Prioritizing expenditures in zero-based budgeting is one of the most important functions of executives that prevents organizations from unneeded spending. Even though in some cases, it is apparent how the money should be distributed, most of the time, expenditures need careful planning to ensure the provision of services. According to Breunig and Koski, the opinion about how expenditures should be prioritized may differ according to the goals of the organization (3). The proposed budget sheet offers a list of expenditures of a public organization that aims at increasing the number of adult/child matches by 10% during the fiscal year. According to Kind, the goal of public organizations is to provide maximum services using the allocated funds. Therefore, the recommended expenditure priorities are as follows:
- Personnel;
- Equipment and supplies;
- Fringe benefits;
- Other costs;
- Consultants/contracts;
- Travel.
Services cannot be provided without adequate staffing; therefore, the top priority expenditure is personnel. Fair salaries and reasonable work distribution among employees are the keys to job satisfaction and improved outcomes. However, since the staff is the most significant expenditure, some alterations may be made. For instance, Breunig and Koski recommend reviewing the number of functional positions to optimize the spending on salaries (4). In short, the provision of services is impossible without human resources; therefore, it is vital to prioritize personnel expenditures to ensure positive outcomes.
The second priority is to guarantee that employees have adequate resources to exercise their functions. For instance, volunteer training becomes a challenging task if there are no training materials, such as textbooks, brochures, whiteboards, and marker pens. Additionally, advertising is a vital part of a budget, since it ensures that there will be customers and volunteers to support the initiative. The proposed document includes TV and newspaper ads in the “equipment and supplies,” therefore, this point is the second priority after personnel expenditures. In short, zero-based budgeting should focus on prioritizing funds to ensure the provision of planned services.
Work Cited
Breunig, Christian, and Chris Koski. “Topping Off and Bottoming Out: Setting Budget Priorities Through Executive Power.” Policy Studies Journal, 2018. Web.
Kind, John. “Budgeting in the Public Sector.” Alchemy for Managers. Web.