Budgets for Noobs
What you absolutely have to know
And what you can let your budget person handle - a survival guide for budget-averse federal managers
Listen... some guys LOVE this. Some managers sleep with budget spreadsheets under their pillow and good for them. I was not that guy. If you ARE that guy, then you don't need this section because you could write volumes.
I'll be honest... I didn't touch budgets more than I absolutely had to, and I had a guy for that. I'd ask my guy, "Hey, how's the budget?" and he'd start diatribing with enthusiasm about budget execution and variance reports as my eyes glazed over.
The point is: you don't have to be an accountant, but you DO have to know the basics because you WILL be asked. By your boss, by Congress, by political appointees who want to know why you can't just "reallocate some funds" to make their pet project happen immediately.
Disclaimer: This guide is for informational purposes and reflects real-world operational challenges. It is not legal or financial advice. Always consult with your agency's budget office and legal counsel when making budget decisions.
Why You Can't Just Ignore Budgets
Look, I get it. Budgets are boring. The people who love them speak in acronyms and get excited about variance reports. You'd rather focus on mission and let someone else worry about the numbers.
But here's the reality: You're going to get asked budget questions, and "I don't know, talk to my budget guy" only works so many times before people start questioning your competence as a manager.
The Questions That Will Come
Your Boss: "Why do you need a 15% increase for travel when everyone else is cutting back?"
Political Appointee: "Can't we just move money from training to hire more people?"
Congressional Staff: "Explain why your office supplies budget doubled last year."
IG Investigator: "Walk me through how you decided to spend $50K on awards when you were supposedly facing budget constraints."
When these questions come - and they will - you need to understand enough about your budget to give intelligent answers or know exactly what to ask your budget person to get the information you need.
Your Budget Person: Your New Best Friend
Your budget manager/analyst is going to be one of your most important relationships. They know where every dollar is, what you can and can't do with money, and how to navigate whatever budget system your agency uses (BEM, PRISM, CORE, etc.).
What Your Budget Person Actually Does
Runs the Budget System
They know how to input data, run reports, track spending, and generate the financial documents everyone wants to see.
You don't need to learn BEM - you need to learn how to work with someone who knows BEM.
Tracks Your Spending
They know exactly how much you've spent, what you have left, and when you're about to run out of money for something important.
They can tell you if that emergency purchase will blow your budget for the year.
Knows the Rules
Federal budget rules are complex and constantly changing. They know what you can do with different types of funding and what will get you in trouble.
Before you make any financial decisions, run it by them.
Prepares Your Justifications
When you need to defend your budget requests or explain spending decisions, they create the charts, tables, and analysis that make you look competent.
They translate your operational needs into budget language.
How to Work with Budget People
Be honest about what you don't know: "I need to understand this well enough to brief my boss. Can you give me the highlights without all the technical details?"
Ask for regular updates: "Can you give me a quick status every month? Just the stuff I need to worry about."
The simple question that works: I'd ask my guy periodically "Hey, do we have money for this?" Usually he'd know immediately or ask me a couple questions on why we needed it, for what purpose. Then he'd give me the "yep... nope... or we can make that happen moving a few things around if we really gotta."
Involve them in planning: "We're thinking about doing X. What are the budget implications?"
Let them do their job: Don't micromanage the technical aspects. Focus on the management decisions you need to make.
Protect them from political pressure: When appointees want to "just move money around," let your budget person explain why it's not that simple.
Get the essential briefing: Have your budget guy sit you down and give you the skinny on what you NEED to know. If that piques your interest, dive as deep as you want to, but he/she will most likely know the bare minimum so you don't look like an idiot in the next big wig meeting.
Questions You'll Get Asked
These are the budget questions that will come up in meetings, briefings, and investigations. You need to know enough to either answer them or know exactly what information to get from your budget staff.
The Standard Questions
"How much do you have left?"
What they really want: Can you take on additional expenses or projects this year?
What you need to know: Your burn rate, any upcoming large expenses, and whether your budget assumes things that might not happen.
