The Hunter Holmes Mcguire Veterans Administration Medical Center

Budget implementation Managers must address a number of issues in implementing an approved budget, including development of a staffing plan that provides coverage for staff weekends, holidays, vacations, and sick leave as well as busy and slow periods.

3. Explain two methods that can be used in order to identify realistic estimations when developing a budget. [2.2]

There are different types of budgeting that businesses typically use and those include Operating budgets, Capital Budgets and there are many subtypes that exist because a budget can also be created for special events, the recruitment and retention of new staff, and to manage the advertising expenses and return on investments for a business (Demand Media, 1999-2012). According to Demand Media (1999-2012), "An operating budget outlines the total operating expenses and income for the organization, typically for the period of a fiscal year. Capital budgets evaluate the investments and assets of the business, and a cash budget shows the predicted cash flow in and out of the business over a period of time” (para.2 ). According to the Cost-Benefit Analysis (2012), “Capital budgeting has at its core the tool of cost-benefit analysis; it merely extends the basic form into a multi-period analysis, with consideration of the time value of money. In this context, a new product, venture, or investment is evaluated on a start-to-finish basis, with care taken to capture all the impacts on the company, both cost and benefits. When these inputs and outputs are quantified by year, they can then be discounted to present value to determine the net present value of the opportunity at the time of the decision” ("Cost-Benefit Analysis," 2012).

This research paper is a brief discussion of budget management analysis. Budgeting is the key to financial management, and is the key to translates an organization goals or plan into money. Budgeting is a rough estimate of how much a company will need to get their work done, and provides the basis for evaluating performance, a source of motivation, coordinating business activities, a tool for management communication and instructions to employees. Without a budget an organization would be like a driver, driving blinded without instructions or any sense of direction, that’s how important a budget is to every organization and individual likewise (Clark, 2005).

Describe the budget process and how staff members at the unit level impact the budget.

views of costs and the labor hours this can help create an appropriate budget and validate that the

Ineffective practices in creating and monitoring a budget include failure of management to integrate the operating budget with other planning efforts (Academic Writing Tips, 2011). Organizational leaders should ensure that the long term and intermediate goals correlate with the operating budget. Failure to align the operating budget with various assumptions such as size, scope, and nature of future operations can pose a problem (Academic Writing Tips, 2011). According to Finkler and Ward (2006), upper management and financial officers usually create the operating budget omitting frontline and unit managers. This process can lead to failure in the financial management practices

However as of more recent, the focus has been to cut spending and this in turn has affected most notably, Veterans Affairs (VA) and their health programs. According to the VA, “VA is charged with fulfilling President Lincoln’s promise to care for those “who shall have borne the battle, and for ” their families and their survivors. To support this mission, the 2016 Budget provides $70.2 billion in discretionary funding for VA, a 7.9 percent increase above the 2015 enacted level. In addition, the budget includes $3.2 billion in estimated medical care collections, for a total discretionary budget authority of $73.5 billion (which includes $3.2 billion in Medical Care Collections) and $95.3 billion for VA’s mandatory benefit programs.” This increase in budgetary spending can be deceiving as the VA is also seeing an increase in the amount of veterans claiming benefits. So although there is a budgetary increase, it is not enough (a deficit) to fulfill all claims made by veterans and/or their families and therefore is causing the VA to make cutbacks in both military construction efforts, but more importantly in medical benefits that veterans receive. For instance, improving veterans access to medical care to include strengthening their benefits program is a matter of priority. As has been recently of subject in the news, wait times for veterans has been extreme and inefficient, at times to the detriment of the health of veterans. Although the increase is aimed at providing more physicians and improving the VA’s “physical” infrastructure, the budgetary increase lacks the foresight to address the growing veteran population in concurrence with the needed changes that are being proposed. In an article published in Military Times on

A budget is essential for a company to succeed. Without these budgets, it is very hard to be able to see where all

A strong operating and capital budget should align with the strategic goals of Creekside Community Hospital, as well as ensure operational efficiencies and financial longevity. Planning capital purchases continually and for future years will allow Creekside to be competitive, which is a crucial factor in capital budgeting (Gapenski & Reiter, 2016). Vianueva (2011) suggests an inadequate capital budget process leads to a key problem area for hospitals. Cost allocation is a vital component of the capital budget process. Costs must be allocated to the appropriate departments or areas where they are incurred, as well as where revenues are generated. With Creekside Community Hospital exhibiting higher inpatient costs than outpatient costs, the hospital leadership should ensure accuracy so that managers have the information necessary to make sound, financial decisions currently and in the future related to staff support, equipment and supply purchase to name a few.

In terms of budgetary concerns, the hospital must constantly evaluate and assess the budgetary structure of the hospital and execution of that budget. Examples of things that should be looked out for include ordering supplies that are not needed, not ordering enough supplies, unnecessary and pointless tests being ordered, over-staffing and/or under-staffing, and so forth. If money and resources need to be allocated to get the job done effectively, then this should be the order of the day. However, waste should not be a part of the equation.

The steps to create a budget can prove more daunting than actually implementing the budget. Initially the health care organization’s mission and vision must drive the budget. Aligning the health organization’s core values with the budget will help the managers and director’s deciding the budget to stay focused on the task at hand. A careful balance of needs and wants that the health care organization is attempting to develop from the department heads will need to be balanced by the realistic goal of the present and future capital. The initial preparation should include feedback from the previous budget period so the managers can have guidelines for forming the upcoming budget. The managers should be given caps on the amount of money they can spend and should be transparent in where they will be spending the money (Liebler & McConnell, 2012, p. 230). A solid leader should a set time frame for development of the strategy, which must be given to the manager’s. Without a

Revenue Budgets within the health care field are defined as the listing of expected revenues of an organization usually on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. (Gapenski, 2013). Therefore being said within this timeframe it is required for all budgets to be documented, data pulled, and

Budget is time-consuming, especially if it involves a poorly managed company. The budget only pays attention to the quantitative aspect of business while neglecting the qualitative aspects. It does not consider the quality of services or goods and therefore inconsiderate of customers’ satisfaction. Another disadvantage of a budget is that it is inaccurate. A firm rarely “makes budget.” The hope is that the business activity will be close to the budget, but it could be off considerably and lead to bad hiring, spending and production decisions. This is because budget preparation is based on assumptions and thereby changes in the business environment could lead to unachievable

The budget is an important basis for evaluating performance. It can provide benchmarks against which to judge success or failure in reaching goals and facilitates timely corrective measures. Budgeting forms the baseline for a company 's future performance. Managers create the budget anticipating financial conditions and market expectations for future periods. These managers calculate revenues and expenses for the period being budgeted. When the period reflected in the budget arrives, the managers compare actual expenses to the budget numbers and evaluate the department 's performance.