Doing without a budget

 1 March – Another year over, a new one just begun, as I think John Lennon once sang. For reasons best known to others our year end is 28 February (and Tescos apart I can’t think of anyone else who shares the date).

It’s been an odd year – the change in the accounts team right at the end largely typical of its unforeseen nature. AM with typical efficiency did, however, grab the bull by the horns. Year end disciplines flowed as they should, the usual panic to bill and get stock counts done happened as usual and the auditors have been floating about, looking younger than ever, today.

Pleasingly, I was not engaged in the process at all. Nor should I be, I suppose. I was instead dealing with the fact that we start the new year without the budget approved. This is no one’s fault. The ex-Mrs CEO has been quite ill and although she has an alternate director he has been reluctant to approve the budget without her having input. So, like it or not we have a draft which we have his consent to use but, contrary to the shareholder agreement, no approved budget out of which I may spend. Theoretically her former spouse could raise all sorts of objections as a result. In practice he is not, and is being quite realistic about things.

I have to be grateful to him, for once. And although I considered taking legal opinion on my position I decided this was quite unnecessary: to wind the company up for lack of a budget, as notionally required by the shareholder’s agreement, could not be in the shareholder’s interests so I’ve decided to carry on as if we have one.