Chapter 9
Profit Planning

Solutions to Questions

9-1 A budget is a detailed quantitative plan for the acquisition and use of financial and other resources over a given time period. Budgetary control involves the use of budgets to control the actual activities of a firm.

9-2 1. Budgets communicate management’s plans throughout the organization. 2. Budgets force managers to think about and plan for the future. 3. The budgeting process provides a means of allocating resources to those parts of the organization where they can be used most effectively. 4. The budgeting process can uncover potential bottlenecks before they occur. 5. Budgets coordinate the activities of the entire organization by integrating the plans of its various parts. Budgeting helps to ensure that everyone in the organization is pulling in the same direction. 6. Budgets define goals and objectives that can serve as benchmarks for evaluating subsequent performance.

9-3 Responsibility accounting is a system in which a manager is held responsible for those items of revenues and costs—and only those items—that the manager can control to a significant extent. Each line item in the budget is made the responsibility of a manager who is then held responsible for differences between budgeted and actual results.

9-4 A master budget represents a summary of all of management’s plans and goals for the future, and outlines the way in which these plans are to be accomplished. The master budget is composed of a number of smaller, specific budgets encompassing sales, production, raw materials, direct labor, manufacturing overhead, selling and administrative expenses, and inventories. The master budget generally also contains a budgeted income statement, budgeted balance sheet, and cash budget.

9-5 The level of sales impacts virtually every other aspect of the firm’s activities. It