"Why do you need so much for X?"
What they really want: Justification for a line item that seems high compared to other organizations or previous years.
What you need to know: What's driving the cost, how it compares to industry standards, and what happens if you don't fund it.
"Can you just move money from Y to Z?"
What they really want: To fund a new priority without getting more money.
What you need to know: Whether that's legally possible, what you'd have to stop doing, and what approvals are required.
"What would a 10% cut mean?"
What they really want: To understand the operational impact of budget reductions.
What you need to know: What you'd have to stop doing, how many people you'd lose, and which services would be affected.
The Questions That Will Trip You Up
"Why didn't you spend all your money last year?" - Sounds like a good thing, but unspent funds often get taken away or used to justify cuts.
"Why is your cost per [unit] higher than Agency X?" - Comparing your budget to other agencies without understanding their different missions and constraints.
"Can't you just use last year's carryover?" - Most federal funding doesn't carry over, and what does often has restrictions on how it can be used.
The key: These questions often contain false assumptions. Your job is to understand the assumptions and correct them professionally.
Things Managers Forget to Budget For
New managers consistently forget to budget for certain things, then get caught short when they need the money. Here's the stuff that trips people up:
The Big Ones
Awards and Recognition
Cash awards can be up to 10-20% of employee salaries. Time-off awards cost you productivity. Recognition ceremonies, plaques, and employee appreciation events all cost money.
Budget reality: Good managers recognize good work. Plan for it.
Training and Development
Conference attendance, professional development, certifications, leadership training - and don't forget travel costs for training that's not local.
Budget reality: Trained employees are more effective. Invest in your people.
Equipment Replacement
That computer network won't last forever. Neither will your vehicles, furniture, or specialized equipment. Plan for replacement cycles.
Budget reality: Emergency replacements cost more than planned ones.
End-of-Year Spending
Use-it-or-lose-it money that has to be spent by September 30. If you don't plan for this, you'll be scrambling to spend money on things you don't really need.
Budget reality: Returning money looks bad and gets your budget cut next year.
The Sneaky Ones
Overtime Costs
Emergencies, investigations, congressional requests, and end-of-year deadlines all require people to work extra hours. This can absolutely explode if you're not watching it closely.
Management reality: Either you as a first-line supervisor or the managers under you need to have a firm grasp on overtime approval and tracking. It can spiral out of control fast.
Control strategies: Set clear approval thresholds (anything over 10 hours needs approval), track weekly not monthly, and have backup plans for surge periods instead of defaulting to overtime.
Red flags: Same employees consistently working overtime, spikes during "routine" busy periods, or managers approving without understanding budget impact.
Travel for Crises
When something goes wrong, you'll need to send people places immediately. Emergency travel is expensive and can't wait for budget approval.
Legal and Investigation Costs
IG investigations, EEO complaints, and congressional inquiries require document production, legal reviews, and staff time that isn't productive work.
Software and Subscriptions
Annual renewals for software licenses, database subscriptions, and online services. These often auto-renew and can surprise you if not tracked.
Overtime: The Budget Killer
Why overtime becomes a problem:
- It compounds fast: Time-and-a-half adds up quickly, especially for higher-grade employees
- It looks like poor management: Reviewers assume consistent overtime means you can't plan or manage workload
- It's hard to control: Once people expect overtime pay, they find ways to justify working extra hours
- Emergency justification: "This is urgent" becomes the default excuse for everything
The political reality: Overtime becomes a target during budget reviews because it looks like poor planning, even when driven by legitimate emergency needs or congressional demands. Document what drove the costs to defend expenditures later.
The Emergency Fund
Every experienced federal manager has some version of an emergency fund for unexpected expenses:
- Equipment failures that require immediate replacement
- Security incidents that require additional resources
- Political appointee demands for immediate analysis or reports
- Congressional requests that require overtime and travel
- Legal costs for investigations or personnel issues
Work with your budget person to build contingency into your planning. It's better to have money you don't use than to need money you don't have.
