Do you dread budgeting?
If you do, you are not alone. Most people hate the budgeting process, from filling out mystifying templates, to data-entry frustration, to feeling like they can’t request the money they need.
It’s almost 2015, and it’s time you changed your budgeting process to make it a more enjoyable process for everyone in your company—and to increase its efficiency.
Today’s blog post talks about why your employees hate budgeting, then makes recommendations about how you can plan for better budgeting in 2015.
SWK Tech’s newest podcast helps you improve your budgeting process. Listen to it here.
Why Your Employees Hate Budgeting
Most people in your company absolutely despise budgeting. Here’s why:
- Budgeting templates are geared toward accountants’ needs—not the needs of your other employees
- No one quite knows what they should plan for, or what a reasonable budgeting increase is.
- Employees feel like they have no support system around budgeting.
- Using Excel can lead to a lot of time consuming and frustrating data-entry errors.
- Budgeting takes forever, but your employees are still responsible for all their other tasks.
Isn’t it time for a change?
How Budgeting Software Helps
With dedicated budgeting software, your employees will finally feel like they have budgeting options. Good software will offer a range of templates, with formats and fields built around the needs of many different roles in your company, not just the needs of your accountants. This software will also encourage budgeting collaboration, so that your employees can budget with a support network while adding their valuable insight into your company’s budgeting process.
Not only does budgeting software reduce the “fear factor” that spreadsheets bring, its tailored templates and increased support will also raise your employees’ budgeting confidence. This results in a quickly generated, more accurate budget for your company.
How to Make the Switch to Better Budgeting
To make the switch to better budgeting methods, experts such as Alan Whitehouse of TrueSky, recommend that you roll out your redesigned budgeting process in one of two ways: either as a fast, all-in-one switch, “like ripping off a Band-Aid,” or as a slower, drop-by-drop process that gradually improves the process with small, manageable steps. Of these, there is no one method that will work for every company, but once you pick an approach you should stick with it.
When planning which approach you should take, the best idea is to consider if your employees have recently dealt with a lot of upheaval in the company or in their personal lives. If they have, a slow, measured approach is usually the smartest course of action. If your company and your employees’ lives have been relatively stable for some time, you can plan for the “Band-Aid” approach.
Why waste extra time budgeting—when you could be growing your company?
Contact SWK Tech using the button below to learn more about how dedicated budgeting software can help you.
