Table of Contents >
   Part L. Generating, Managing and Sustaining Financial Res... >
      Chapter 43. Managing Finances >
         Section 1. Planning and Writing an Annual Budget >
             Tools & Checklists - A checklist that summarizes the major points contained in the section. >

Planning and Writing an Annual Budget

  

Tools & Checklists

 Contributed by Phil Rabinowitz Edited by Bill Berkowitz & Tim Brownlee

Checklist

Here, you'll find a checklist that summarizes the major points contained in the text.


__You know the elements of an annual budget.

__You know why you should prepare an annual budget.

__You are prepared for the amount of time and effort spent on your budget to bear some relation to the size of your budget.

__You have determined what you will need to spend money on in the next year.

__Follow these six steps in an effort to estimate your expenses:

  • Develop ways of estimating expenses.
  • List yearly expense totals for absolute necessities.
  • List estimated expenses for things needed to conduct the activities of the organization.
  • List estimated expenses for miscellaneous costs.
  • List estimated expenses for those things which you don't know yet you can afford, but would like to.
  • Add up all of your expense items.

__You understand how to estimate your organization's income, following the nine steps listed.

__The five steps of analyzing and adjusting your budget have been followed:

  • Laying out your figures in a useful format
  • Comparing total expenses to your total income
  • Knowing what to do if your budget is balanced
  • Knowing what to do if you have a surplus
  • Knowing what to do if you have a deficit

__If necessary, you have ideas on how to trim your budget.

__You understand how to create a budget document.

__You know how to work with your budget, including when and how to review and/or revise it.