Our thanks to our associate education experts who helped us to write this article.
Why you're supposed to ask questions
You shouldn't treat budget approval as a 'rubber-stamping' exercise.
By asking the right questions, you can make sure that your finance committee:
- Has thoroughly scrutinised the budget
- Hasn't missed anything
Remember that your role is strategic, so you shouldn’t:
- Ask detailed questions about the operational side of spending
- Check the detail of the budget and whether things are accurate (your finance committee has already done this)
You're not expected to ask all of the questions. Pick ones where:
- There are any gaps in the information, or something hasn't been explained
- Something doesn't make sense or needs clarifying
- There are any changes to last year's budget
Take