ABSTRACT
The development of budgets follows establishment of the annual plan that outlines desired performance in the practice through defined programmed activities. The philosophy of constructing a "zero-based budget" is recommended. A zero-based budget implies that each item of expense requires annual review/justification and approval before reinclusion (i.e., just because an expense was in last year's budget does not mean it should automatically be included in next year's budget). Zero-based budgeting is a defense against creep up in numbers of FIE employees and in support for nonproductive activities.
