Many organizations are struggling when it comes to their budgeting and forecasting in this seemingly unpredictable environment. Every single non-profit, school, church, business, or organization has to engage in some budget planning, yet it is often difficult to find the best process that works for everyone.
Here are some of the most common issues organizations face with their budgeting process or software:
1. Complicated Systems
Many budget managers begin preparing right before the beginning of the fiscal year. It can often take months to craft an accurate budget for the year, and if it is done manually or with complicated systems, it can take a lot longer and be a bit too confusing for everyone on their team.
Budgeting does not need to be too complicated, yet so many budgeting software systems just add more confusion. Budget managers do not have time to be managing different information sources, calculating formulas by hand, sifting through numbers in Excel spreadsheets, or tracking down department heads for their projections.
2. Costly Software
Let’s face it: most budgeting software costs quite a bit to implement. Not all non-profits, schools, churches, or other organizations can justify the funds for something at that level. On the flip side, they need something more robust than Google Sheets, Excel files, or even worse: a chain of emails. It is hard to find a budgeting software that is in the middle ground in terms of affordability and features.
3. Too Much Training Needed
If your team is not properly equipped to best operate a budgeting system, it will only hurt your process in the long run. If there is too much training needed just to operate the budgeting software, it will be time-consuming, costly, and result in less collaboration. For example, it may be difficult for a small school to set aside the time for a team to be trained in a heavily complex system.
4. Lack of Collaboration
Budgeting usually involves many moving parts, phases, and people. Budget managers are likely in contact with their many department heads, coworkers, project managers, and leaders to get the answers they need. Especially in a large organization, it can be difficult for everyone to be on the same page. A budgeting software that is not conducive to working with others can just add time to the process and create a lack of communication.
5. Complex Integration
If your organization already uses systems for their financials or sales, it would be great for a budgeting software to fit right into your processes. However, most of the time, that is not the case. A budgeting software should be able to work or sync with all of your data or third-party applications that are a part of your system.
6. Inaccurate or Outdated Data
When organizations work on budgeting software with a manual process, data is not updated in real-time across the board. Many budget managers experience gross errors in their numbers even after the budgets have been approved by higher management. When your process involves working with non-collaborative files, consolidating Excel spreadsheets, and working with other people, there is always room for mistakes.
Budget managers are also continuously planning throughout the year and often want to realign their projections or forecast for different scenarios. If this has to be done manually or includes outdated numbers, it can be a real issue.
7. Inflexibility
Many budget managers know that things can change at the drop of a hat. When they need to update their numbers and see how that affects their budget, it is often a painstaking process that is not automatic. If multiple people are using the software, but it is not Cloud-based, it may result in many email threads, disjointed discussions, and even confusion on any new budget developments. Many budgeting systems are on-premise, making it difficult to work from anywhere or even receive software updates in real-time.
You don’t have to experience these major issues when it comes to your budgeting. There is a way to make budgeting a breeze, and that is where we come in.
Martus is a Cloud-based budgeting, forecasting, and reporting software tool that allows organizations and businesses to create, execute, and analyze budgets with ease. Martus supports collaboration, is easy to implement, and is very affordable. We created our Budgeting & Reporting Software to make budgeting much more streamlined for you, making it so your non-profit, school, church, business, or organization can operate how they need to.
For more about Martus, learn about what we do here or contact us for a free demo today.