Budgeting

I have been preparing business budgets and forecasts for many years and worked for many different bosses. Not every boss has the same kind of approach and personalities when working with budgets and forecasts. I like to share my experience with you here.

1. Spokesman Boss

He is a fluent speaker and could easily talk his ways through any meeting. Usually he just need to know the final budgeted numbers and some key figures and assumptions of the budgets. He is not a technically sound spreadsheet and software expert. He depend on his subordinates to give him the supports and prepare the details of the budgets. He can give key figures and explain how to achieve them and his subordinates will translate them into financial numbers.

When working of a Spokesman Boss, you need to be technically sound in spreadsheet or software. You need good experience is preparing budgets as your boss will not be able to help you. You will get very good support from this type of boss as he cannot do budgets without your help. But be sure that you do not overshadow him especially in front of his superiors. Play your card right and he can reward you by talking his way through the management.

2. Paranoid Boss

He has many things to worry and fear. He has low self confidence especially meeting up with the management and discussing the budgets. He often load himself with a lot information and get his staff to do a lot of unnecessary works to get him ready. In most cases, the management would only discuss a small of all the information that he has gathered. This creates a lot unnecessary times and works to his staff. A lot of the information are either piled up on this table and collect dusk. The staff are usually not happy with his style of management.

When working for him, you require a lot of patience. Because he is paranoid meeting his superiors, he is too fearful to fight better benefits for you. Instead he will just accept what the management give to him. So do not expect high salary increment and big bonuses when working for him.

3. Trust No One Boss

He trust no staff and only believe in himself. He is technically sound in spreadsheet or software and have hand on experience in preparing budgets from A to Z. Because he has taken a more senior role, he has staff to help him to prepare budgets. But he demands that the budget must be prepared in accordance with his ways, processes or steps. If you are a resourceful staff or have your own ways of preparing budgets, you will find yourself clash with him if you do not follow his ways. The most difficult part is that he will tell you briefly and verbal what he wants and he expects you to know what he has in mind especially on the templates and methods. Even if the final budgets are correct and methods that you used is different from his, he will give you a good lecture for not following instructions.

You need a lot of patience working for him. The best way is to review his previous works and following exactly how he did it. No use improving his methods as it will only make him angry. If you want to recommend as improvement, seek his consent first. Do not expect him to give you good performance appraisal as no one is better than him in the department.

4. Last Minute Boss

He like to please the management and has a lot personal times to spend in the office. He think that by getting his staff to work long hours and on holidays, the management will be happy. He likes to give budgeting works or assignments to his staff either ten minutes before office off times especially on eve of an off day or holidays. Not that he is too busy to give you the assignments. It is just his nature to get you to work after office hours or on your off days. Sometimes he demanded that you do not claim off day allowances or overtimes. Everything he tells you is important and must be completed in a short time. Sometimes you get frustrated when you see all your hard works over the night or weekend just piling up on his table waiting for him to review in his own sweet time.

If you can adapt to his style, you will find working less strenuous. But if you cannot stand his style, just change job. It is impossible to rationalize with this kind of boss.

These are just some of the bosses that I have encountered during my working years on budgeting and forecasting. Although it may or may not apply to you but it is interesting to read about.