There is a common belief that planning is a key element of effective and efficient management of an enterprise. The budgeting process is a complex task, requiring making many decisions in various areas and taking into account variables dependent also on the specificity of the enterprise. Presenting both the expected benefits and the disadvantages and costs of a traditional budgeting process provides the basis for further considerations aimed at finding solutions that bring the expected benefits, while minimizing the disadvantages of the solution and adapting them to current expectations. There are voices that the traditional budgeting process should be completely abandoned. A postulate appears that budgeting in the form it is currently in use should be abolished. This may sound like a radical proposal, but it would only be the culmination of long-term efforts to transform organizations from centralized hierarchies into decentralized networks that allow for flexible adaptation to market conditions.
For many years organizations have been using traditional budgeting for operational planning. Since the 1990s researchers and managers have been announcing their dissatisfaction with budgeting because the traditional approach to budgeting is in opinion of critics too expensive, not aligned with the strategy, inflexible, cumbersome and out of kilter with new management systems. There is a new approach to operational planning that emphasizes the role of adaptation, flexibility, fast respond to market signals and continous help with transformation. There is an analysis of two breakthrough concepts of operational planning: Sales, Operational and Financial Planning (SOFP) and Beyond Budgeting.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.