Preparing a budget allows you to establish short or long-term goals. Most commonly, the time frame for a budget is one year, however budgets can be set over a long period of time. A long-term budget should cover at least a five-year period (Kimmel, 2009). Deciding whether to set a short-term or long-term budget depends on a company's needs. Since a long-term budget is generally used to measure progress, it is more likely to be implemented in a construction project such as a bridge or highway. Additionally, a long-term budget contains much less detail than a short-term budget. In my opinion, a long-term budget would be more difficult to create due to inflation and economic factors, which is why research is a key step in the planning process. A budget is only one part of an overall budget. A master budget incorporates several budgets that constitute an action plan for a specified period of time (Kimmel, 2009). The budgeting process, depending on the size of the company, can be performed by too many people working together to achieve one or more goals. Depending ...