One of the most important functions that budgeting accounts for is the planning function1. We will be arguing for the importance of the planning function in the overall budgeting activity and will be arguing for the many ways the budgeting planning function is coordinating with the company's strategic planning.

             First of all, the planning function in terms of budgeting refers to the planning activities that the company, starting with the financial department, needs to (1) determine what the company's long-term strategy is, (2) determine what projects bring most added value to the company and (3) determine what priority these projects should have.

             Let's refer to each of these steps in part and determine how they impact the budgeting strategy of a company. The long-term strategy for a company is essential in determining the overall objective of a company. For the long run, this may be increasing the volume of sales or increasing the market share or promoting the company's image. In any case, these differ in terms of the projects they will imply and the ways they will be affecting the budgeting strategy.

             For example, increasing sales will perhaps only include increasing spending on advertising and the promotion budget, while promoting the company's image may include costly promotion campaigns that will have a significant impact on the company's budgeting management.

             The second issue is a project portfolio management issue. The economic theory tells us that the resources are always limited, while the needs are not. Applied in this particular case, this means that we are always likely to have a greater number of projects we will wish to perform than the financial resources the company will have at a certain point.

             This is where the selection issue, corroborated with the budgeting strategy comes in the game. The top management, working with the financial department, will need to establish which are the projects that bring highest added-value to the company and spend the company's budget on those alone.