Problems and Improvement Measures in Comprehensive Budget Management of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

田博深

摘要：As for China’s small and medium-sized enterprises， if they want to advance bravely in the fierce market competition and not be submerged by the torrent of reform and innovation， comprehensive budget management is imperative. Only when an enterprise plans its future production and operation in advance， allocates， evaluates and controls various resources， and organically integrates business flow， capital flow， information flow and human resource flow through comprehensive budget management to form a complete closed-loop management system， can the enterprise’s development strategy be effectively realized. Here， I will analyze the problems existing in the process of implementing comprehensive budget management for small and medium-sized enterprises in our country and their improvement measures.

關键词： small and medium-sized enterprises; comprehensive budget management; problem analysis; improvement measures

At present， with the rapid development of China’s economy， comprehensive budget management as a necessary management mode has been implemented in large and medium-sized enterprises. However， in order to enhance the competitiveness of the market， small and medium-sized enterprises， on the basis of the lack of theoretical construction and practical operation of the connotation， status and content of the comprehensive budget management， are eager to succeed and copy the model of the comprehensive budget management of large state-owned enterprises without combining with the actual situation of their own units， which leads to many problems in each process of the budget to be solved.

I. Problems existing in comprehensive budget management of small and medium-sized enterprises：

1. They do not fully understand the overall budget， have unclear division of responsibilities， and do not have full participation.

Naturally， comprehensive budget management is an enterprise’s “all-staff， all-process， all-round” management system， which requires all employees to participate together and each department completes each link according to the principle of separation of decision-making， execution and supervision powers.  However， the fact is that most small and medium-sized enterprises do not have sufficient understanding of the comprehensive budget management. They simply equate the traditional financial budget with the comprehensive budget and think that the comprehensive budget system of the company is to reflect the prior estimation or judgment on the financial balance sheet， income statement and cash flow statement.  However， they are all done by the finance department blindly. They lack the cooperation of other business departments and cannot organically link all links of production and operation. What’s more， they only carry out budget control on financial indicators such as total profits， costs and cash receipts and payments， which affects the overall effect of the budget. In addition， there are still follow-up assessment and supervision in a mere formality， and there is no closed-loop management of decision-making， execution and supervision.

2. Budget preparation lacks effective communication and coordination， and its scientificity and rationality need to be improved.

The process of budgeting is the exchange of ideas among all departments of the enterprise. Through the communication and coordination of all employees， the sales， production and material supply in the budget cycle have been specifically planned. However， in actual operation， many enterprise leaders tend to be “centralized”. The budget is not prepared from bottom to top， but from top to bottom in order to avoid the “budget slack” of subordinate units. This “task-based” budget preparation method， which lacks communication and coordination， reduces the operability of the budget and makes the implementation progress result deviate from the budget indicators greatly， thus lacking in scientificity and rationality.

3. The budget adjustment is arbitrary， and enterprises unilaterally pursue the accuracy of the budget.

In fact， due to uncontrollable factors during the specific implementation of the budget， the indicators issued at the beginning of the period are seriously out of touch with the actual implementation. In order to make the budget indicators conform to the actual situation and have controllability， timely adjustments are made. However， in practice， many enterprises randomly adjust budget indicators to varying degrees.  First， enterprises blindly pursue the accuracy of the budget. Some enterprises have low budget accuracy due to unreasonable organizational structure and business processes， overstaffing and low efficiency. However， it doesn’t fundamentally recognize the problem， but frequently adjust the budget indicators to make them conform to the actual implementation. This lack of in-depth analysis of the reasons for the deviation between the implementation and the indicators masks the expected benefits and potential that the enterprise can tap， thus making budget management a mere formality. Second， in order to bargain with the higher-level units on the indicators， the lower-level units in the enterprise avoid exceeding or saving penalties when assessing the indicators. When finding surplus indicators at the end of the period， they suddenly spend money and deliberately approach the indicators. The artificial pursuit of budget accuracy makes it difficult to analyze and assess the budget indicators.

4. Budget process control is not in place and assessment is not rigorous enough

When the budget targets are determined， budget control will be crucial.  Enterprises need to carry out dynamic monitoring in the whole process of budget implementation， analyze and adjust the factors that affect the accuracy of the budget， so that budget management leads the business activities of enterprises. Most small and medium-sized enterprises have frequent problems in control links， budget indicators are not implemented in all links and posts， budget management is “results -oriented and analysis-indifferent”， budget analysis materials reported by various departments are simple and vague， problems cannot be found out and analyzed thoroughly， and effective solutions to potential problems are not put forward in a targeted way， which makes comprehensive budget management a mere formality and can not play any role. The assessment of budget indicators is also not rigorous enough. The units and individuals being assessed place too much emphasis on the impact of changes in objective factors on performance. The assessment departments often mix personal feelings to evaluate and agree with various adjustment factors proposed by the units being assessed. At the same time， the rewards and punishments after the assessment are not strong enough and there is no proper incentive mechanism， which greatly reduces the authority of the assessment.

