What Do Budget Analysts Do?
Job Descriptions September 24, 2013Budget analysts are expert analysts that help companies in allocating all financial resources. It is the job of this professional to develop, analyze and plan action on a new budget. A professional may work in the private sector or for a non-profit organization, or even for a government office.
Your intent is to examine the budget and find ways to improve revenue and develop effective management principles. This might involve analyzing the budget, the market, and other data in order to increase profit. However, when you work in government or non-profit agencies, your job is slightly different. This work is more along the lines of distributing a given principal amount to various departments.
What You Need to Know
In times of recession, budget planning is extremely important. The work done may eventually save or stabilize a failing company, making you have a tremendous responsibility. Philosophically speaking, budget analysts recommend the basics: downsizing where possible, restructuring flawed systems, and eliminating unnecessary spending.
In addition to reviewing the numbers, you must also evaluate various programs and departments in order to determine if the managerial style (or indeed the entire department) is a waste of company resources. If you discover some problem here, you should recommend, to the company owners, that it is necessary to trim or perhaps eliminate the wasteful spending patterns.
In addition to analysis and presentation, you may also have to create new legislation or preside over training meetings for employees. You are not just making suggestions on cutting, but actually researching the numbers too. You will have to make projections and estimate financial needs.
Skills and Standards You Should Cultivate
You must make it your business to learn the procedures that are already in effect, but also take special care to learn the state and county law, so that you do not inadvertently give clients illegal advice. Your analysis is not solely profit-based, but must also consider the aims of the company, as well as how it affects the community.
Some outside-the-box imagination can also serve you well, especially in devising ways to fund departments without traditional revenue. You are also working with performance evaluation, policy, consolidation, and creating budget summaries. In terms of day to day routines, you must be knowledgeable about financial software that can help you organize and evaluate budgets.
The work environment you inhabit will be comfortable and mainly take place in an office. Even though you may work for a private company, much of your time will be alone and thus, possessing an independent-thinking ability is beneficial. In addition to light travel, many analysts work over 40 hours a week in order to meet deadlines.
As far as training goes, receiving a bachelor’s degree is a good start, though most students go on to earn their master’s degree. Even government positions can go to bachelor’s degree applicants. However, be sure to choose a subject relevant to the career field, such as accounting, finance, business or economy.
Now is definitely the time to start training at UMD or another school of your choice, so you can follow your dreams towards a higher paying, and more responsible career.
