Budget and Business Intelligence -A qualitative study about budgeting and Business Intelligence in relation to the ongoing budget debate

Abstract: Background and Problem Discussion The world we are living in is becoming more and more globalized. Organizations are competing worldwide and in order to be part of the development, it is crucial for organizations to respond to the changes. At the same time, there is a debate about the relevance of the budget which has created an intense discussion on budgeting. Critics mean that the budget is an outdated means of control that consumes a considerable amount of resources and time from organizations. There are also those who suggest that the budget in itself is no problem, but that the use of budgets is the determining factor in whether or not the budget is useful for organizations. This thesis aims to investigate if Information Technology, more specifically Business Intelligence, has had any effects on budgeting in organizations. Business Intelligence is a decision support system that can help organizations manage their data and improve the decision making. The purpose is to give another perspective on the budget debate by examining if it is possible that Business Intelligence has had any effects on the budgeting process, and if Business Intelligence is a contributing reason to why organizations have not abandoned their budget. The research question is as follows: • What link is there between Business Intelligence and the Budgeting Process in the context of the ongoing budget debate? Methodology This thesis has been conducted by collecting data from four medium sized and large organizations in Sweden within diverse industries that in one or another way are using Business Intelligence in their budgeting process. Results and Conclusions This thesis has found that Business does affect the budgeting process in relation to the ongoing budget debate. The effects that have been found are time savings, increased adaptability, more efficient processes, increased flexibility, and improved decision making. All of these effects can be related to the ongoing budget debate.