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Budget Planning and Control

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Budget Planning and Control
Anita Wright
Professor Mohamed Gurey
ACC556 – Financial Accounting for Managers
December 11, 2015

Introduction A company I started working for a couple of months ago as a Finance manager is Home Depot. Since I own a home, I know how expensive it is to maintain. I do a lot of shopping there for various items and appreciate the reasonable prices as well as the valuable advice from my associates. The store has everything one could possibly need to help turn a house into a home. Also, during the holiday season you can find items that will make your home festive and cheerful. Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. Investment banker Ken Langone and merchandising guru Pat Farrah soon joined the founders in 1979 and that year, the first two Home Depot stores opened in Atlanta, GA (Our History, 2015). They were 60,000 square feet and stocked 25,000 items, much more than the average hardware store at that time. The vision for these stores was to have a place where the do-it-yourselfers could experience one-stop shopping for all of their home project needs (Our History, 2015). From the start, associates offer the best customer service in the industry. Not only do they go through rigorous product knowledge training, but they offer clinics to customers that want to learn to do it themselves (Our History, 2015). Today, with over 2200 stores, Home Depot has revolutionized the home improvement industry by bringing the know-how and the tools to customers all the while saving them money (Our History, 2015). As a finance manager, I will participate in preparing the annual budget, reviewing monthly expenditures and ensuring that budget goals are met. There are a couple of good reasons why the company should prepare and maintain its budget. 1) By preparing a budget, it will force upper management to create

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