April 20, 2020

Beyond Budgeting

Beyond Budgeting may be a provocative title for a book. But do not be misled. This book focuses on the whole general management model, not just the replacement of time-worn, badly managed budgeting processes. Beyond budgeting is not merely a negative idea that trashes budgeting. Instead, it is a positive idea that uses the abandonment of budgeting as a trigger for improving the entire management control process. Budget abandonment forces deeper and broader examination of how organiza- tions should be managed.
Budgeting is at the heart of how nearly all large corporations in the world are managed today. Managers are deeply dissatisfied with it, but few have really challenged budgeting. This book does. It describes an alternative coherent management model tailored to today’s business conditions. It overcomes many of the limitations of the traditional man- agement model. This is not a cookbook. There is no package solution. However, this book provides a guiding framework for how organizations should be managed in the twenty-first century.
How should we view this in the United States? Our way of managing organizations has been the dominant model throughout the past cen- tury. It has been copied around the world. As conditions have changed, we have recognized its weaknesses. And we have developed useful tools and techniques such as activity-based costing and the Balanced Score- card to deal with them. But have they really worked? Have they funda- mentally changed anything? Could they have worked better within a dif- ferent management model? Is there really such an alternative model? Or is it just more hype?
This book addresses these questions. Be clear that beyond budgeting is not just another tool. This book offers an alternative general manage- ment model. It will make many managers uneasy because it takes us beyond our functional comfort zones. It forces us to recognize the inter- dependence of the whole management process. This means changing