Budgeting is a combination of mathematics and guesswork: some ......... are precisely known, while others are less clear.

Every company should prepare a complete budget and constantly ......... its performance against that budget.

Any variation from a budget should be investigated and explained, and ......... action should be taken to correct any problems.

When you have set a budget, you should ......... to it as much as possible, but revise it when necessary.

Budgeting itself can help a company reduce costs, because every item in it must be ......... beforehand.

The wrong way to prepare a budget is to simply include everything at last year's level plus annual ..........

Focus first on the largest costs, since they should have the greatest ......... for reduction.

Do not overestimate the ......... sales for the budget period.

Creating a(n) ......... forecast requires estimating the expected monthly expenditures and matching those against the likely monthly income.

Many companies maintain a ......... budget, so that they are continually budgeting for this time next year.