Arrggg....budget !

[fimbo]

im in the process of compiling a preschool budget -broken down into the 3 terms, then an overall ongoing annual budget.

so -my dilemma is -as we are sessional and open for 38 weeks -we only recieve fee's for 38 weeks, but our outgoings spread over 52 weeks.

so - do i work my budget out over 38 weeks - or 52 ??

i know either way i will need to break down the incomings over the 52 or break down the outgoings over 38 -but which is the best ? as it should all balance out anyway over the whole year ?

 

what does everyone else do ?

 

just spent hours doing very posh spreadsheets - in the hope that i can monitor it on a weekly basis lol !!

[Fredbear]

Hi we calculate all incomings over the 38 weeks, then out goings over 38 weeks, then any other outgoings such as insurance, holiday pay etc when closed is totalled and then also divided into weeks open to give you an accurate or as near as you can total. Do you already have a cash plan from the previous year? If so this is how we set our budget for the next year, with any obvious rises calculated into that figure. This can only be an approximate figure, allowing an amount for some surprises along the way. Hope this makes some sense for you.

 

 

[fimbo]

thanks -so if i work on a 38 week year then really - , and break down annual expected costs (insurance, subscriptions etc) into those 38 weeks.

there is no proper budget from previous years - well, none that makes any sense - hence why i have decided to do it myself.

i am trying to get hold of last years end of year report -so i can use those 'cost' figures as a basis for this years budget, i am fed up of no-one doing anything properly -and of just muddling along hoping it will all work out ok -because it usually doesnt.

we have found ourselves in a right pickle, and ive had enough....luckily i have experience of accounts, and i quite enjoy doing it.

[Fredbear]

You can then divide that figure if you like into monthly but if your only open until July, and reopen in September, you would have a nil incomings for August presumably anyway. We calculate ours with holiday pay for August so it's always vital to know that our incomings cover these from the July figure. Hope that makes some sense.

[fimbo]

many thanks

[Fredbear]

Hope you get it sorted.

[anju]

We are open term time only like you but I do my budgets monthly across the whole year - wages still go out in August and other closure periods and income sometimes comes then too if there's a delay in payment. I also buy resources sometimes in closure periods. I use the previous year's as a starting point same as Fredbear & like you I do it all on excel spreadsheets. I have a cash flow one for each financial year and then update it at the end of every month with Actual figures rather than the estimated ones. I also have a bank account spreadsheet and update that at least twice a week (I do all online banking) with every transaction. I rarely use any cash so it's easy I reconcile it all as everything goes through the bank.

With the spreadsheets I put a 'mean' column in with the annual amounts divided by 12 as I find that useful to keep an overview.

I started doing the budgets when we were still committee run for the same reason as you - it wasn't done properly and I couldnt tell where we were financially which made it very difficult to plan staffing etc.