Discussion: Budget Management Analysis

Discussion: Budget Management Analysis
Discussion: Budget Management Analysis
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HCS 571 WEEK 5 Budget Management Analysis: Write a 1,200- to 1,500-word paper, which includes a cost variance, in which you complete the following:
Determine specific strategies to manage budgets within forecasts.
Compare five to seven expense results with budget expectations, and describe possible reasons for variance.
Recommend three benchmarking techniques and identify those that might improve budget accuracy in future forecasts. Justify your choices.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment.
HCS 571 WEEK 5 Budget Management Analysis
Abstract
A budget is an instrument used to help managers ensure that the resources used effectively and proficiently toward the goals of an organization. A budget projection can be made on a yearly base depending on previous year or existing one. They can further be broken down quarterly or monthly depending on it use. Generating a budget is complex undertaking, and for a budget to be effective the organization ought to follow it strictly. However, no matter how closely a business follows their guidelines there will always be some form of variances. The organization should expect a few variances and be able to work these discrepancies in any budget
…show more content…HCS 571 WEEK 5 Budget Management Analysis
One reason is that most organizations pay their manager’s a set salary and not by the hour. In this case the variance would be zero, also known as a fix cost. However when looking at the employee’s salary the budget for one nurse is $5,760 dollar, and the actual was $5,184 dollars with a variance of $576 dollars. In this case the organization pays their nurse by a modified full time. This means that instead of work a full 40 hour week nurses work 36 hours a week. In a two week period this would add up to eight hours not paid however, the nurse can make up those lost hours if the nurse decides to assist in educational courses, staff meetings, or committee meetings.
Finally, looking at medical supplies expenses for the unit it demonstrates that the unit surpassed their budget. This is a demonstration of a negative variance for the unit, in other words the unit overspent in medical supplies for that month by $225 dollars. This is also a negative cost for the organization. The manager can further scrutinize what items were of enormous cost by checking inventory or look at what items were of great demand for that particular month, which in turn can justify the extra cost.
In general the organization has made savings in their variances cost of $451 dollars but could have saved more if not for the negative cost in medical supplies of $225 dollars.
Benchmarking Strategies:
According to Finkler, Kovner &