OFFICE MANAGEMENT
Wave goodbye to
the budget blues
As any fashionista will tell you black is never going to go out of fashion… and as all good PAs
should know staying in the black (and out of the red) will only reap rewards in the office
The position of trust that is given to PAs means that
more often than not you’re the one who is holding the
purse strings. Daunting as it sounds understanding how
to control your budgets and allocating money before the
financial year starts will make your job easier for the rest
of the year. To help you stay on the straight and narrow
read on for six good budgeting habits to get in to.
Consider your expenditure
This task may take some time so set aside a few hours
when you know you won’t be interrupted. It’s useful to
have previous years’ budgets to hand for reference. First
of all you need to decide how your budget will be organ-
ised – monthly, weekly or yearly. If you want to keep a
close eye on cash flow then a monthly target is best, if
you have a very large budget then weekly means you can
keep a tight reign on it.
Draw up your budget
Your budget needs to reflect every expense for your
office – from the water cooler bill to the stationery order.
It’s worth looking back through old accounts to see if
there is anything that you have forgotten. To make it eas- some budgets aren’t as flexible as you hoped. Find out
ier group the expenditure into categories – for example now if you can move money around or whether money is “
No one likes to
be in the situation on
stationery, marketing, entertainment, travel. Based on ring fenced. No one likes to be in the situation on a
what you know has previously been spent combined Monday morning when they realise that the company’s
a Monday morning
with what you know is going to be occurring over the annual bash came in at a staggering £20,000 over budget when they realise
next 12 months you need to allocate an amount for each. – but it helps to soften the blow if you can make up the
that the company’s
It’s important to be realistic and consider your team’s deficit by being more frugal in other areas.
annual bash came
behaviour. If you’re the PA to a team of press officers you
might find that they spend a large portion of your budg- Monitor your budget
in at a staggering
et on wining and dining, while if you work for the CEO Throughout the year you need to be closely checking on £20,000 over
business travel may be a significant percentage. your budgetary predictions and whether you are coming
budget – but it helps
in on the right side of them. If a colleague has grand
Do your research
to soften the blow
designs for an all-singing, all-dancing company promo-
Leaf through stationery catalogues and get a rough idea tion then check there is adequate budget before you give
if you can make up
of how much the typical monthly spend may be. Take the them the go-ahead. Keep a simple spreadsheet and track the deficit by being
time to chat to your team and find out if there are any exactly what you are spending so you can see how it tal-
more frugal in
large events planned over the course of the year that lies up with your planned budget – this should give you a
other areas
need to be reflected in your workings out. Now might red flag should anything be coming in more expensive
”
also be a good time to ensure you are getting the best than planned and you know to cut back.
deals from your suppliers. Make use of some of the price
comparison websites to ensure that you can’t find your Be prepared for budget blowouts
usual order somewhere cheaper. Obviously the idea of creating a budget is sticking to it,
but as we can never forecast what life will throw at us it’s
Understand your budget worth building a contingency fund into your plans. This
You need to be sure that you are aware of the level of can be done either by allocating a sum of money to your
responsibility you have over budgets. Perhaps the budget which you can dip into in times of emergency, or
amounts you are allocated are supplied by a superior and building a contingency fund into each area of the budget
it’s your job to stay within them, or you may find that which can be used if anything unforeseen crops up.
E
14 » www.executivepa.com » Feb/Mar 2010
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