5.Comprehensive budget management lacks information system to support

Because of backward management concepts or insufficient funds， small and medium-sized enterprises don’t have information systems to support accounting， internal management and information transmission， or seamless connection between various systems cannot be realized. However， the comprehensive budget management includes a large amount of data such as all the logistics and capital flows of the enterprise. For example， the enterprise management department cannot grasp the production and operation trends in real time， and cannot understand and control the relevant information such as budget implementation and feedback， and the degree of deviation from budget indicators at the first time. This will set many obstacles for the overall monitoring， timely adjustment， supervision and assessment of the comprehensive budget management of the enterprise.

II. Measures to improve comprehensive budget management of small and medium-sized enterprises

1. Change the concept， clear responsibility system， and establish the consciousness of full participation

Enterprises should change their concepts to include all aspects of production and operation in the overall budget management. It is required that all employees up to the company’s senior management and down to each business department are participants in the overall budget management. Enterprises should clarify the responsibility system of budget management， set up a budget management committee， and set up a special budget management organization， which is responsible for a series of budget management processes such as collection of budget preparation information， communication and coordination between departments， feedback of information in the implementation process and effective monitoring. At the same time， the enterprise should also clarify the responsibilities of various functional departments and related subordinate units to ensure the smooth implementation of the overall budget from the aspects of organizational structure and staffing.

2.Take a variety of measures to improve the accuracy of budget preparation

Budget is the foundation in all aspects of the enterprise’s overall budget management， and the accuracy of budgeting is crucial. In order to improve the accuracy of budgeting from bottom to top， firstly， enterprises should rely on informatization to avoid asymmetric information between enterprise managers and grass-roots employees.Secondly， communication and coordination between departments and offices should be strengthened， and basic management should be consolidated. For example， the budget responsibility center of the smallest unit of an enterprise should be divided， the collection and monitoring of various controllable budget expenses in the production process should be most detailed， the measurement methods should be improved to reduce the cost measurement error， and various consumption quotas and expense quotas should be revised and improved in time. In strengthening basic management， the accuracy and efficiency of budget preparation will be gradually improved.

3. Implement dynamic management and strengthen the budget execution monitoring system.

Dynamic monitoring of enterprise budget implementation is the guarantee for the effective implementation of enterprise comprehensive budget management.In general， enterprises can take three steps in strengthening the budget execution monitoring system. First， enterprises should establish a system of daily， ten-day and monthly reports at different levels， and use information systems to summarize and report the budget implementation according to the minimum responsible units within the required time， so as to realize the dynamic monitoring of the entire budget cycle.  Second， in view of the universal or important problems existing in the overall budget implementation process， enterprises regularly organize relevant personnel to carry out special investigations， analyze and evaluate the causes， propose corrective measures， and strictly control the budget implementation. Third， enterprises regularly organize special audits of budget implementation and incorporate them into their internal audit plans to discover and correct problems in budget implementation and maintain the seriousness of budget management. After the audit work is completed， an audit report is formed and submitted directly to the budget committee， the board of directors or the manager’s office meeting as an important reference for budget adjustment， improvement and assessment.

4. Improve the assessment content， establish and improve the incentive mechanism

The establishment of a strict assessment system and a sound incentive mechanism are powerful means to play the role of budget management. The assessment content should not only include the budget implementation results， but also include the timeliness and accuracy of budget preparation and implementation analysis， and the standardization of budget adjustment， etc. It is suggested to introduce an exceptional assessment method. In case the budget targets are not completed due to market or other uncontrollable factors， the assessment will be conducted after adjustment based on the exceptional principle. Enterprises should also establish and improve incentive mechanisms. The incentive methods should not be limited to salary and bonus. Insurance benefits and training opportunities for employees can be considered to meet the needs of different levels. Of course， acts that adversely affect the completion of an enterprise’s budget should be punished.

References：

1.Shi Ximin， Comprehensive Budget Management， Lixin Accounting Publishing House， 2003 Edition

2. Zhang Lizhen， Implementing Comprehensive Budget Management to Promote Rapid Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises， New Finance and Economics， September 2011

3. Theories and cases of enterprise comprehensive budget management， compiled by the Enterprise Department of the Ministry of Finance