''Here's an example of futility and waste," says James. "Martin's firm prepares elaborate flexible budgets for several possible levels of activity on a quarterly basis. When the quarter is over, Martin prepares a report to management comparing actual and budgeted activity. But he doesn't use any of the budgets the company prepared. He prepares an entirely new budget to fit his department's output. So his firm wasted time and money to prepare budgets which are never used, and his managers get a comparison with a budget that he makes up to suit his department after the quarter is over." Discuss James' criticism of Martin's budgeting and reporting activities.