24 Dec 2009 by cardiff1 Last edited 24 Dec 2009
does anyone here know where to get a book on golf course budgeting or a training file on this at all. ? Can you recommend anything for me?
Merry Xmas to you all.
thanks
Are you a first year student, who has got a christmas project? i just want to focus on what you require.
hi higgins, no i am not, i seriously need information on how to budget for machinery etc, i realised i dont have a lot on it, i have done budgeting before, but need more reading materials..thanks
Well Cardiff
Maybe if you make contact with Frank Newberry... he would lead u the right way.
Regards
Brian
everything happens for a reason
25 Dec 2009 by calcallaby Last edited 25 Dec 2009
I find a simple spread sheet with the months of the year across the top and suppliers down the side to be a great aid. Using the PO's each month make the entries and auto-sum for each supplier. At the bottom you can enter your monthly budget and auto-sum what has been spent, taking one away from the other will tell you whether you're over or under spent and by how much.
Although this is no good for those who are doing their first budget I find it usefull in identifying months of high spend, how much has been spent with each supplier etc. Next year you can refer to this years figures and do a more accurate forecast.
If anyone should want a sample of the layout just mail me
calcallaby@btopenworld.com
26 Dec 2009 by Pitchcare Peter
This may be helpful -
http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/the-true-cost-of-machinery-ownership.html
More turkey required 
Hi All
It's that time of year again - putting in your budget request for the coming year. The following pointers may be useful:
1. Ask what your employer wants from you this year. Is it to improve the course, to maintain as it is, reduce maintenance inputs....etc. Unless you are seen to tap into the Ownership Values you will find it difficult to maintain the good relations and confidence in your abilities.
2. Either take last year's figures and add a % rise/reduction, or start everything from zero and work up. I always worked to the latter as it showed your employers why you were asking for the amounts. This means going through every line of expenditure and justifying why you need it, linking into the Ownership Values and plans for the coming year.
3. Investigate different ways of producing what you need. Education is about discovery and your investigations may well take you down a different path than you never thought existed. Be open to ideas.
4. Contact all your suppliers for costings. A good supplier will try to meet your requirements, but also bear in kind that they also have to earn a living and pay staff and may not be able to give all you need. Work with them.
5. Keep your employer involved in your budgeting process. Tell them why you are looking at suppliers and methods of maintaining your turf, and the costs expected. My experience is that employers do not like surprises - particularity unpleasant ones.
I have a available a spreadsheet for machinery spending as published in Pitchcare and mentioned by Peter, and also a model budgeting spreadsheet. Just email me at allturfman@ntlworld.com and I will send to you.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and looking forward to the challenges of next year.
Andy Turnbull
Hi Cardiff
In 'Turf management for golf courses' by Dr. Beard, there is a great section on budgeting at the back of the book. I read this when I first became a CM and it helped me greatly.
Both Andy and Lee make very good points. The important thing I feel is that you show leadership in this department of the golf course. The finance director doesn't care what height you cut your greens at, he's more interested in the P&L line.
All the best
Greg
Hi thanks to all of you for the replies, I think the Dr. Beard book is excellent I need a copy I think.. also to callaby I sent you an email and to Andy thanks also, I sent you an email too..all the best in 2010...
EDWARD PARRY
Hi Edward,
You could have a look at:
http://www.pitchcare.com/shop/sports-field-design-and-maintenance-books/sports-ground-management-a-complete-guide.html
It has a chapter on budgeting, I've read it, I think it's pretty good, it's available on this very site.
As I see it the only aspects of a budget that are relevant (infact very important thats why they ask for them) to the financial controllers of a business are:
Capital Expenditure eg. buildings, ride on mowers etc. (normally anything that will still be there a year later) - this is required for the purposes of producing balance sheets ie. what the business is worth on paper and important for getting credit and such like and managing depreciation; important for tax bills.
and
Consumables eg. fertiliser diesel, - this is required for working out how much cash (spent on keeping the business working) will be needed to pay the bills at the end of each month. To keep the business from going bankrupt your financial controller would probably prefer for you not to suprise them with a £2000 diesel bill £1600 fungicide bill and £2400 machinery service bill all in one go when takings are at their lowest in January.