Budget Calendar Reality
Federal budgets operate on cycles that seem designed to make no sense to normal people. Understanding the calendar helps you know when things happen and why everyone gets crazy at certain times of year.
The Cycle That Never Ends
The Federal Budget Timeline
18 months before: Agencies start planning next year's budget requests. You're guessing what you'll need based on today's mission and priorities.
12 months before: Budget requests go to OMB. Political appointees who weren't here when you started planning now have opinions about your requests.
6 months before: President's budget goes to Congress. Your carefully planned requests become political footballs in appropriations committees.
October 1: Fiscal year starts. You finally find out how much money you actually got (usually less than you asked for, with restrictions you didn't expect).
The Planning Paradox
You're planning budgets 18 months in advance based on:
- Mission requirements that will probably change
- Political priorities that will definitely change
- Technology costs that are impossible to predict
- Personnel needs based on people who might retire or transfer
- Economic assumptions that may not hold true
And then: Political appointees who weren't here during planning want to know why you didn't budget for their new priorities, Congress wants to cut your budget while increasing your mission, and you're supposed to execute flawlessly.
The September Scramble
Every September, the federal government goes crazy trying to spend money before it disappears on October 1. Understanding this helps you plan for the annual end-of-year chaos.
Why September Is Insane
Use it or lose it: Most federal funding expires on September 30. Money you don't spend goes away and doesn't come back.
Budget justification: If you don't spend your full allocation, it's used as justification to cut your budget next year.
Procurement deadlines: Everything has to be ordered and delivered before the fiscal year ends.
Awards and recognition: Annual performance awards and recognition ceremonies happen before the year ends.
Your job: Plan your September spending in advance so you're not scrambling to find things to buy just to spend money.
Defending Your Budget Requests
Eventually, you'll have to explain why you need the money you asked for. This might be to your boss, to political appointees, to congressional staff, or to IG investigators. The key is translating budget numbers into mission impact.
The Translation Challenge
Budget people speak in numbers. Politicians speak in outcomes. Your job is to connect the two.
Connect Money to Mission
Don't just say "We need $100K for training." Say "This training will improve response times by 15% and reduce errors that cost us $300K last year."
Show the return on investment in terms people care about.
Explain the Consequences
What happens if you don't get the money? "Without this funding, we'll have to stop X service or accept Y risk."
Make the trade-offs clear and let decision-makers choose.
Use Comparisons
"This request represents 2% of our total budget but addresses 25% of our customer complaints."
Put numbers in perspective that non-budget people can understand.
Show Your Homework
Have the backup data ready. How did you calculate these numbers? What assumptions are you making? What would change your estimates?
Your budget person can help you prepare this analysis.
The Manager's Budget Mindset
You don't need to become a budget expert, but you do need to think like a manager who understands resources:
Every dollar spent is a dollar not available for something else. What are you not doing so you can do this?
Budget decisions have operational consequences. Cutting training affects performance. Delaying equipment replacement affects productivity.
Your budget is a management tool. It should reflect your priorities and enable your mission, not constrain good management.
Documentation matters. Budget decisions will be reviewed years later by people who weren't there when you made them.
Your budget person is your ally. They want you to succeed and will help you navigate the system if you work with them effectively.
The Bottom Line for Budget-Averse Managers
You don't have to love budgets. You don't have to become an expert in budget systems. You don't have to enjoy variance reports or spend your weekends reading budget guidance.
But you DO have to:
- Understand how much money you have and what you can do with it
- Plan for expenses beyond salaries and obvious operational costs
- Work effectively with budget professionals who handle the technical aspects
- Communicate budget constraints and needs to your team and stakeholders
- Defend your budget decisions when asked (and you will be asked)
Master these basics, and you can focus on leading people and accomplishing mission while your budget person handles the spreadsheets and regulations. Which is exactly how it should be.
Ready to survive budget season?
You don't have to love it - you just have to not screw it up.