Current Budgeting Practices in U.S. Industry: The State of the Art

(Hardback)

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Umapathy, in conjunction with the National Association of Accountants, surveyed over 400 companies nationwide to compile a profile of budgeting practices and budget manager qualifications. He also sought to determine whether there are significant variations in practices in different industries, different management philosophies and between financially successful and unsuccessful companies. In the last two chapters he provides a number of suggestions for improving budgetary practices by examining those used by successful companies and exploring the implications of the research for managers and academics. He briefly describes a model of effective planning and control systems taht combines the perspectives of accounting, organizational beharior, and strategic policy. Accountants in industry will find this an interesting work with a lot of useful information to help appraise the relative state of their companies' budgetary practices. Academic accountants will encounter much interesting data and a good syntheses of recent research on the subject. Journal of Accountancy

Reviews

There are a number of texts and current articles on budgeting practices and procedures that are available to the student and even the practitioner. Most are dry, mechanical cookbooks or manuals and represent the theoretical, more than actual, practice. Umapathy's book differs markedly from the majority of others in that it presents a summary of results of actual practices, along with his recommendations. Whether or not a reader agrees with all of his conclusions, one must respect the significant authority behind them. There is room for improvement in the planning function in most of our company's today, and Umapathy's book makes a significant contribution.-Charles H. Sellman, Vice President, Controller and Treasurer, Barry Wright Corporation
This book presents a rich, thought-provoking data set that will be of great use to practitioners and academics. This book makes an important contribution to our knowledge of budgeting practices. The survey was well conceived, and the book is well written.-Kenneth A. Merchant, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Admin.
Umapathy, in conjunction with the National Association of Accountants, surveyed over 400 companies nationwide to compile a profile of budgeting practices and budget manager qualifications. He also sought to determine whether there are significant variations in practices in different industries, different management philosophies, and between financially successful and unsuccessful companies. In the last two chapters, he provides a number of suggestions for improving budgetary practices by examining those used by successful companies and exploring the implications of the research for managers and academics. He briefly describes a model of effective planning and control systems that combines the perspectives of accounting, organizational behavior, and strategic policy. Accountants in industry will find this an interesting work with a lot of useful information to help appraise the relative state of their companies' budgeting practices. Academic accountants will encounter much interesting data and a good synthesis of recent research on the subject.-Journal of Accountancy
"There are a number of texts and current articles on budgeting practices and procedures that are available to the student and even the practitioner. Most are dry, mechanical cookbooks or manuals and represent the theoretical, more than actual, practice. Umapathy's book differs markedly from the majority of others in that it presents a summary of results of actual practices, along with his recommendations. Whether or not a reader agrees with all of his conclusions, one must respect the significant authority behind them. There is room for improvement in the planning function in most of our company's today, and Umapathy's book makes a significant contribution."-Charles H. Sellman, Vice President, Controller and Treasurer, Barry Wright Corporation
"This book presents a rich, thought-provoking data set that will be of great use to practitioners and academics. This book makes an important contribution to our knowledge of budgeting practices. The survey was well conceived, and the book is well written."-Kenneth A. Merchant, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Admin.
"Umapathy, in conjunction with the National Association of Accountants, surveyed over 400 companies nationwide to compile a profile of budgeting practices and budget manager qualifications. He also sought to determine whether there are significant variations in practices in different industries, different management philosophies, and between financially successful and unsuccessful companies. In the last two chapters, he provides a number of suggestions for improving budgetary practices by examining those used by successful companies and exploring the implications of the research for managers and academics. He briefly describes a model of effective planning and control systems that combines the perspectives of accounting, organizational behavior, and strategic policy. Accountants in industry will find this an interesting work with a lot of useful information to help appraise the relative state of their companies' budgeting practices. Academic accountants will encounter much interesting data and a good synthesis of recent research on the subject."-Journal of Accountancy

Author Bio

SRINIVASAN UMAPATHY is an Associate Professor of Accounting at Babson College.