COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Budgeting for Better Performance course. This program will equip you with the skills and knowledge to design, use, and refine budgets as practical tools for planning, controlling, and improving organisational performance. Throughout this course, you will learn how to link budgets and performance measures so that financial and non-financial information work together to support better decisions, clearer accountability, and continuous improvement.

This course begins by introducing the core concepts and purposes of budgeting so that you can see why budgets matter for performance. It explains what a budget is, the purpose of budgets, and why organisations and teams need budgets to plan activity, allocate resources, and manage risk. It then examines the advantages of budgets, including clarity, coordination, and performance focus, and lays the foundation for understanding how budgets can be used not just as financial documents but as practical management tools.

The course then explores how to use budgets to monitor and understand performance during the period. It explains how to monitor performance against budget, how to report actual results and variances, and how to distinguish controllable from non-controllable costs. It examines the causes of variances so you can move beyond “red and green numbers” to meaningful analysis, and introduces flexible budgets and budgetary control to show how budgets can be adjusted for volume and activity levels. It also explains how to analyse costs, outlines the advantages of flexible budgets, introduces non-financial budgets, and links these ideas with standard costing and budgetary control as integrated mechanisms for planning and review.

Performance measurement is then examined in detail so that you can link budgeting with broader performance management. The course explains what performance measurement is and the key performance measurement principles that underpin effective systems. It explores quantitative and qualitative measures, clarifies the role of financial performance measures, and introduces non-financial performance measures as complementary indicators. It then explains what qualitative measures tend to concentrate on, discusses the dangers of relying on non-financial measures without context, and highlights why a balanced mix of measures is essential.

The course then introduces benchmarking, stakeholder perspectives, and the balanced scorecard as ways to shape and interpret performance information. It explains several types of benchmarking and how they can be used to compare and improve performance, and identifies different stakeholders and their objectives so that you can understand whose needs the budgeting and performance system is serving. It also explains the balanced scorecard and how it brings together financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives to create a more rounded view of performance.

Designing and operating a performance system that works in practice is then explored so that you can turn concepts into an actionable framework. The course explains how to establish and operate your own system for budgeting and performance monitoring, and how to set and develop performance standards that are clear and meaningful. It considers what “acceptable” performance looks like in different contexts, explains how to monitor performance, and shows how to measure performance against standards in a consistent way. It also explores how to use this information to improve performance rather than just to monitor it.

The course concludes by linking budgeting and performance measurement to established quality and excellence frameworks. It explains the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) and how they support continuous improvement, introduces ISO 9000 as a formal quality management standard, and outlines the Business Excellence Model as a broader framework for assessing and improving organisational performance. It shows how these models can be aligned with budgeting and performance systems so that financial, operational, and quality objectives reinforce each other.

By the end of this course, you will be able to define and explain the purpose of budgets, design and interpret flexible budgets, and analyse variances in a way that supports better decision-making. You will understand how to combine financial and non-financial performance measures, apply benchmarking and balanced scorecard thinking, and set and monitor performance standards that are realistic and improvement-focused. Most importantly, you will be equipped to integrate budgeting, performance measurement, and quality frameworks into a coherent system that helps your organisation achieve better, more sustainable performance over time.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• What is a budget?
• The purpose of budgets
• Why do we need budgets?
• The advantages of budgets
• How to monitor performance against budget?
• How to report actual results and variances?
• The non-controllable costs
• The causes of variances
• Flexible budgets and budgetary control
• How to analyse costs?
• The advantages of flexible budgets
• The non-financial budgets
• Standard costing and budgetary control
• What is performance measurement?
• Performance measurement principles
• The quantitative and qualitative measures
• The financial performance measures
• The non-financial performance measures
• What qualitative measures concentrate on?
• Dangers of non-financial measures
• The several types of benchmarking
• The different stakeholders and their objectives
• The balanced scorecard
• How to establish and operate your own system?
• How to set and develop performance standards?
• What is ‘acceptable’ performance?
• How to monitor performance?
• How to measure performance against standards?
• How to improve performance?
• The Total Quality Management (TQM)
• The ISO 9000
• The Business Excellence Model

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.