Common Cents Blog

The Common Cents Blog is a forum for expression and interaction on various topics related to performance management and analytics. The blog is hosted by Dr. Peter Turney where he will facilitate the development of new ideas and learning for the participating community. It will be a place where you can freely express and learn from Dr. Turney and other participants.

The State of Budgeting

Posted on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 6:29 pm and is filed under Common Cents Blog.

I recently talked to a controller about the state of budgeting. He said that budgeting is a dysfunctional process and little has occurred over his long career to change that view. He has seen many methods come and go including programming planning budgeting systems (PPBS), zero-based budgeting (ZBB), activity-based budgeting ABB) and performance-based budgeting (PBB). (Continue Reading)

The Limitations of Isolated Management Methods

Posted on Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 10:25 am and is filed under Common Cents Blog, Features, Highlights.

Historically it has been common to implement management methods as standalone initiatives. For example, Activity-based costing (ABC) is often implemented as a financial tool for identifying sources of profitability. Budgeting is the tool for financial planning in this same company, but may not benefit from the insights derived from a parallel but separate ABC initiative. (Continue Reading)

The Return on Investment from ABC

Posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 10:09 am and is filed under Common Cents Blog.

There are three reasons you implement ABC—a compelling business need, recognition that ABC is superior to whatever you currently have or don’t have, and a positive return on the required investment. We could focus on any of these three, but let’s start with the return on investment (ROI). If you can’t demonstrate a positive ROI, it is unlikely management will support the initiative, and highly unlikely they will pull out the check book and fund it. (Continue Reading)