The Most Difficult Component
When developing your department's budget, what is the most difficult component (or components) to project or measure?
Cost of bad debt. In the service industry (schools) I've seen the cost of unpaid balances cause increased expenditures in salaries and collection activities.
Lately we've been experiencing severe attrition due to the present economic downturn. It's becoming increasingly difficult to determine future class sizes further into the curriculum. Student consumables (cd's, lab books, usb keys, etc) are harder to keep track of and purchase appropriately.
The current economic and proposed regulatory changes can cause attrition increases and reduced starts, which makes it difficult to project revenue.
I find it difficult to project collection based on Student Attendance. We currently have developed a committee of staff members to monitor student attendance and effective monitor students. Any other suggestions?
I agree with this response, both factors have caused considerable decrease in starts. Projecting a favorable outcome is difficult at this point. One foreseeable plan of action is to go back to setting up a kaizen budget to help balance out.
I must say this section was very difficult for me. Taking the bussiness segment I find hard because it just seemed to be a great deal of key ieas that i myself haven't used in an everyday setting. setting goals when at the same time making a budget go hand in hand.By identifying what you need to and creating a budget to get you there is a very important key. This will help me as i think about how i want to handle my own personal budget. In this section it shows how a great deal of other things come into play when dealing with a business.
That would be the overall budget if your not made aware of your numbers. Our schools have been a closed book as far as budget figures go. The school directors have never been made aware of their P & L until very recently. I believe this could make it quite difficult to work within the constraints of a planned budget if your never made aware of its contents. The directors are now being brought into the loop and it will hopefully result in future growth within our company.
The most difficult componet for me is class sizes and the product consumption from the Student thru the program.
Thanks Art, this is great, it's impossible to develop a realistic budget, as both a plan and cost control tool, if one is not aware of the P&L results.
Jay Hollowell
At smaller campuses a difficult component to manage is employee attrition. It can be taxing on other team members after loosing an experienced employee.
The most difficult thing at our campus to measure I would have to say employee attrition and equipment.
Joanne
You do make a good point here about the proposed regulatory changes and requirements.
