Пособие по переводу английской научно-технической литературы. Орлова Г.Д. - 163 стр.

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Living within a budget probably causes more problems for engineering managers

than any other responsibility. The budget always seems too small. By definition, a

budget is a financial plan for the year, just as schedules are time plans and PERT

diagrams are performance plans. The tough part of living within a budget is trying to

cope with unexpected needs.

Theoretically, the "efficient" manager will scrupulously control every expenditure

and maintain bookkeeping records of his own. At every point in time, he will know

exactly where each account is with respect to the budget. He will automatically veto any

expenditure that threatens to exceed the budget, no matter what the reason. Such a

manager will certainly be controlling expenditures, but he will not be managing the

budget.

The opposite extreme is the manager who is not concerned about any items in his

budget. He approves all requisitions for any amount, and hopes for the best. This

approach will certainly free more time for other management duties, but it is also a sure

way of getting a department into trouble.

The effective manager knows that only a few items in the budget have the most

leverage on totals and need to be monitored carefully. These items include salaries,

overtime, project materials, outside testing, and travel. Managing these items requires

an awareness of the real needs of the department, as well as a sense of compromise. If

an unexpected need to increase travel expenses threatens to blow your budget, look over

the other budget items and identify areas in which spending can be cut, so that the total

budget can be brought into balance.

Staff members should be made a part of the budget control system. One company

does this by allowing all exempt employees to sign their own purchase orders up to

$100. This gives each employee a measure of budget responsibility, and frees the

manager from the task of approving the numerous small purchase orders that are

automatically approved anyway. A further benefit is that these purchase orders are hand

written, so they go out the same day they are filled out, expediting the delivery of

needed parts.