Prepare budgets

The departmental draft budget and supporting spreadsheets are ready. Send the budget package to Finance Director Carla Mendes and then to Planning lead Victor Alvarez for approval, with an end-of-day Friday deadline — verify the headcount change lines, major contract renewals, and the contingency reserve are shown before sending.

Before I send this draft budget to Carla Mendes and Victor Alvarez, make it easy to approve: surface the net change from last year at the top, make payroll and contractor spend findable in one column, and flag any one-off items that could make a reviewer hesitate so they can approve in a single pass.

Carla Mendes asked why payroll increased 7% in our budget but the supporting notes are thin; Victor says he may reject it if we can’t justify the hires. I’m worried this will get bounced back and delay planning. Is this a documentation miss or did we mis-attribute contractor spend? What should I do now to give Carla and Victor the evidence they need quickly?

Each budgeting cycle we face the same problem: directors flag unexplained payroll uplifts and planning stalls while I chase details. I manage the spreadsheets and absorb the blame for delays. Where am I wasting time — not collecting hiring approvals early, failing to tag contractor vs payroll, or poor version control — and what two habits would stop these last-minute crises?