HCM477-0802A-01 Finance in Health Care - Phase 2 Discussion Board 2 Essay

HCM477-0802A-01 Finance in Health Care - Phase 2 Discussion Board 2 - Essay Example Departmental budgets are pieces of budgets that individuals and/or groups (departments) of an organization are responsible for (Oliver 2000). Total facilities budget, on the other hand, is the total, final budget prepared by an organization chairperson. Clearly, the relationship between them is that departmental budgets are parts of the total facilities budget. That is, the total facilities budget is made up of the departmental budgets; hence, it is dependent on them. The business transactions that take place in an organizational budget are all expected income and expected expenses for the year. The first one is reported as budget income transactions and the second as budget expense transactions. Furthermore, the start of year Class balances are identified and accounted for as an accessible source of income. Therefore, the budget formula is: The three stages involved in preparing a total budget are: (1) Budget Preparation (2) Budget Execution and (3) Budget Evaluation. The first one requires program and budget planning and funds procurement. The decisions, therefore, that need to be made at this stage involves how to estimate costs, where to get funds from, communicating with members of the organization so as to make planning effective, etc. The second stage engages in fiscal management so decision problems that could affect the relationship between departmental budgets and total facility budgets could be how to locate internal funds, whether projection of variances by the departments were right, whether management of cash flow was effective. Lastly, the third stage requires budget cycling and performance assessments and audits. The decision problems here could be about reporting to external constituencies, maybe program re-planning or continuing with the budget. (http://www.socwel.ku.edu/marke//Total%20Budgeting.ppt). Each department is responsible for managing within the constraints of the fiscal year. Each departmental budget