Staffing could also be in your consumables budget as they are a running cost but should get special mention as employing staff is a much heavier committment than say buying herbicide - it is alot harder to reduce staffing costs on demand (contracts agreed, terms of employment, notice periods, redundancy costs) than say not spraying for weeds come late summer if money is a bit tight. One of them could send a company bust/see them in court, the other could see rather more daisies in the sward than people might prefer. This is one of the benefits in employing contractors or casual staff as it reduces the comittment and hence liability.
THE BOTTOM LINE - what the whole operation will cost.
Other than that I am a firm believer any other sub categories you create should be tools for the management of your own deparment not a million little cells to get trapped in by management. For example you might decided one year to use growth regulator on your fairways and pay for it by a reduction in your regrinding costs because you are cutting less, or reduce fairway irrigation but use a wetting agent to maximise water applications, in both examples you might achieve an improvement in standards, the bottom line may stay the same but certain of your budget categories may rise or fall. Don't get stuck in the trap of "you only spent X on diesel last year (because it was hot in July and August and you reduced your cutting) so we cut you diesel budget by £1000 but this year you have spent X+Y on diesel (because it was rainy and sunny all season and you have been cutting grass like mad) and now you are over on your diesel budget!"
Give the financial controller the information they need to do their job, let them get on with it and by all means be open about every aspect of your budget to demonstate the reasoning that has gone into it, then build your own information to help you do you job and make sure you are left to get on with it! You and only you are in the position to make the decisions between say spending more on seed and less on feed.
Agree amounts for Capital Expenditure, perhaps split into:
Fixed Assets/Buildings (to include greenkeeping sheds, irrigation systems, course modifications and improvements)
Movable Assets/Machines (to include mowers, work shop tools, office equipment etc)
And Consumables, split into
Staffing (also consider including the cost of National Insurance, and think about the cost of holidays and sick etc to make true comparisons of value for money between extra staff or bringing in contractors, or real hourly rates for completing jobs etc.)
Everything else... I use the following sub headings:
Overtime,
Casuals,
Training,
Consultancy (invest in your staff - train them up and save on consultants!), Contractors (split further into trades and then service and repair)
Equipment hire (has a bearing on capital budgets - do you need to buy that implement at £6000 you only use twice a year and could hire for £400 a time Equipment service - parts,
Equipment repair - parts (labour is under contractors and all together helps you make a case for increasing the capital expenditure budget so as you can replace that 18yr old tractor that keeps breaking down)
Fuel (consider getting rid of that petrol run around that costs you twice as much to run as it's diesel equivalent)
Irrigation (electric to pump house and water costs)
Fertilizer,
Tonics,
Pesticides (split into fungi, herbi, insecti,)
Aggregates (split into top dressing and bunker sand)
Turf and seed,
Uniforms and ppe,
Sundries (every tea shed needs bog roll and bin bags don't forget)
Miscellaneous (for all those things you do forget)
Utilites (if your heating water etc are on speparate meters to the club house for example, the costs of having your special waste taken away).
I've probabaly forgotten some if mine right now. Make whatever titles suit, but I find they help me plan out my year quite nicely.
In summary:
(CAP EX /fixed + movable) + (CONSUMABLE /staff + everything else) = THE BOTTOM LINE.
If I need to make rounds of cuts I tend to do it in this order:
Cap Ex, fixed, improvements (that new ornamental lake by the club house can wait!)
Cap Ex, moveable, (that 18 yr old tractor will have to do 19 yrs)
Consumables, everything else (i'll not dress fairways this year)
Staff.
I actually quite like doing my budget (as the length of this post probabaly indicates) - lots of tricky things to think about. If it helps you then good, otherwise I quite enjoyed writing it and you should probably just get a copy of that book I mentioned right at the top.
All the best.
Chalky.
28 Dec 2009 by Bjarni Hannesson
You might have a look at the "Superintendent's Handbook of Financial Management" by Raymond S. Schmidgall (revised edition issued in 2004).
Look at the link to have a look inside the book before buying.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0ROIy3D1iQQC&pg=PP1&dq=Superintendent's+Handbook+of+Financial+Management&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Hope this helps
Bjarni
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