Generally budget time in most companies means the same thing: “Did you come in under budget this year and what are the needs for next year”? If you are a responsible manager you didn’t go over budget and if you could come in under budget without sacrificing quality — then you should.
Anyone who manages a budget knows that if you didn’t spend the “budgeted” money this year then it must mean you don’t need it next year. Even if the line item was something you felt you could “put off until next year,” it’s gone for next year. So do you spend the money? I’d say “no,” but damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
If you are an owner of a company whether in good times or bad, you always want the people contributing to the bottom line to, “do more with less.” You want to show a twenty percent growth — year-after-year. Even in the best of times that rate of growth is a challenge to sustain. But if you continue to do more with less then you just might be able to make a 20 percent growth over the previous year.
Whether it is for business or home I have managed budgets for as long as I can remember. However the phrase, “do more with less” means something completely different for me today than they did last year, five years ago or ten years ago. It might mean something different to me tomorrow.
I look at everything through the lens of, “do more with less” whether it is a business or home budget, the amount of food I consume, items I “need vs. want,” impact on the environment, impact on others and more.
I feel the phrase, “do more with less” can be powerful and wondered what it might mean to others and how they might express it.
So I am going to ask some individuals and post their responses here.
— Cindy Davis
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