My week opens with a practice run-through for the BBRT’s upcoming webcast “How to Communicate Change: A Change without Migraines Resource,” featuring expert Rick Maurer. Click on this link to sign up.

Attendees will review the Cycle of Change, which starts with people “In the dark” and hopefully moves to “See the Challenge.” Both of these must be achieved before you can “Get Started.”

As I reflected on this conversation, I realized what difficulty many finance professionals have with change. Yesterday, I received an email from an accounting association executive we are trying to work with on transforming finance. The fact that he sent it on Sunday indicates his hard work and dedication to his mission. Yet his reply left me with great concerns. He and his staff had discussed our Beyond Budgeting proposal. They replied that they were interested in “better” budgeting. It is a response that I often get.

So I would like to ask each reader who shares this view to answer the question that I will ask him and his staff: What does “better budgeting” mean?

How would target-setting change?

Would rewards such as incentive compensation be tied to hitting a budget number? And if so, how do you avoid the inherent conflict if interest in wanting to negotiate low targets?

Can action planning be done in once a year budget discussions? How about in today’s volatile environment?

Will static resource allocation ever work in today’s dynamic world?

How can fixed budgets be used for coordination when everything else is moving?

How can budgets be used for control when most of our world is outside our control?

Does finance have any role in empowering organizations or does our static thinking make finance key tools of oppression?

I am eager to see what the mantra of “Try harder, do better” means in terms of “better” budgeting. Many of us would love a world where we did not have to change, but wishing for “better budgeting” is a lot like sitting in the dark, and we simply can’t get better by sitting there and not trying .

I hope to see you while I am on the road this week. I am in Orlando Tuesday and Wednesday speaking at the Lean Accounting Summit and in Minneapolis Thursday and Friday doing a workshop and a VIP dinner for eCapital. Please stop by if you can. ###