OPERATING BUDGET Definition

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OPERATING BUDGET focuses on the budgeted income statement and its supporting components and schedules:
1. SALES AND COLLECTIONS BUDGET represents one of the first steps in the budgeting process, as items such as inventory levels and operating expenses are driven off of the Sales and Collections Budget. Effective sales budgeting is a key factor in building a useful and representative financial model for a business. Regardless of the nature of your business (for example, whether it is product or service-based).
2. COST OF GOODS SOLD BUDGET decomposes, or breaks down, the components of a business's cost of goods sold (in some cases referred to as the cost of revenues). This budget breaks out each separate factor underlying the cost of goods sold for a business.
3. INVENTORY AND PURCHASES BUDGET represents what a business plans to buy and how much inventory it intends to hold over a given timeframe, is based on three factors: a business's desired ending inventory, cost of goods sold, and beginning inventory. A business's desired ending inventory will drive that business' budgeted purchases over a given period of time. A larger desired ending inventory will typically lead to a larger Purchases Budget and vice-versa. While the Purchases Budget, a component of the Inventory and Purchases Budget, represents an estimate of future purchases, this is an accrual-based accounting figure, and it is the Disbursements for Purchases Budget (another component of the Inventory and Purchases Budget) that drives a company's cash flows.
4. OPERATING EXPENSES BUDGET forecasts all of the elements of a business' operating expenses, such as salaries, rent, depreciation, and others. Some of these expenses are fixed and some are variable (in other words, based on another metric, such as revenues). While the Operating Expenses Budget represents an estimate of future expenses, this is an accrual-based accounting figure, and it is the Disbursements for Operating Expenses Budget, a component of the Operating Expenses Budget, that drives a company's cash flows.

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GEARING RATIO measures the percentage of capital employed that is financed by debt and long term financing. The higher the gearing, the higher the dependence on borrowing and long term financing. Whereas, the lower the gearing ratio, the higher the dependence on equity financing. Traditionally, the higher the level of gearing, the higher the level of financial risk due to the increased volatility of profits. Financial manager face a difficult dilemma. Most businesses require long term debt in order to finance growth, as equity financing is rarely sufficient, on the other hand, the introduction of debt and gearing increases financial risk. A high gearing ratio is positive; a large amount of debt will give higher return on capital employed but the company dependent on equity financing alone is unable to sustain growth. Gearing can be quite high for small businesses trying to become established, but in general they should not be higher than 50%. Shareholders benefit from gearing to the extent that return on the borrowed money exceeds the interest cost so that the market values of their shares rise.  Formula: Long Term Debt / Shareholders Equity.

PRODUCT COST is cost of inventory on hand, also called Inventoriable Cost. They are assets until the products are sold. Once they are sold, they become expense, i.e. Cost of Good Sold (COGS). All manufacturing costs are product costs, e.g., direct material, direct labor, and factory overhead.

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