Zero-base budgeting comes of age : what it is and what it takes to make it work / Logan M. Cheek

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Understanding the Zero-Base Approach -- 2. Getting Your Zero-Base Budgeting Act Together -- 3. Ranking for Decision Making -- 4. Applying Zero-Base Budgeting to Planning Problems -- 5. Selling the Concept and the Ideas It Generates -- 6. Fostering Innovation -- 7. Top Management's Role -- 8. Overcoming Common Concerns -- 9. A Final Word.

Zero-base budgeting requires the manager to break up his annual budget into understandable prices called "decision packages". In each he outlines what he wants to do, how he proposes to do it, other ways of doing it, how much it will cost, how it will benefit the organization and what will happen if it is not done. The packages are tied to long-range objectives and ranked up to the level of affordability. Zero-base budgeting is an effective management technique. Key success factors include 1) linking the process to long-range objectives; 2) gaining the support, involvement and commitment of top management; 3) generating imagination by cost center managers; and 4) selling the concept and ideas it brings to the surface. Roles and successful implementations of the budgeting technique are discussed.