Pop quiz: who should be in charge of your team’s budget? Is it the finance department? The CEO? Operations? Sales?

Answer: Everybody should be.

Having one department or person administer the budget is fine, but when it comes to the planning process, your whole team is ultimately responsible for making sure it comes together.

To have a more realistic and accurate budget, you need to think like the person entering the data. This will also speed up the budget process – win-win.

The other reason it is important to have the whole team “buy in” to the budget is more strategic. A strong budget outlines priorities and strategies for the term ahead. Using this as a guideline can help create better relationships within your team.

Different departments ultimately have the same goals; however, they may have different priorities. Involving them all in the budgeting process ensures they can come to a mutual understanding of strategic goals and plans and make a tech-investment timeline that everyone on the team is happy with, or at least understands.

Who’s involved in the budget process at your organization? How did you roll out the budget – did you have any challenges?