Budgetary Slack

Many in the working world are under pressure to “make their numbers,” whether it be hitting a particular sales goal or showing a certain amount of profit. So in order to look good in front of the powers that be, many build in some budgetary slack.

This involves submitting projections that are below what you think you might really sell, or overestimating expenses, so that everyone can be pleasantly surprised when you come in under those numbers.

This is an effective way of ensuring that you will get that end-of-year bonus or the reward trip to Hawaii.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a Budget?43 Views

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Finance a la shmoop what is a budget? that's that thing you throw right out [Woman throws budget out the window]

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the window just before you start doing all your Christmas shopping

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right but generally it's a plan that lets you see where your money will be

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spent if you have a personal budget well you'll be able to decide ahead of time [Personal budget example]

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how much money you'll spend on clothes, food, megaphones to annoy and anger your

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neighbors and you know whatever floats your boat if you own a company well

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you'll probably have much more complicated budget for things like

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advertising and lawyer fees either way the plan helps you make sure that you

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have enough moolah for everything you need and maybe some leftover for stuff

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you want.....Joan wants to control her money so she decides to set up a budget for [Joan setting up a budget on a laptop]

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next month she makes a thousand bucks from her summer job and well here's what

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her budget looks like.....

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Now Joan knows exactly where every penny is gonna go she's not [Joan driving a car]

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gonna be caught off guard by any surprise expenses she's not gonna spend

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$200 on safecracking equipment and then realize she doesn't have enough left [Joan stood beside a vault of gold bars]

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to pay her phone bill although if she does get hit with some unexpected

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expenses well hopefully yeah she can just pawn some of those exotic vases she

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took from the Peterson place [Joan holding a vase]

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