budget - Personal or family budget, Government budget, Corporate budget

A monetary plan for a specified period of future time. A government budget is a statement of forecast expenditure in the following financial year, and of how the revenue needed will be raised (eg by taxation or borrowing). Most commercial organizations of any size prepare budgets to forecast sales revenue, operating costs, capital expenditure, and cash flow. They may also be prepared several years in advance, and amended annually.

For the rental car company, see Budget Rent a Car.

Budget generally refers to a list of all planned expenses and revenues. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods.

Personal or family budget

A personal budget is among the most important concepts of personal finance. There are a wide variety of personal budgeting methods and tools that can be employed to help individuals and families with the budgeting process.

Government budget

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about: Budget

The budget of a government is a summary or plan of the intended revenues and expenditures of that government. In the United States, the federal budget is prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, and submitted to Congress for consideration.

Corporate budget

The budget of a company is compiled annually. While traditionally the Finance department compiles the company's budget, modern software allows hundreds or even thousands of people in the various departments (operations, human resources, IT etc) to contribute their expected revenues and expenses to the final budget.

If the actual numbers delivered through the financial year turn out to be close to the budget, this will demonstrate that the company understands their business and has been successfully driving it in the direction they had planned.