The Business Advisory Blog

Insight, news and updates from Alliott NZ Chartered Accountants, Auckland New Zealand. The views expressed here are the views of the author and should be discussed in further detail should an article be relevant to your individual circumstances.

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Practical Budgeting Tactics

Greg Millar

Published on 2025-07-14

6 Factors to Consider When Developing an Effective Business Budget

Budgeting is an important part of business planning. A well-designed budget helps leaders manage finances, allocate resources and stay on track to achieve business goals.

Here are 6 practical tips to help create a budget that works for your business.

1. Set Clear Goals

Define financial goals for the upcoming period. Whether it's increasing revenue, reducing costs, or expanding operations, clear objectives guide all budgeting decisions.

For example, a business aiming to increase sales by 15% in the next year, might budget for targeted online advertisements and promotions which drive traffic to the website. The budget would be quite different for a business aiming to cut costs by 5% in the coming 6 months.

2. Track Income and Expenses

Detailed records of the business's income and expenses help identify spending patterns and cost cutting opportunities which are taken into account in the next budget cycle.

These records help leaders analyse and identify patterns in revenue and expenses to develop intelligent assumptions on what may happen in the future.

3. Be Realistic (Even Conservative)

When creating the budget, be realistic about revenue projections and expense estimates. Overestimating income or underestimating expenses can lead to budget shortfalls and financial difficulties.

It can also be helpful to make budgets with different scenarios based on, for example, ‘aggressive’, ‘conservative’ and ‘expected’ assumptions. In any case, always err on the conservative side.

4. Prioritise Essential Expenses

Identify the business's essential expenses, such as rent, utilities, and payroll, and prioritise them in the budget. This ensures they’ll be covered even if revenue is lower than expected.

For example, we’d expect a manufacturing company to prioritise essential expenses such as raw materials and production costs over the website upgrade, company offsite and internal newsletter.

5. Plan for Contingencies

Include a contingency fund in the budget to cover unexpected expenses or revenue shortfalls. Having a buffer avoids financial difficulties if things don’t go as planned.

For example, a contingency fund can help a services business deal with a sudden increase in project scope, so they can hire additional staff to deliver the project on time.

6. Review and Adjust Regularly

Review the budget regularly and adjust as needed. As the business grows and market conditions change, the budget should evolve to reflect these changes. Most well-run businesses will review the budget at least monthly.

A budget helps leaders commit to certain forecasts and optimise business performance as things change. We suggest you follow these guidelines when preparing your next budget!