To the entrepreneur, the word budget is clearly a word financial people use to put controls on the spending habits of company management, usually the owner. As a practicing CPA, I know never to speak to my clients about establishing a company budget. It will produce the greatest amount of lip service and absolutely no results. 

Even when entrepreneurial companies prepare the dreaded budget by hand or with a Business Budgeting Software, the process is usually for not more than one or two years. The mantra within the company during these two years is, “Don’t bust the budget.” However, they don’t bust the budget; they “kill it.” They bust the budget so often that the members of the management team begin to believe it’s a useless exercise. Let me make clear that I have one caveat about budgets: Large companies use them effectively to provide financial accountability of lower level management. They work. 

Entrepreneurial companies have great flexibility; decision making is usually done at the top, and if top management wants something they get it. No budget in the world will control the entrepreneurial management of small companies.