How To Develop/Plan Your Fleet Budget
Summary
To plan and develop a fleet budget, start by analyzing your previous budget, choosing a forecasting technique, and considering essential factors such as vehicle management, maintenance, salary/payment management, safety management, driver training, security management, and trip-related expenses. Choose a budgeting technique that suits your organization and combine different techniques if necessary. Carefully allocate expenses and differentiate between essential and non-essential factors. Finally, review and adjust the budget regularly to ensure it aligns with the business’s goals and objectives.
Budgeting is the main foundation process in all businesses. However, the real challenge of a business starts when budgeting starts. There are many tiny vital things we have to consider when it comes to fleet business and its fleet budget.
You may think, what are you going to get from brainstorming? Why do you need to spend a little on it? But brainstorming is the area where you get many entrepreneurship ideas. In the same way budgeting works, spending even on tiny things will help you in the future to gain more.
We know fleet budgeting isn’t a simple task, and that’s why we are here to make your work simple by providing you some painless steps. There are two types of budget planning, the first is for an existing business, and the second is for new business budget planning.
Step 1: Analyze Your Previous Budget
First, Why do you want to budget? Budgeting provides the proper explanation of expenses you make in an organization and analyzing the budget offers you a clear view of where you want to spend and not to spend.
If you are an existing business, the first step you have to do is, analyze your previous month/year budget. Why do you need to analyze your previous budget? See the allocated budget of the previous year and compare it with the spend amount; this data helps you to plan the next budget for the specific time period.
Analyze the profit, loss, and mistakes which you have made in the previous budget allocation and spending and never repeat them.
Step 2: Choose A Forecasting Technique
When we say forecasting and budgeting, these terms have differences.
Budgeting explains to you about the revenue and expenses that a business needs to achieve in the upcoming period.
Whereas, forecasting is known as an estimation. Financial forecasting is the process of estimating the business’s revenue that will be achieved in the future by determining trends and outcomes of historical data.
Tip: A business needs both forecastings (estimating the revenue by trend) and budgeting (allocating the budget according to the trend and proving statements on expected revenue) to develop a proper budget.
Now choosing a budgeting technique is important to plan your budget.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
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Incremental Budgeting |
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Zero-based
Budgeting
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Activity-based budgeting |
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Value proposition budgeting |
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Tip: If your organization’s process doesn’t fit under any particular budgeting technique, combine the techniques according to your task and plan.
Step 3: Things You Need To Consider
After choosing the budgeting technique for your organization, now try to fit all your department into the budgeting process. Every single penny is important to the organization so, carefully include all your expenses in the budgeting process.
When it comes to budgeting, you should know the difference between essential and inessential factors. Here, we will provide you a list of essential factors, which is divided into seven sections.
1. Vehicle Management Information
In the vehicle management information section, you should consider and collect the expenses of the fleet lifecycle. Things you need to consider in-vehicle management information
- Vehicle Accusation.
- Insurance Register.
- Fleet Register.
- Any complaint Register.
- Resale Value.
2. Vehicle Maintenance
It’s all about fleet maintenance. Today’s effective fleet maintenance reduces most of the unwanted sudden fleet expenses. Forever suggested that fleet owners/managers get is never compromise on today’s little maintenance expenses to avoid huge future expenses—things you need to consider in vehicle maintenance.
- Fleet management system.
- Preventive maintenance.
- Predict maintenance.
- Reactive maintenance.
- Mechanics contractor Record.
3. Salary/Payment Management
Things you need to consider in Salary/Payment Management
- Driver Salary.
- Leased vehicle payment.
- TAX Expenses.
4. Safety Management System
The factor you need to consider while budgeting in Safety Management System.
- Telematics.
- Vehicle tracking system (either with GPS or without GPS).
- Fuel monitoring system.
- DashCam.
- Driver health monitoring procedures.
5. Driver Training Program Management
Driver training programs consist of many segments. As an organization, you must show interest in developing a proper work culture in your organization.
The essential segment you need to allocate budget for,
- Drug and alcohol program.
- Training on signboard and city entry rules.
6. Security Management
Security management is as important as safety management. For example, installing surveillance cameras or appointing security persons to your organization can avoid theft, and you can save a certain amount.
7. Trip-Related Expenses
Trip-related expenses are huge expenses for a fleet budget. So mainly it was divided into two sections, one is Planned expenses, and another is Unplanned expenses.
- Planned Expenses
- Planned service expenses.
- Toll / calculate toll expenses.
- Fuel expenses.
- FASTag – A Digital Toll Payment.
- RTO Charges.
- Freight Brokerages.
- Fitness Certificate Check.
- Loading/unloading charges.
- Unplanned Expenses
- Accident And Collision Expenses.
- Goonda tax.
- Roadside service expenses.
Step 4: Monitor And Control Your Budget
Budgeting is a beneficial process for an organization. Do you think only budgeting is enough for your organization? No monitoring and controlling your budget is a more important step in an organization.
Using FleetOS, The fleet management software allows you to record every expense of your fleet operations, digitize your documents, and alert you if any theft activity occurs, and remiss you with your vehicle services. Monitoring and controlling your fleet budget always helps you to move forward in your business.
