Critically Evaluate Budgeting in Corporations: An Article Analysis

Submission Guidelines and Requirements

This assignment must be submitted, with a pre printed Bar Coded BES coursework cover sheet attached, to Dropbox located at the PSB reception and also via the module web by 16.00 on the above deadline.

Please note:
1. All work submitted after the submission deadline without an approved valid reason (see below) will be given a mark of zero. (This is not the same as a non-submission, as a late submission counts as an attempt and a mark of zero may allow you to resit the coursework.).
2. Short deferrals (extensions) of up to one calendar week can only be given for genuine "force majeure" and medical reasons, not for bad planning of your time. Please note that theft, loss, or failure to keep a back-up file, are not valid reasons. The short deferral must be applied for on or before the submission date. You can apply for a short deferral by submitting an Examination/ Coursework Deferral Application Form. Application Forms along with the supporting evidence should go to the relevant Program
Executive. For a longer delay in submission a student may apply for a (long) deferral.

Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their assignment.Please also submit an electronic copy of your assignment via the module web. (See instructions on module web) The electronic version of your assignment may be used to enable checks to be made using anti-plagiarism software and approved plagiarism checking websites.

Learning Outcomes Assessed
This assignment will summatively assess the following learning outcome:
• Understand the behavioral aspects of budgeting with regard to recent thinking Assessment Criteria See brief on next page Marking Scheme For information on how marks are awarded for particular elements of this assignment see the coursework brief.

Return of Marked Work
Marked work will be returned in class. You can expect to have marked work returned to you by 1 working week after the submission date. The expected date of return will be the week commencing Assignments should not be copied in part or in whole from any other source, except for any marked up quotations, that clearly distinguish what has been quoted from your own work. All references used must be given, and the specific page number used should also be given for any direct quotations, which
should be in inverted commas. Students found copying from the internet or other sources will get zero marks and may be excluded from the university. 

Coursework Question:
Budgetary Control has fast become popular among corporations soon after the publication of the first textbook on business budgeting in 1922 by James O. McKinsey, the founder of the famous McKinsey and Company. By the 1980s, it has become a ritual that companies performed annually. However, in 2003, Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser, published an article “Who needs Budget?” in the Harvard Business Review (Feb 2003) declaring that “Budgeting, as most corporations practice it, should be abolished. That may sound radical, but doing so would further companies' long-running efforts to transform themselves into devolved networks that can nimbly adjust to market conditions”.Many supported this view and proponents of Beyond Budgeting criticise traditional budgeting as a method of steering senior managers toward particular decisions.

Required:
Critically evaluate the statement that “Budgeting, as most corporations practice it, should be abolished” by referring to the article found in the link and then state whether you agree with it.You must provide an informed (i.e. researched) opinion by reading and
incorporating both authors’ above arguments and that of the others (see other requirements below).