Budget Planning Calendar

Key Takeaways

• Budget planning calendars are used to create complex budgets efficiently.
• They are powerful planning tools and can take months to prepare.
• They help monitor and manage required data submissions from multiple departments.
• Budget calendars aid in the allocation of resources.
• When used properly, they can prevent budget inaccuracies.

What Is a Budget Planning Calendar?

A budget planning calendar organizes activities required to develop complex budgets in large organizations. These calendars help coordinate the timing of data submissions from various departments. Companies also use budget planning calendars to allocate resources for reinvestment and negotiations. Failure to follow a budget planning calendar could result in inaccurate and costly last-minute budgets.

Budget planning calendars are used by private companies, governments, and universities.

How Budget Planning Calendars Enhance Organizational Efficiency

Budget planning calendars can cover a period of several months in some cases. They usually include specific dates when departments must submit their data to the accounting department. These calendars can also take several months to prepare in and of themselves. Budget planning calendars are utilized by private companies as well as universities and local, state, and federal governments.

Important

A budget planning calendar is one of the most powerful tools a company has, as it allows them to allocate potentially available funds to reinvestment in the company or to negotiate new and future deals.

It is commonplace for small-to-medium-sized businesses—who can source what they need rather quickly, including capital—to plan their budget calendars three or six months out. For medium and larger organizations, which may find it harder to acquire capital, manufacturing products, or marketing budgets, tend to plan their budget planning on a longer-term horizon, such as six months to a year, or even longer.

Case Study: Blair County’s Strategic Use of Budget Planning Calendars

As an example, Blair County officials in Pennsylvania agreed to a budget planning schedule in March that they expect to follow later that year when considering the 2021 budget. In addition, the commissioners planned to have a preliminary operating budget ready for presentation on or before Oct. 15, along with a report on the county’s financial standing and a list of goals for the next year.

The reason they did this was that they are city officials, and budgeting is a primary concern for them as they use taxpayer money to fund projects. Without a budget plan set in place by a calendar, the officials may have had to throw together a last-minute budget. This would likely have been full of inaccuracies and could cost the city considerable money. Implementing a budget planning calendar ensured that there were no surprises when they came to consider the next year's budget.

Many municipalities, such as the city of Olathe, Kansas, and many universities, publish budget planning calendars on their websites to notify the public. Olathe has a six-month process from the time the budget planning begins to the final adoption of the city's budget.