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CHAPTER 8
Financial Planning and Budgeting

Planning and budgeting play critical roles in

the finance function of all health services
organizations. Planning encompasses the
overall process of preparing for the future,
while budgeting provides the tools to tie
together the planning and control functions.
This chapter introduces the basics of
planning and budgeting, including variance
analysis.
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The Planning Process

 The strategic plan is the foundation of the
planning process. It contains a rough road
map for the future and the business’s
 Values statement
 Mission statement
 Vision statement
 The operating, or five-year, plan lays out the
organization’s:
 Goals
 Objectives
 In addition, the operating plan provides the
guidance needed to meet the goals and
objectives.
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Operating Plan Format

Chapter 1: Values, mission, vision, and rough road
map
Chapter 2: Organizational goals and objectives

Chapter 7: Functional area plans

A. Marketing
B. Operations
C. Finance
D. Administration and human resources
E. Facilities

Note that the plan is most detailed for the first year.
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Financial Plan Format

C. Finance
1. Fin. condition, capital investments, and financing
a. Financial condition analysis
b. Capital budget
c. Forecasted financial statements
d. External financing requirements
2. Working capital management
a. Overall policy
b. Cash budget
c. Cash and marketable securities management
d. Inventory management
e. Revenue cycle management
f. Short-term financing
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Financial Plan Format (Cont.)

3. Budgeting and control

a. Statistics budget
b. Revenue budget
c. Expense budget
d. Operating budget
e. Control procedures

? What are the keys to an effective planning

process?

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Budgeting Basics
 Budgets are detailed plans, expressed
in dollar terms, that specify how
resources will be used over some
period of time.
 Budgets may be developed and applied
to any level within an organization:
 Aggregate
 By department
 By service line
 By contract
 By the nature of the expenditure
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Budgeting Basics (Cont.)

 To be effective, budgets must not be

thought of as financial staff tools, but
rather as managerial tools.
 Budgets are used for:
 Planning
 Communication
 Control
? What is meant by “communication”?
? How are budgets used for control?
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Statistics Budget
 At large organizations, the statistics
budget is the foundation budget, in that
it develops the input data needed for
the other budgets.
 It contains basic forecasts for:
 Volume of services provided
 Resources (labor and capital) needed to
provide those services
 Smaller organizations may not have
one.
? How easy is it to create?
? How important is the statistics budget?
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Revenue Budget

 The revenue budget combines volume

data from the statistics budget with
reimbursement expectations to
forecast revenues.
 The end result is a revenue forecast:
 In the aggregate
 By department
 By service
 By diagnosis (or other clinical basis)
 By payer

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Expense Budget

 The expense budget combines

volume data from the statistics
budget with detailed resource
utilization data to forecast expenses.
 To be most useful, expenses must be
broken down into fixed and variable
components.
 Like revenues, expenses must be
forecasted at multiple levels.
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Operating Budget

 For larger organizations, the

operating budget, which focuses on
projected profitability, combines
information from the revenue and
expense budgets.
 Smaller organizations may use a
single operating budget in place of
multiple budget types.

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Budget Timing
 All organizations use annual budgets
to set standards for the coming year.
 Most also use quarterly (or more
frequent) budgets to ensure timely
feedback and control.
 Not all budget types have to follow the
same timing pattern.
 Out-year budgets are more for
planning than for control purposes.

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Conventional vs. Zero-Based Budgets

 Traditionally, health providers have used

the conventional approach to budgeting.
 The old budget is the starting point.
 Typically, only minor changes are made.
 Changes often are applied equally.
 In zero-based budgeting, each new
budget is started from scratch.
? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each approach?

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Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Budgets

 Bottom-up budgets:
 Begin at subunit (departmental) level.
 Are reviewed and compiled by the finance
department.
 Are approved by senior management.
 Top-down budgets:
 Begin at the finance department with senior
management guidance.
 Are sent to the departments for review.
? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?
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Simple Operating Budget Example

 Consider the 2015 operating budget of

Carroll Clinic shown on the following
four slides. This budget was created at
the end of 2014.
 The budget is divided into four parts:
 Volume assumptions
 Revenue assumptions
 Cost assumptions
 Pro forma P&L statement

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2015 Operating Budget (Part I)

I. Volume Assumptions:

A. FFS 36,000 visits

B. Capitated lives 30,000 members
Number of member-months 360,000
Utilization/member-month 0.15
Number of visits 54,000 visits

