Research Assignment Simplifying the budget process By their nature, large entities often generate big, complex budgets. There is a danger, however, that budgets can become so detailed and complex that they do not get used after being prepared. In the article,

“Streamline Budgeting in the new Millennium: Concentrate on Simplicity and Usefulness, Not Unrealistic Numbers,” Strategic Finance, December 2001, pp. 45–50, Bruce Neumann provides suggestions for improving the budgeting process. Read this article and complete the following requirements.

Required

a. What are the five steps of budgeting that the author identifies?

b. Briefly explain what the article means by “the Three C’s” of motivation for those preparing a budget.

c. The article describes “activity budgeting” as one method for streamlining an entity’s budget. Explain the basic concept of activity budgeting.

d. The article describes “global budgeting” as one method for streamlining an entity’s budget. Explain the basic concept of global budgeting.

e. Does the author suggest that more budget categories be devoted to fixed-cost categories or variable-cost categories?