With a career spanning a quarter-century, Scott Herckis leverages nearly three decades of financial experience to serve as the CEO of Stanford, Connecticut-based SJH Financial. Prior to that, Scott worked in the fashion and apparel industry, including Elie Tahari and Tory Burch, where he was in charge of the corporate budget, among other things.

Corporate budgeting refers to the method by which an organization tracks its finances and activities. Typically a company starts with a project plan and then figures out how much money, time, and effort it will take to complete the project.

For a company to succeed, its strategy must be expressed in measurable terms. To integrate corporate objectives with available resources, the company must first decide whether or not a project is financially feasible. Corporate budgeting enables upper management to design a strategy that makes sense to individuals at lower levels of the business.

Simply determining the estimated revenue and costs will suffice to create a reasonable budget. This can be accomplished using the accounting software of the company, or done manually using a spreadsheet. Using previous financial statements as a starting point is a good idea since it's possible to make adjustments for any projected future variances. It's also a good idea to take inflation into account when creating a budget.

The corporate budgeting process is typically managed by software. Using a program, all departments, divisions, and stores can access the company's budget at the same time. This provides a clear picture of total performance for top-level managers.