Template
Budget planning meeting template
Build next year's budget: what income you can count on, what each team needs to hit its goals, where the two do not match, and the trade-offs that close the gap.
The agenda, with a time for each part
- The goals the budget must pay for10 min
- What are we trying to achieve next year?
- Income we can count on15 min
- What will come in, at a cautious estimate?
- What each team asks for25 min
- What does each team need, and what would it deliver?
- The gap10 min
- How far apart are the asks and the income?
- Trade-offs20 min
- What do we cut, delay or fund differently?
- Next steps10 min
- Who revises what, and when is the final version?
How the notes read afterwards
A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.
Goals. Launch in Germany; cut churn in half.
Income. $6.2m at a cautious estimate.
Asks. $6.9m in total.
Trade-offs. Delay two hires to the second half; cut events by half. Gap closed with $100k reserve left.
Final version. By 15 December (finance).
Running it well
- Start from the goals, not last year's numbers plus 5%. Last year's budget is full of things nobody would choose again.
- Plan income cautiously and costs fully. Surprises in budgets are almost always the other way round.
- Keep a small reserve for the unexpected, and agree who can spend it.
Ways to change it
When to skip it. Never — but keep a small organisation's version to an hour.
Questions
How do you create a budget for next year?
Start from the goals, estimate income cautiously, collect each team's needs with what they would deliver, find the gap and make trade-offs until the plan is affordable.
What is zero-based budgeting?
Building each budget line from zero each year, justifying every cost, rather than adjusting last year's figures.
When should budget planning start?
Usually two to three months before the financial year begins.
What happens in the room
Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.
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