When workers feel that they are being dictated to, they are less likely to buy into the budget. An attitude of "Management didn’t ask for or respect my opinion, so why should I respect their wishes?" will lead to morale problems as well as increased unfavorable budget variances.
The use of a flexible budget rather than a fixed budget is not a cause of behavior problems. The way management chooses to develop the budget and the way management chooses to use the budget can be causes of behavior problems. When senior management imposes the budget on employees without receiving any input from the employees who will be responsible for achieving the budget, this causes a lack of motivation in the employees because they don't see the budget as "theirs." When managers are held responsible for costs that they have no control over, that is demotivating as well. Furthermore, just dividing annual budget amounts by 12 and expecting managers to account for their performance against the budget every month puts the managers in an impossible situation because it does not incorporate normal seasonal fluctuations that managers cannot control. All of those things will create behavior problems. When a flexible budget is used, variable items in the budget are adjusted to actual activity (production and sales) levels by multiplying per unit budgeted amounts by the actual activity achieved in units. This ensures that the focus is on variances due to causes other than the volumes of output and sales. Use of a flexible budget does not guarantee that the budget will not be imposed in an authoritarian manner or that managers will not be held responsible for costs that they cannot control. Use of a flexible budget does not, by itself, prevent behavior problems caused by those things. But use of a flexible budget also does not, by itself, cause behavior problems.
Many companies experience seasonal demand for their products and this can easily be built into a budget. By straight lining the line items, some of the months will reflect significant unfavorable variances while other months will be decidedly favorable. These swings can hide true budgetary problems or opportunities as variances will be brushed off as resulting from seasonal fluctuations.
The inclusion of depreciation in and of itself isn't the problem. But depreciation is not controllable by the department management in most cases, because decisions on purchases of fixed assets are usually made at a higher level. Department managers should not be held accountable for items beyond their control – in this case, that is likely all of the fixed costs.
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