Intermediate The preparation of budgets is a lengthy process which requires great care if the ultimate master budget is to be useful for the purposes of manage¬ ment control within an organization.

You are required:

(a) to identify and to explain briefly the stages involved in the preparation of budgets identi¬ fying separately the roles of managers and the budget committee; (8 marks)

(b) to explain how the use of spreadsheets may improve the efficiency of the budget prepara¬ tion process. (7 marks)

(Total 15 marks) CIMA Stage 1 Accounting LO1