The maturity of a budgeting system and its influence on corporate performance

Abstract

In recent decades, the features making up corporate budgeting systems have been profoundly deliberated over by academics and professionals. Indeed, so-called traditional methods of budgeting have borne the brunt of severe criticism due to their inflexibility and the sheer amount of time they demand of employees. Nonetheless, several examples exist of budgeting systems that have somehow been transformed, and of organizations which have adopted advanced, flexible budgeting procedures based on evaluation of performance. In the study presented, the authors look into any relationships that may exist between the primary elements of corporate budgeting systems and their performance in the enterprise. The aim is to contribute towards existing knowledge by: 1) summarizing the latest advances that relate to budgeting and corporate performance; 2) reporting on current budgeting practices applied by companies in the Czech Republic, with analysis of how budgeting systems affect managerial behaviour; 3) evaluating any statistical dependence between selected features of corporate budgeting systems; i.e. utilizing a budget as a managerial tool, how enterprises express the added value of budgeting systems, endeavour on the part of management in implementing an effective budgeting system, the workload pertaining to individual components of a budgeting system, and the significance of a budgeting system in comparison with other tools designed for adapting to change in market conditions. In general, the study describes interconnections between the profit-based performance of firms and the majority of the factors and features of the budgeting systems examined.