Assessment topic: Budgeting Budgeting, in organisational contexts, is the most commonly used tool for presenting the financial plans for a future financial year. The performance of individual managers and the operational divisions in which they operate is measured on the actual outcomes against those pre-set budget benchmarks. Task details: Students are to form into groups of three of four. All students within each group are to be from the same tutorial class. Each group is to produce a report suitable for presentation in a professional organisational setting and conforming to the academic standards of referencing peer reviewed articles. Each group will be allocated a unique set of budget assumptions in relation to the expected operational and economic changes that will impact on the company's operation over the coming financial year. The group are to consider these assumptions and apply these when setting the budget amounts for the coming period. As profit and the related costs as the basis for measuring short term financial performance, the focus of the task will be the formulation and professional presentation of the budgeted Income Statement. The data will be provided in an electronic format spreadsheet which will need to be developed and formatted using electronic means to complete all analyses of the sales and expenditure. All assumptions will need to be supported by reasoned analysis in an accompanying report to the Senior Management of the organisation. Research component: As part of the management presentation, each group is required to present a critical review of budgeting in contemporary corporate settings with particular focus on the following questions: 1. Does budgeting help or hinder an organisation's ability to remain agile and adapt to a rapidly changing economic environment? 2. How can budgeting assist organisations to ensure operational outcomes align with their strategic priorities