Budget planning and control; financial accounting for managers

 Before approaching this assignment, be sure that you have watched the following video.

Babycakes, a specialty bakery, is the company that will be considered for all parts of your budget planning and control report. For this assignment, you will develop a three to four (3 – 4) page paper in which you address the following.

1. Briefly discuss the ways a realistic budget will benefit the owner of Babycakes versus having no budget at all. Be sure to use Babycakes as the company and any specific product details in your explanation.
2. Prepare a sales budget for the LA Babycakes store for the 4th quarter of 2016. Present the number of units, sales price, and total sales for each month; include October, November, and December, and a total for the quarter. Use one-half of the Valentine’s Day sales as the basis for a usual day in the new quarter. Use 30 days for each month. Calculate the total sales for each month for October, November, and December.
3. Create three (3) new products, one (1) for each of the three (3) holiday seasons in the 4th quarter. Estimate the sales units, sales price, and total sales for each month. Describe the assumptions used to make these estimates. Include an overview of the budget in the report, presenting the actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations. Add these amounts to your sales budget.
4. The owner of Babycakes is interested in preparing a flexible budget rather than the static budget she currently uses. She does not understand why, when sales increase, her static budget often shows an unfavorable variance. Explain how a flexible budget will overcome this problem. Use the details of your newly prepared budget for the 4th quarter of 2016 to address her concern.
5. Imagine that Babycakes is facing a financial challenge that is causing the actual amount of money that it spends to become significantly more than its budgeted amount. Include a discussion of your own unique cause of the overspending. Explain the corrective actions needed to address these challenges.
6. Integrate relevant information from at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment.  Note: Please do not use your textbook as an academic resource. Also, Wikipedia and other Websites that are unreliable do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements.

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
• An abstract is not required.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Evaluate management control systems and examine their relationship with accounting and planning, including feedback and non-financial performance measurements.
• Evaluate decision-making tools for capital investments, budgeting, and budgeting controls.
• Analyze financial accounting tools and techniques that convert financial accounting data into information for decision making.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in financial accounting for managers.
• Write clearly and concisely about financial accounting using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be based on the quality of your responses, logic and organization of the paper, and language and writing skills. Please review the Rubric for the Assignment: Budget Planning and Control.
Points: 200Assignment: Budget Planning and ControlCriteriaExemplary90-100% AProficient80-89% BFair70-79% CLess than Minimum Expectations60-69% D1. Babycakes is used as the company for all parts of the budget planning and control report. Briefly discuss each of the main reasons the owner of Babycakes needs a budget using the specific company and product details. Include the possible outcomes with a good budget versus having no budget.Weight: 20%Thoroughly described the reasons for using a budget and the possible outcomes of a good budget versus no budget.Satisfactorily described the reasons for using a budget and the possible outcomes of a good budget versus no budget.Partially described the reasons for using a budget and the possible outcomes of a good budget versus having no budget.Did not submit or incompletely described the reasons for using a budget and the possible outcomes of a good budget versus no budget.2. Prepare a sales budget for the Babycakes LA store for the 4th quarter of 2016. Present each month; October, November, and December, and a total for the quarter. Use one-half of the Valentine’s Day (one day) of sales as the basis for a usual day. Include changes needed due to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Discuss the budget details in the report. Include the actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations used. Weight: 20%Thoroughly prepared a sales budget for the 4th quarter and described the details it was based on. Include the actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations used.Satisfactorily prepared a sales budget for the 4th quarter and described the details it was based on.Include the partial budget as an appendix with all data and calculations used.Partially prepared a sales budget for the 4th quarter and described the details it was based on.Include the partial budget, not in appendix with all data and calculations used.Did not submit or incompletely prepared a sales budget for the 4th quarter and described the details it was based on. Does not include actual budget as an appendix with all data and calculations used.3. Explain the benefits of using a flexible budget based on the budget you prepared for the 4th quarter of 2016.Weight: 15%Thoroughly submitted or explained the benefits of using a flexible budget over a static budget.Satisfactorily submitted or explained the benefits of using a flexible budget over a static budget.Partially submitted or explained the benefits of using a flexible budget over a static budget.Did not submit or explain the benefits of using a flexible budget over a static budget.4. Explain the modifications and corrective actions needed to correct challenges and the expected results.Weight: 20%Thoroughly explained the modifications and corrective actions needed to correct the challenges and the expected results.Satisfactorily explained the modifications and corrective actions needed to correct the challenges and the expected results.Partially explained the modifications and corrective actions needed to correct the challenges and the expected results.Did not submit or incompletely explained the modifications and corrective actions needed to correct the challenges and the expected results.5. Three (3) relevant and appropriate academic quality references used. Weight: 5%Exceeds number of required references; all references high- quality choices.Meets number of required references; all references high- quality choices.Does not meet the required number of references; some or all references poor quality choices.No references provided.6. Writing Mechanics, Grammar, and Formatting.Weight: 5%Mostly free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting.Partially free of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting.Numerous errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.Serious and persistent errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or formatting.7. Appropriate use of APA in-text citations and reference section.Weight: 5%Most in-text citations and references are provided, and they are generally formatted correctly in APA style.In-text citations and references are provided, but they are only partially formatted correctly in APA style.In-text citations and references are given, but not in APA format.Lack of in-text citations and/or lack of reference section.8. Information Literacy and Integration of Sources.Weight: 5%Sources are mostly integrated using effective techniques of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.Sources are partially integrated using effective techniques of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.Sources are rarely integrated using effective techniques of quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.Serious errors in the integration of sources, such as intentional or accidental plagiarism, or failure to use in-text citations.9. Clarity and Coherence of Writing. Weight: 5%Information is mostly clear and generally supported with reasons and evidence that logically support ideas.Information is partially clear with minimal reasons and evidence that logically support ideas.Information is somewhat confusing with not enough reasons and evidence that logically support ideas.Information is confusing to the reader and fails to include reasons and evidence that logically support ideas.