefit of using non-financial information in the budgets is that it makes the employees aware of the goals and objectives expected. These goals are set by using the non-financial inf