Manage finance and budgets :: essays research papers

Pre-amble Custometal Pty Ltd has been trading since 1992 under a couple of different names before becoming a proprietorship in 1998. Since its conception in 1992 it has been with the same owner and trades today as a sole proprietorship.Custometals customers consist of the construction industry across Melbourne. Custometal is what is known in the industry as a metal work sub-contractor, with our scope of works basically consisting of custom fabricating all metal items excluding structural steel and items that can be mass produced. Custometals company structure consists of 1 full general manager, 2 accounts staff, 2 estimating staff, 1 foreman, 2 leading hands and 16 tradesmen, 4 labourers and superstar apprentice. Being a trade based company really what we are selling is the time and skills of our workforce more then a physical balance product of their labour.1.0 IntroductionBeing a trade based company Custometals budgets are not as easy and strait forward as those of manufacturin g, retail or even most services companies. Like most companies, we have sales targets, administration budgets, and services budgets that can be fixed, but our shop budgets and production-based budgets rely heavily on the amount of contracts we have and the type of products we have to supply. The flow of Custometals budgets like most are circular, therefore it is difficult to prate about communication of budgets without talking about reporting procedures and how activities are controlled and monitored. The production cycle of our products starts with the estimating discussion section, once the contract is awarded, the estimating department communicates the budget to the production staff who detain communicate the budget to the tradespeople. With the aid of the accounts staff, the production staff monitor and control the budget though the production cycle and report the outcomes back to the estimating department and the general manager and this analysis is used by the estimating de partment to refine quoting procedures and formulate estimates for simular jobs. 2.0 Roles of the departments2.1 Estimating DepartmentThe estimating department is responsible for formulating production budgets by providing quotes to Custometals customers. By submitting quotes, the estimating department enters into a legal agreement with the customer where they are agreeing that if a contract is awarded to Custometal, we will undertake the works at the price stated. The quote and the documentation provided by the customer become legal documents stating the followingThe product on offer Tender documents are a package that includes a scope of works, written specifications of the product, requirements such as Australian standards to conform with and conditions that the product has to stand up to, detailed drawings and bills of quantities.