The purpose of a balance sheet is to describe the resources that a business has and how those resources were acquired.  This purpose is seen as an end result of financial planning but this purpose can be seen as a starting point of financial planning. 

This article will emphasize that ZBB is not exclusively for small businesses. It discusses zero-based budgeting as a tool that can be used to improve a company's understanding of is processes, risks, and opportunities and does not need to be applied to every line or department impacted in the budget.

The purpose of an income statement is to describe the delivery of products or the provision of services. This purpose is seen as an end result of Financial Planning but this purpose can be seen as a starting point of Financial Planning. As a starting point of Financial Planning people should think about how to accumulate wealth from the delivery of products or the provision of services.

In 1992 a professor named Robert Kaplan and a consultant named David Norton created a measurement system called The Balanced Scorecard.  A reason for creating The Balanced Scorecard was to go beyond financial statements in measuring what businesses do in order to improve performance.

Spreadsheets are a great tool to build and maintain ad-hoc calculations, quickly draft a business plan and create good-looking reports. But when it comes to planning and budgeting in a complex business environment the flexibility of spreadsheets is often quick to become an obstacle instead of an asset in your planning process.

Financial Planning is a process of thinking. One of the end results from this process is a product called a budget. A budget is a product that expresses thoughts. As a product a budget must be created and its creation must have a foundation. The foundation for creating a budget is answers to three basic questions.