I know this because I have had lots of discussions with clients, have spoken at both large and small events, and the results are not encouraging. However, this picture of having a deficit or surplus when it comes to our personal lives are largely non-existent. Usually, the utilization of budgets by governments and businesses is not so much of a problem at least they exist largely in those instances and there is data to tell whether there is a budget deficit or surplus. Personal budgets are extremely useful in managing an individual’s or family’s finances over both long- and short-term horizons. A budget as defined by Investopedia is an estimation of revenue (income) and expenses over a specified future period of time and is utilized by governments, businesses and INDIVIDUALS. I define a personal budget as a way of scientifically measuring your income and spending levels to tell whether you are breaking even as a little self-company, making gains, or you are simply a Houdini (a magician in reference to the famous magician, Harry Houdini). An eye-opening night! Budgeting was not only for a finance minister after all because for me, it was all about earning, spending and Insha’Allah. It had to be the UK, those guys are chisel, or so I thought erroneously in those days. He said it was something he had picked up from his supervisor during one his vacation trips to the UK while in the University (oh, good old ‘bogga’ days). He told me he had always had a personal budget and had always tried to stick to it ever since he started doing his national service. And this was him being himself telling me ahead of time before we went just so I do not feel he had caught me by surprise or anything. One of the things I liked about him was he was always upfront and firm in communicating something. He explained when I drove up to his hotel later that evening. More especially when I knew when he earned practically three times my salary! Budget! Chairman, really? What does budget have to do with two young guys wanting to catch some fun on a Friday evening? I found it a bit amusing, but I was not amused at all. What? Budget? I looked at my phone to see if I had not mistakenly called the finance minister then or some CFO of a multinational. ‘Victor, I have exceeded my budget for entertainment this month and so we can hang out, but the bill would have to be on you.
I just did not think that would be his answer that very evening. I liked talking to him because he was a very ambitious guy and always inspired me in many ways.
I mean, the usual stuff watch the game at a pub, listen to some good music, buy kebab, talk about our dreams and aspirations and any other thing boys do on Friday nights. I picked up my phone to call my friend one Friday evening and asked that we hang out. Something that happened during one of their visits turned out to be a real eye opener for me. He was also a few years older than me, so it was easy for us to become friends and used to hang out after office hours a few times. We used to talk about a lot of things, from football, to movies, to music and what not. We had lots in common and because I worked in the accounts department, I engaged the audit team frequently by getting them payment vouchers, journal vouchers and practically any source document they needed to do their work. They came around at least once a year and would stay with us for a couple of weeks auditing our processes to ensure there were no breaches and nothing untoward had been done. Two years after my national service, I became very good friends with an external auditor who was part of the audit firm that audited our company back then.
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