THE IMPACT OF BUDGET AND BUDGETARY CONTROL ON STAFF PRODUCTIVITY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In majority of organization in Nigeria, budgeting is the most important management tool for performance and productivity and for organizations to perform well, resources must be well utilized and customers well served. To achieve such ends, all of an organization’s human and materials resources must be well utilized in the right way and the right time to create high quality products at minimal cost (Nash, 2008).Formally defined, productivity is a summary measure of the quantity and quality of work performance, with resources utilization taken into account. It can be measured at the individual, group, or organizations level. Productivity may be expressed as success into dimensions of staff performance, effectiveness and efficiency.Organization has been collective in order to achieve group or individual objectives. They serve as the means by which goods and services are provided beyond the boundaries of an individual or small group’s capacity of self-sufficiency. Such provision, also acknowledged, may be made for profit through some other more controlled framework of commercial or social provision (Dawson 1996). However, Budgeting on the other hand, is regarded as the most basic of all the management functions. It involves the selecting from among alternative future course of action for the organization as a whole and every department or section within it. Furthermore, it requires selecting organizational objectives and departmental goals, determines and provides a rational approach to pre-selected objectives. It strongly implies managerial innovation and the ability to create something (koontz 1980).

A budget is a quantitative expression of a plan for a defined period of time. It may include planned sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expenses, assets, liabilities and cash flows. It expresses strategic plans of business units, organizations, activities or events in measurable terms.

Budget helps to aid the planning of actual operations by forcing managers to consider how the conditions might change and what steps should be taken now and by encouraging managers to consider problems before they arise. It also helps co-ordinate the activities of the organization by compelling managers to examine relationships between their own operation and those of other departments (Wikipedia, 2015).

The budget of a company is often compiled annually, but may not be a finished budget, usually requiring considerable effort, is a plan for the short-term future, typically allows hundreds or even thousands of people in various departments (operations, human resources, IT, etc.) to list their expected revenues and expenses in the final budget.

If the actual figures delivered through the budget period come close to the budget, this suggests that the managers understand their business and have been successfully driving it in the intended direction. On the other hand, if the figures diverge wildly from the budget, this sends an 'out of control' signal, and the share price could suffer.

The problem which underscores the need to undertake this study is aptly described by Koontz et al (1980) with all the interest in budgeting and all the sense of urgency brought about by modern super competition, is the danger that budgeting can become merely a costly fad, not very useful and even disillusioning. The implication of the above assertion is that not all organization that have a good budget eventually reaps the desired benefits.

Schermerhorn (1986) adds that most budgeting failures arise from their inability of managers to truly understand the budget and to implement it well.Problems have been identified in the budgeting process. For instance, insetting objectives, organizations find it difficult to involve employees, shareholders, customers etc. closely related to this is the issue associated with the likely environment different variables and events.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Budgeting underlines predicting and quantifying the future in financial terms and predicting thefuture needs for finance including the staff’s financial remuneration. Therefore, budgeting is situated between the disciplines of finance and planning. Budgeting data are the most tangible decision causes considered by decision makers. It has been used in the short-term for the operational planning in standard costing. It has also been developedto support strategic planning with firm planning and to develop the long termplan. However, the researcher is examining the effect of budgeting on staff productivity.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1. To examine the effect of budgeting on staff productivity.
2. To identify the different types of budgeting.
3. To identify factors that can enhance staff productivity.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the effect of budgeting on staff productivity?
2. What are the different types of budgeting?
3. What are the factors that can enhance staff productivity?

1.5   HYPOTHESIS

HO: There is no significant relationship between budget and staff productivity.

HA: There is significant relationship between budget and staff productivity.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of t6his study:

1. Outcome of this study will educate corporate organizations in Nigeria on the benefits of budgeting and how it can be used to boost employee productivity.
2. This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researchers interested in carrying out further research in this field subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic.

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study on the impact of budget on staff productivity will cover all types of budget process that can improve employee performance leading to improved productivity.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.