Is someone at your company not so in love with business budgeting? Or maybe it’s you whose relationship status with business budgeting should read “it’s complicated.” Perhaps Cupid’s arrow will strike this Valentine’s Day, but even if it doesn’t there are ways to make the business budgeting process easy and stress-free.

What’s keeping your employees from giving the budget their all and how can you make things better?

Start by creating budgeting templates based on who will be completing them. Sure, your accounting department may handle the numbers, but it doesn’t always make sense to have them design the templates. Each department likely has its own process for dealing with budgeting so take this into account when designing the templates to allow for better flexibility and greater overall usability. With business budgeting, a one-size-fits-all system rarely works for anyone.

Make sure you communicate with contributors. While each department is responsible for its own budget, keep in mind that these budgets don’t exist in isolation. Make sure that you are keeping department heads apprised of any developments and goals with regard to the budget and what it needs to accomplish. Your budget, as a whole, should be cohesive, but this can’t be accomplished if no one knows what’s going on. Collaboration and team work will result in a budget that is far more accurate and reflective of the actual needs of your company overall.

Set realistic timelines. One reason people might not look forward to budgeting is because it can take so much time. The time spent budgeting usually means other daily tasks are put to the side, either to be done another day or done after the usual workday should have ended. Not giving your team enough time to complete the budget won’t make anyone happy, and it may result in inaccuracies, so just keep in mind that while time may be of the essence, your team needs enough of it to be effective.

Always be accountable. Once you’ve provided a clear goal for the budget, created a user-friendly template, given your team members that opportunity to collaborate, and outlined a realistic timeline – don’t change things up arbitrarily or without notice. Be accountable throughout the process and hold those responsible for their own tasks accountable as well.

I’ll be the first one to admit that these tips won’t guarantee that all your employees fall in love with business budgeting. This isn’t some magic formula that will have every single team member looking forward to the budgeting season with excitement. That being said, they will make it a little less taxing for all involved and that alone is a victory.

With the True Sky corporate performance management system, you can regain control of your business budgeting process, making it easier and more efficient for everyone. Find out more by calling 1 855 878 3759 or visit www.truesky.com.