Budget

Companies, governments, families, and other organizations use budgets to express strategic plans of activities in measurable terms.

[1] Preparing a budget allows companies, authorities, private entities or families to establish priorities and evaluate the achievement of their objectives.

In the field of commerce, a budget is also a financial document or report that details the cost that a service will have if performed.

Nearly all American states are required to have balanced budgets, but the federal government is allowed to run deficits.

After both houses of Congress approves the GAB, the President signs the bill into a General Appropriations Act (GAA); also, the President may opt to veto the GAB and have it returned to the legislative branch or leave the bill unsigned for 30 days and lapse into law.

A third category (other than income and expenses) may be assets (such as property, investments, or other savings or value) representing a potential reserve for funds in case of budget shortfalls.

The budget of a business, division, or corporation [5] [6] [1] [7] is a financial forecast for the near-term future, usually the next accounting period, aggregating the expected revenues and expenses of the various departments – operations, human resources, IT, etc.

It is thus a key element in integrated business planning, with measurable targets correspondingly devolved to departmental managers (and becoming KPIs[1]); budgets may then also specify non-cash resources, such as staff or time.

Under all approaches expected sales or revenue, is typically the starting point; [7] this will be based on the business' planning for the period in question.

Support and management functions may be revisited, and the resultant "fixed" costs, such as rent and payroll, will be adjusted, at a minimum, for inflation.