Report Assignment in Accounting and Finance You have received the following email from the Chief Executive Officer of Clark Casc Logistics plc, where you are employed as manager of a loading bay, inviting you to the first in a series of budget-setting meetings and asking you to submit a brief report in advance. Dear "Laser", For the last financial year Clark Casc Logistics plc made a loss of 3.2 million and the Board is therefore reaching out to all managers to find ways of reducing the costs for which they are responsible, ahead of next month's meeting on compulsory redundancies, early retirements and redeployments to our toxic waste sorting division. We will be holding a first round of budget-setting meetings on Thursday next week. As the manager of the Craiglockhart loading bay at Clark Casc's Craiglockhart Loading Bay, the expenditure for which you were responsible for the last financial year was as follows. Last Year Budget 000 Actual 000 Wages and Employers' National Insurance and Pension Contributions 528 531 Equipment Maintenance 76 81 Equipment Depreciation 74 75 Buildings Maintenance 36 32 Buildings Depreciation 56 56 Heating and Lighting 30 30 Goods Refrigeration 14 15 Apportionment of Central Administrative Costs 74 75 Insurance Costs - Apportioned Based on Past Claims 20 22 Other Costs 10 11 Total Expenditure, Tax and Dividends 918 928 Your expenditure for the first six months of the present financial year is as follows, with a comparison with the budget which, I would remind you, you agreed to this time last year. This Year Budget Year to Date 000 Actual Year to Date 000 Wages and Employers' National Insurance and Pension Contributions 268 271 Equipment Maintenance 38 42 Equipment Depreciation 37 37 Buildings Maintenance 18 17 Buildings Depreciation 28 28 Heating and Lighting 16 15 Goods Refrigeration 8 8 Apportionment of Central Administrative Costs 40 42 Insurance Costs - Apportioned Based on Past Claims 10 12 Other Costs 6 6 Total Expenditure, Tax and Dividends 469 478 Next Year The purpose of next week's meeting is not to rake over the ongoing overspend for this year but we need to plan for next year. We are going to need you to agree a total budget of 882,000 for next year. Mo will update the figure for apportionment of Central Administrative Costs sometime after the meeting but I'm guessing it'll be based on this year's actuals, so I suggest you use that. It's the rest of the costs we need to discuss with you. You will need to take account of the 3% across-the-board wage increase Piotr agreed with the unions last week. That applies evenly across all types of staff in the loading bay. Please provide a report in advance of the meeting detailing how you intend to find the necessary savings. Please include the following sections in your report. We do not require an executive summary: 1. Introduction 2. Approach to drawing up the loading bay budget 3. Relevant calculations to show that your budget is achievable 4. Your proposed budget with full figures 5. A conclusion on the achievability of the 882,000 overall loading bay budget 6. Recommendations on next steps Please make sure you provide a list of references to any published external material you refer to in your report. Make sure your report is at least 2,250 words to prove you've done some work but I'm not reading it if it's more than 2,750 words apart from the references. I will not waste time reading appendices. If you have something to say, say it in your report. If you have any specific suggestions on improving the budget process, please include these in section 2 - the approach to budgeting - and in your conclusion and recommendations.