Experimental budgeting research: Implications for practitioners

In most organizations, budgeting is an essential business process. While budgets have many advantages, they have been criticized for discouraging creativity and innovation, destroying cooperation, promoting a short-term focus, and encouraging gaming. We believe that a well-designed budgeting system can address many of these concerns. Our belief stems partly from the results of experimental research on budgeting. The purpose of this article is to detail results from some of the recent experimental academic literature on budgeting and to provide insights on budget design and use. This article highlights results from recent academic research on budgeting and summarizes considerations for practitioners as they design and use budgeting systems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.