A CPA with nearly a decade of experience, Benjamin Barrone serves as the accounting manager for Vital Proteins in Chicago, Illinois. In this capacity, Benjamin Barrone works alongside senior leadership teams to provide the financial perspective on business decisions. One of the most important functions is budgeting.

A financial budget helps businesses track revenue and expenses to determine if their profit goals are feasible. Below are a few ways to create and maintain a successful business budget.

- Predict one-time expenses. Many businesses focus on regular income and expenses. While these are important parts of a budget, including one-time expenses, such as buying a new computer, is also important. Adding one-time expenses into the budget helps prevent companies from falling into financial trouble.

- Complete monthly budget updates. Once a budget is created, it shouldn't be left alone for the rest of the year. Management teams and finance professionals must review the budget at least once a month and make changes as needed. Reviewing the budget allows companies to handle new risks that arise or change their spending habits to keep everything on track.

- Include variable expenses. In many cases, variable expenses can be scaled to fit a company’s monthly budget. However, ignoring variable expenses will create an incomplete budget that makes tracking profit much more difficult.