Why Is Monitoring Your Budget So Important?
“Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.” – John C. Maxwell. Do you think about how to get your budget under control?
Nobody really cares what you do with your personal budget; your boss, your project management, team members or colleagues. It’s your private business. But when it comes to an organization you work for, it’s quite a big deal. If you’re one of those people who don’t have to do much with organization’s budget – you’re lucky. But if your daily tasks involve at least some of the aspects of dealing with it, you might know how difficult and cumbersome it can be.
Budget issues and its monitoring are one of the most important for every organization. Have you ever wondered why?
- It allows you (or your supervisors) to create a budget plan – how much money can be spent and how much should be saved.
- It’s possible to forecast and plan projects, tasks, goals and objectives.
- When an organization is able to stay on track with finances, it is easier to manage all other processes.
Money is a crucial aspect of every organization. It fuels everything around us. And when not taken proper care of, it can lead to a business disaster, for example, company’s bankruptcy.
👉 See the best budgeting software.
A Few Hacks to Get Your Budget Under Control!
It’s not difficult to manage money and all aspects related to it if you know how. If you implement simple steps as a starter, it’ll be easier to later move forward to more advanced procedures, whatever they might be.
Take a look at what you can do to wisely manage money in your organization. These effortless but effective hacks don’t take much of time but can really help you get your budget under control!
#1 Use Indicators
Budget indicators are a fantastic and easy way to stay on track and make sure your organization has financial stability.
Such indicators make it easy to control the flow of money, payroll, assess risks, forecast, plan, etc. They have a great power!
#2 Save
You should always be prepared for unexpected situations. It may happen sometimes that your business will have to carry some additional costs that were not predicted in the budget plan and in the forecasting. Also, having such side funds will not affect your organization’s regular budget.
It might be a good idea to consult your doubts with the financial expert who will help you determine which type of savings will be best for your business.
#3 Gather Data
If you don’t want to miss a thing, you should gather all the information concerning your budget, all the data – what amount of money was spent, how much was earned, what were the savings, etc. Collect all receipts, invoices, credit cards, and other bills. Categorize it all to have a clear picture of all expenses and earnings.
Do it on a weekly or even daily basis if necessary. That will help you carefully monitor the flow of money and make sure all numbers add up.
#4 Use Spreadsheet
Either in a traditional paper form, as an Excel spreadsheet or any other format. It’s better to write things down than to keep it all in your head. Even if you gather all the data, it’ll be difficult to find anything in the pile of bills. A spreadsheet will help you keep things very organized. You’ll also have it easier to find any information in the spreadsheet instead of going through tons of receipts and statements.
Make use of time tracking software for accountants which will help you create such spreadsheets and will also automatize your or accountants work.
#5 Time
Time is money and money is time. In both cases, if you spend them, you won’t get them back. There is a significant correlation between time and money, especially if you bill clients on an hourly basis.
You can easily get your budget under control with time tracking. It will help you control the budget, whether it is exceeded or not, who spends most money on what, you will be able to allocate resources properly, assess risks, and all costs involved in a project.
How to Do It Effectively?
When you already know how to hack your life with 5 budget control tips, you should learn how to do it effectively. Of course, if your using your own methods that are verified and help you get your budget under control, don’t stop using them. But if you want to achieve a real success and become the champion of budget management, you should implement a good time tracking software, such as TimeCamp.
Why? Because it works not only as a time tracker but also as a project and task management system. And as we all know, budgeting is an important part of managing projects and people. Look at how TimeCamp can effectively help to get your budget under control:
- You can accurately bill your clients.
- Know how many hours you spend on non-billable projects or other work.
- Forecast time and costs for future development projects.
- Justify time to your client, and adjust your rates for specific projects.
- You can budget in money or in time.
- Calculate income.
- Use time entries to bill your clients or to measure project profitability.
- You can easily create invoices.
- TimeCamp also allows you to automatically track work hours.
- Powerful integrations, for example with accounting software, make work seamless between different apps and tools.
TimeCamp, or any other time tracking tool (provided that it has similar features), is a great solution for everybody who deals with managing budget or some financial aspects of work. It also helps to automatize processes in the company making them smooth and fast.
Check out how TimeCamp works!
Get your budget under control today!
How Do You Manage Your Budget?
What methods do you use to get your budget under control? If you’re creative and like new things and challenges, you might find it valuable to try various approaches. Or maybe the way you manage your personal or home budget could be helpful in controlling finances in the organization? Let us know in comments!
But remember that in order to use the full potential of budget management, it’s best to use special tools and strategies. Money is a very fragile thing and once it’s lost, you can’t get it back.