Budgeting: A Tool for Financial Management and Control: The Case of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon

Abstract

The question as to whether budgeting is a relevant tool in the financial management and control of organisations has gone on for long. While proponents of Beyond Budgeting have stood for the eradication of budgeting in the running of organisations, others have stood for a maintenance because it plays more than just the role of regulating finances of an organisation. This study aims to look at budgeting as a tool for financial management and control with focus on the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon with the intention of demonstrating that it is a cumbersome budgeting procedure that makes some people feel that budgeting is worthless.The deductive research approach has been adopted for the study with pragmatist research philosophy used since it allows both the quantitative and qualitative research methods, to be used in one research. A combination of the positivist and interpretivist philosophies used for practical data collection, interpretation, and analysis. Various methods of data collection were used to come out, after analyzing findings proves that the use of budgeting has enhanced the management of finances and personnel within the PCC, and so by extension can work same for other organisations; thus showing the relevance of budgeting as an effective control tool. The study argues that in order for budgeting to fit well as a control tool in organisations, the positive elements of the various budgeting schools should be merged to make the budgeting process simpler and less time consuming, so as to encourage stakeholders to see its usefulness.