ABSTRACT
Rubber Resources’ customers are producers of passenger car tires and truck tires. Their demand for rubber is a function of vehicle sales. Preparing budgets by product, customer, sales staff, sales area and country is an important part of the sales manager’s role. If the budget is for consumer products, a sales manager can often draw it up in cooperation with Marketing, but budgeting for industrial products is normally done by Sales. Predicting sales, turnover, costs and profit for a specified period of time is of great importance to an organisation. Plans are developed and budgets allocated on the basis of these forecasts. Sales forecasts provide the basis for important strategic, operational and budgeting decisions. The sales estimate or forecast is usually part of the annual planning cycle and can only be finalised when the business and product plans are known, at least in outline.