C. Total expected visits 90,000 visits

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2015 Operating Budget (Part II)

II. Revenue Assumptions:

A. FFS $ 25 per visit

 36,000 visits
$ 900,000
B. Capitated lives $ 3 PMPM
 360,000 member-months

$1,080,000

C. Total revenues $1,980,000

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2015 Operating Budget (Part III)

III. Cost Assumptions:
A. Variable Costs:
Labor $1,200,000
(48,000 hours at $25/hour)
Supplies 150,000
(100,000 units at $1.50/unit)
Total variable costs $1,350,000
Variable cost per visit $ 15
($1,350,000 ÷ 90,000)
B. Fixed Costs:
Overhead, plant, and equipment $ 500,000
C. Total expected costs $1,850,000

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2015 Operating Budget (Part IV)

IV. Pro Forma P&L Statement:
Revenues:
FFS $ 900,000
Capitated 1,080,000
Total $1,980,000
Costs:
Variable:
FFS $ 540,000
Capitated 810,000
Total $1,350,000
Contribution margin $ 630,000
Fixed costs 500,000
Projected profit $ 130,000

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Variance Analysis

 A variance is the difference between

the actual results and the budgeted
(standard) value.
 Variance analysis is a technique
applied to budget data to:
 Identify problem areas
 Enhance control
? Why is variance analysis so useful to
health services managers?

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Static, Actual, and Flexible Data

 In variance analysis, three types of data
are used:
 The static budget is the original budget,
unadjusted for realized volume.
 The realized, or actual, data reflect after-the-
fact results.
 A flexible budget is one that has been
adjusted to reflect realized volume, but using
all other static budget (initial) assumptions.
? Why might a flexible budget be useful in
variance analysis?

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Variance Analysis Example

 To illustrate variance analysis, we will

use Carroll Clinic’s forecasted 2015
budget presented in slides 16–19 as
the static (original) budget.
 Assume it is now January 2016, and
the operating results for 2015 have
been compiled. These results, which
constitute the actual data, are shown
on the next four slides.
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2015 Results (Part I)

I. Volume:

A. FFS 40,000 visits

B. Capitated lives 30,000 members
Number of member-months 360,000
Utilization/member-month 0.20
Number of visits 72,000 visits

C. Total actual visits 112,000 visits

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2015 Results (Part II)

II. Revenues:

A. FFS $ 24 per visit

 40,000 actual visits
$ 960,000
B. Capitated lives $ 3 PMPM
 360,000 member-months

$1,080,000

C. Total actual revenues $2,040,000

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2015 Results (Part III)

III. Cost:
A. Variable Costs:
Labor $1,557,400
(59,900 hours at $26/hour)
Supplies 234,600
(124,800 units at $1.88/unit)
Total variable costs $1,792,000
Variable cost per visit $ 16
($1,792,000 ÷ 112,000)
B. Fixed Costs:
Overhead, plant, and equipment $ 500,000
C. Total actual costs $2,292,000

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2015 Results (Part IV)

IV. P&L Statement:
Revenues:
FFS $ 960,000
Capitated 1,080,000
Total $2,040,000
Costs:
Variable:
FFS $ 640,000
Capitated 1,152,000
Total $1,792,000
Contribution margin $ 248,000
Fixed costs 500,000
Realized profit ($ 252,000)

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Variance Analysis Example (Cont.)

 Summaries of Carroll Clinic’s operating
budgets and actual results for 2015 are
presented on the next slide.
 These data will be use to illustrate
variance analysis.
 Note that in most real-world analyses,
multiple flexible budgets would be
needed (i.e., if the number of covered
lives changed).
 Also, many more types of variances than
are shown here would be calculated.
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Static Flexible Actual
Assumptions:
FFS visits 36,000 40,000 40,000
Cap. visits 54,000 72,000 72,000
Total 90,000 112,000 112,000
Revenues:
FFS $ 900,000 $1,000,000 $ 960,000
Cap. 1,080,000 1,080,000 1,080,000
Total $1,980,000 $2,080,000 $2,040,000
Costs:
Variable:
FFS $ 540,000 $ 600,000 $ 640,000
Cap. 810,000 1,080,000 1,152,000
Total $1,350,000 $1,680,000 $1,792,000
Total CM $ 630,000 $ 400,000 $ 248,000
Fixed costs 500,000 500,000 500,000
Profit $ 130,000 ($ 100,000) ($ 252,000)
Flexible budget example (variable costs): Initial (static) variable cost rate assumption = $15 per visit. Thus, the flexible
budget amount for Total FFS variable costs = $15 × 40,000 = $600,000 and for Total capitated variable costs = $15 ×
72,000 = $1,080,000. Copyright 2016 Foundation of the American College
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Variance Analysis Example (Cont.)

