Zero Based Budgeting
Every cost justified from zero
Zero based budgeting works when the system carries the justification, not when it is a one off exercise in slides.
The problem
Zero based budgeting programmes often deliver a large saving in year one and then fade, because the justification lived in presentations and the following year's budget went back to last year plus a percentage. Cost owners experience it as an interrogation rather than a process. Without a system behind it, the evidence behind each decision is gone within months.
What good looks like
Cost packages, not cost centres
Activities and services with an owner, a purpose and a cost.
A decision trail
Each package approved, reduced or deferred, with the reasons kept.
Comparable across years
The same packages, so year two is a review rather than a restart.
A pace you can sustain
Deep review rotates across the cost base rather than covering everything every year.
How we approach it
Step 1
Define packages and decision rights with finance and the executive team.
Step 2
Build the package model, input forms and approval workflow in SAP Analytics Cloud.
Step 3
Facilitate the first cycle with the cost owners.
Step 4
Set the review rotation and hand over.
Standard content we start from
There is no SAP standard content for zero based budgeting. No package ships cost packages, justification forms or approval workflow.
That is why the model is custom: package master data, input forms, workflow and review rotation are built in SAP Analytics Cloud for the client. The Rapid Finance model can hold the base once packages are approved, so the result rolls forward with the rest of the plan.
Questions people ask
Talk to us
If last year's savings are already creeping back, the process needs a home in the system.