What is the main purpose of a flexible budget?
The flexible budget can be used for the determination of budgeted sales, costs, and profits at different activity levels. It helps the management to decide the level of output to be produced in order to generate profits for the business based on budgeted cost at different activity levels and budgeted sales.
Should budgets be flexible?
Why make a flexible budget? The biggest advantage to a flexible budget is that it more accurately reflects the state of your finances. The alternative, static budgeting, can’t account for unexpected expenses or changing income. A flexible budget will help you track where you can adjust spending each month.
How does flexible budget work?
A flexible budget adjusts to changes in actual revenue levels. Actual revenues or other activity measures are entered into the flexible budget once an accounting period has been completed, and it generates a budget that is specific to the inputs. The budget is then compared to actual expenses for control purposes.
How is flexible budget calculated?
To determine whether a cost is variable or fixed, think about the nature of the cost. To compute the value of the flexible budget, multiply the variable cost per unit by the actual production volume. Here, the figure indicates that the variable costs of producing 125,000 should total $162,500 (125,000 units x $1.30).
What are the advantages of flexible budgeting system?
Pros and Cons of Flexible Budgeting
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Better enables businesses to pursue new opportunities and mitigate risk | Predictions have a shorter lifespan — months rather than quarters |
| More accurately reflects the state of finances | Less accountability to adhere to original budget |
| Accounts for unexpected expenses |
What are examples flexible expenses?
Flexible expenses are any non-essential cost that can be changed, reduced, or eliminated to help balance your budget. Flexible expense examples include groceries, dining out, entertainment, and even utilities.
Is a car payment a flexible expense?
For an individual, a typical inflexible expense would be mortgage or car payments, alimony or child support, which have fixed repayment schedules by amount and date. For companies, interest payable and employee wages would be inflexible expenses. A flexible expense is one that is easily altered or avoided.