Note the following points about the
flexible budget on the previous slide:
 It is based on the actual volume of 40,000
FFS visits and 72,000 capitated visits.
 FFS revenues reflect static reimbursement
($25 per visit).
 If the number of enrollees had changed, a
second flexible budget would be required.
 Costs are based on realized volume
applied to initial assumptions regarding
labor productivity and wage rates and
supplies usage and costs.
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Profit Variance and Breakdown

Profit Variance
−$382,000

Revenue Variance Cost Variance

$60,000 −$442,000
Profit variance = Actual profit − Static profit.
Revenue variance = Actual revenues − Static revenues.
Cost variance = Static costs − Actual costs.
Note that variances are defined such
that a negative (−) variance is “bad.”
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Profit Variance and Breakdown (Cont.)

 In 2015, the clinic’s profit fell $382,000
short of standard, which is much
worse than indicated by the P&L
statement loss of $252,000.
 The profit shortfall was due entirely to
a cost overrun (from standard) that
amounted to −$442,000.
 A small portion of the cost overrun was
offset by revenues that were $60,000
higher than expected.
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Revenue Variance Breakdown

Revenue Variance
$60,000

Volume Price
Variance Variance
$100,000 −$40,000

Revenue variance = Actual revenues − Static revenues.

Volume variance = Flexible revenues − Static revenues.
Price variance = Actual revenues − Flexible revenues.

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Revenue Variance Breakdown (Cont.)

 On the revenue side, the $100,000 positive
volume variance is due to increased utilization
by FFS patients.
 However, the higher volume by FFS patients
was partially offset (−$40,000) by lower-than-
expected reimbursement.
 Note that to simplify the illustration, enrollment
was held constant. If there had been an
enrollment variance, a second flexible budget
would be necessary, which would allow
managers to decompose the volume variance
into enrollment and utilization components.

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Cost Variance Breakdown

Cost Variance
−$442,000

Volume Variance Management Variance

−$330,000 −$112,000

Cost variance = Static costs − Actual costs.

Volume variance = Static costs − Flexible costs.
Management variance = Flexible costs − Actual costs.

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Cost Variance Breakdown (Cont.)

 On the cost side, $330,000 of the total

cost overrun was due to higher volume
(utilization) of services by both
capitated and FFS patients.
Presumably, this overrun was not due
to managerial (at the department level)
inefficiencies.
 But $112,000 of the cost overrun was
due to factors that department
managers have some control over.
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Management Variance Breakdown

Management Variance
−$112,000

Labor Fixed Cost Supplies

Variance Variance Variance
−$64,075 $0 −47,925
Management variance = Flexible costs − Actual costs.
Labor variance = Flexible LC − Actual LC.
Fixed cost variance = Flexible FC − Actual FC.
Supplies variance = Flexible SC − Actual SC.
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Management Variance Breakdown (Cont.)

 Focusing on the $112,000 cost overrun
caused by factors controllable by
management, $64,075 was due to higher-
than-expected labor costs (after adjusting
for realized volume).
 The other $47,925 was due to higher-
than-expected supplies costs (after
adjusting for realized volume).
 Note that this breakdown requires
calculations beyond the data that are
shown on the three budgets.
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Variance Analysis Example Recap

 Again, please note that variance analysis in
practice typically is much more detailed than
presented in this illustration.
 Also, variance analysis is applied to
operating data such as census, labor hours,
number of outpatient visits, and so on, often
on a weekly (or even daily) basis.
 Now, however, you have the picture of what
it’s all about.
? Is all this work worth it?
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Conclusion

 This concludes our discussion of

Chapter 8 (Financial Planning and
Budgeting).
 Although not all concepts were
discussed in class, you are
responsible for all of the material in
the text.
? Do you have any questions?

Copyright 2016 Foundation of the American College