What advanced budgeting techniques can you use in large or complex organizations?

Ditch the "same as last year, plus coffee" approach. Justify every expense like a kid begging for candy. It's brutal, but it can root out waste faster than a vacuum cleaner in a dust bunny convention. Instead of staring at one blurry budget for a year, you update it regularly, adapting to market changes Consider different economic and industry scenarios. This way, you're not caught flat-footed if the market throws you a curveball. Don't just throw money at departments like confetti at a party. Figure out what activities drive costs and allocate resources accordingly. Don't rely on gut feelings. Use tested algorithms and AI to predict future costs and revenue. Remember, the key is to be flexible, data-driven, and creative.

Zero based budgeting is useful when a program needs to be able to adapt, or is having challenges. It forces managers to evaluate what is crucial and what is optional.

While rolling budgeting offers flexibility and responsiveness, it's essential to balance this with strategic long-term planning. Continuous budget adjustments might lead to an excessive focus on short-term results, potentially overlooking long-term goals and investments. Incorporating a strategic perspective ensures that immediate budgetary decisions align with the broader objectives and future direction of the organization. This approach allows for both adaptability to current market conditions and steadfastness in pursuing long-term visions, creating a comprehensive financial strategy that serves immediate needs without sacrificing future growth and stability.

From what I could tell, going beyond budgeting an making stakeholders less "dependent" on the more traditional ways of working with budgets and budgeting, it is primarily a mindset change. There could be more resistance to change then perhaps initially expected due to more reasons: the typical inertia to change, the link which usually is between budgets and performance management and rewards, solving the budget dependency of any other sub streams (ie. statutory requirements, other contractual requirements, such as specific royalties calculations and periodic payouts, etc.).

Maybe worthwhile discerning between finance and non-finance stakeholders within organizations, as especially in case of more significant approach changes, the points of view could be quite different and would ideally not be addressed in the same manner.