Every employee with every company impacts the budget of the business they work for, either directly or indirectly. Whether you're an accountant, supervisor, janitor, marketing intern, or anything in between, understanding your company's budgetary expectations and goals will help you be a better employee. In this course, we'll go over the basics of budgeting, including the different types, common timelines, necessary details, and objectives.

It's important to understand which types of budget will work best for your purposes. This course takes a look at the different types of budgets that are used depending on the strategy. We'll go over the most common types of business budgets: Zero-based, Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Value Proposition, and Incremental. Each budgeting method has its pros and cons, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each one can help you determine which is the most appropriate for your company at any given stage.

You've determined your budget, distributed it to the proper recipients, and now you're carrying out the budget plan. The next and perhaps most vital part of the budgeting process is budget reporting. Not sure what budget reporting is? That's okay because that's what this course is all about. We'll define budget reporting and talk about two important terms: favorable and unfavorable variances. Budgets aren't intended to be inflexible. They should evolve with business, and budget reporting is the tool that allows companies to adapt and grow.

Expense budgeting plays an integral part in ensuring that a company can turn revenue into profit, while still being able to pay the costs associated with running the business. In this program, we'll talk about what budgeting expenses means and why it's important. We'll also discuss the difference between fixed and variable costs, and what costs may fall into both categories. Having a solid understanding of these terms will help you to properly estimate total expenses in a given budgetary period and aid in better profit generation.

Budgeting revenue is often where business owners start. Revenue is what provides the money to pay for expenses incurred by running a company, so it makes sense. Budgeting for revenue is also an estimate and requires careful attention to data to ensure that your estimate is reasonable and accurate. In this course, we'll talk about how to budget revenue correctly. We'll discuss the impact of past, present, and future trends. We'll also go over two important considerations: capacity and supplies. Having this knowledge will allow you to accurately and reasonably plan a revenue budget.

Discounts on products or services are a part of every business. Perhaps you're running a promotion to increase sales, or lowering prices to move overstock off the shelves. Whatever the case, it's important that you understand how discounts can impact your budget. In this course, we'll take a look at planning and writing discounts into your budget and looking at your company's history of discount patterns. We'll also discuss friends and family discounts, reward programs, and wholesale discounts.

An inventory budget is an estimate of how much money or capital a business needs to purchase inventory. In this program, we'll talk about how to create this type of budget. We'll discuss data analysis and the types of data used for inventory budgeting. We'll go over sales forecasts, bottom-up budgeting, vendor analysis, and internal inventory controls. With an in-depth analysis of these key factors, you can create an accurate budget that helps your company reach its goals.