Budget Assignment

Definition of a budget:

A budget is a financial document that contains an itemized summary of estimated or

intended expenditures for a given period of time. In essence, it's a plan for allocating
financial resources.

Upon completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

 Complete a budget.
 Add, subtract, multiply and divide decimals.

Part 1. Complete a business budget.

Instructions: Take a moment to think about the costs of running an office. Complete a
business budget base on the scenario below.

Scenario:
Title: Office Administrator.

Company: Ladhani & Penn Law Office

Task: Your boss, Anne Penn, has asked you to create a monthly budget for the law
office. You have a total budget of $18,000. Below are some details that will help you
create the budget. Complete the “Planned Expenses” column of the budget so it
totals $18,000.

 Rent – $2850.00
 There are five lawyers and two office administrators at the firm that require
parking spaces. Each parking spot costs $52.00 a month; the company pays this
expense for each employee.
 Utilities are included in the cost of rent.
 Insurance costs $356.00 a month
 Each fax and copy costs $0.03 per page, the office generally goes through 7,500
per month
 Advertising is a priority of the law firm –using internet resources, you will
be researching and determining appropriate amounts to be spent on

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 marketing (brochures, website, business cards, advertising); you will need
to cite your sources.
 Phone/Internet – there are seven phones/extensions plus the fax line to pay
plus internet connection which comes to $94.47 per line
 Office cleaning service costs $450 a month
 Office supplies comes to $650 per month
 Copy machine rental is $57 per month
 Shredding service is $165 per month
 Mileage costs are $0.45 per kilometer per month and mileage is generally 1,475
kilometers per month
 Mailing costs are $270 per month
 Monthly salary for the two office administrators – by using internet
resources, you will be determining appropriate salary levels for the office
administrators; you will need to cite your sources.

Create a one paragraph statement explaining your budgeting choices. The purpose of
this is to explain to your boss why you distributed the money the way you did.

Use the internet to find some prices for salaries for the two office administrators,
brochures, business cards, website and advertising to support your planned expenses.
Include citing for the sites you used to determine the costs for the two salaries,
brochures, business cards, website and advertising (your choice for magazine,
newspaper, television and/or radio ads) and include a bibliography or works cited as the
last page of your budget submission.

*Your submission must be a unique and original submission based on the

choices you made in relation to marketing and salaries. While collaboration
during class is permitted, your submitted assignment must be an original
document created and decided on by you; failure to do so will result in an
Academic Integrity Alert and a grade of zero.

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 Ladhani & Penn Law Office Budget

Expense Category Planned Expenses Actual Expense Difference

Building Rent/Lease 2,850.00 2,850.00 0.00
Equipment Rent/Lease
Phones 800.00 755.76 44.24
Copy Machine 100.00 57.00 43.00
Salaries 7,600.00 7,400.00 200.00
Operating Expenses
Utilities 0.00 0.00 0.00
Insurance 356.00 356.00 0.00
Cleaning 450.00 450.00 0.00
Other 200.00 0.00 200.00
Administrative Expenses
Fax/Copies 400.00 225.00 175.00
Postage 340.00 270.00 70.00
Office Supplies 850.00 650.00 200.00
Shredding 300.00 165.00 135.00
Other 300.00 0.00 300.00
Marketing Expenses
Brochure 150.00 114.00 36.00
Website 40.00 35.00 5.00
Business Cards 100.00 40.00 60.00
Advertising 200.00 182.00 18.00
Other 200.00 0.00 200.00
Administrative Expenses
Vehicle Expenses
Mileage 800.00 663.75 136.25
Parking 364.00 364.00 0.00
Travel 400.00 0.00 400.00
Other 200.00 0.00 200.00
Miscellaneous 1000.00 0.00 1000.00
Total Expenses 18,000.00 14,577.51 3,422.49

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Explanation
Office Administrator Salary
The average salary for an Office Administrator in Canada according to ‘neuvoo’ is
around $45,000 a year. This comes to approximately $3,700 per month. With two Office
Administrators at the law firm the average salary payout per month would be $7,400.

https://neuvoo.ca/salary/?job=office+administrator

Advertising Costs
After researching some advertising options I have come up with these prices for
brochures, business cards, website and other advertising costs. (magazine, newspaper,
television, and/or radio ads)

Business Cards:

 Vistaprint sells 500 business cards for $20.00, but has a deal on right now $9.99
 1000 business cards for $40.00 regularly priced

https://www.vistaprint.ca/business-cards/standard/templates?xnav=LP389-
otn_SBC_CTA&project_id=4a720a03-c50c-428d-b837-b52ff61dd7ea

Brochure:

 Vistaprint sells 100 bi-fold 9x8 brochures for $57.00

 200 brochures for $114.00 regularly priced

https://www.vistaprint.ca/marketing-
materials/brochures?xnid=TopNav_Brochures_Advertising_Marketing+Materials&xn
av=TopNav

Website:

 Vistaprint offers websites, and website designing, if you create the website
yourself with their tools it is as low as $5 a month, or you can have one of their
experts create one for you for as low as $35 a month
 Choosing the expert designed website for $35 a month

https://www.vistaprint.ca/digital-
marketing/websites?xnid=TopNav_Get+a+website_Digital+Marketing&xnav=TopNav

Advertising:

 Toronto sun charges businesses $182 for 15 days in print and 15 days online,
you will receive 5 print lines and 5 online photos

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https://torontosun.adperfect.com/channel/C0A801FC116f619BC2hmK3833077/publicati
on/7F00000113f3625D25iMC6BFE390/category/7F00000113f3627178TtAF6C83F5/cla
ssification/7F00000113f362717Atu12262BC5

Budgeting Choices Justified

I chose to split up the budget they way I did because I believed it made the most sense.
I gave every section enough money to cover the average monthly costs plus some room
to work with. I also gave the salaries a little more in case of overtime payment. I placed
money in the ‘other’ sections to use if the other sections in that category go over their
budget or if something else comes up. There is $200 in travel fees in case someone
needs to travel to a client. In miscellaneous I placed $1000 there to cover anything.

With the budget I wanted to ensure the sections didn’t have too much in one section. I
wanted to even it out but also make it workable in case something else arises that
needs to be paid for or dealt with.