Question: 1. Can you explain how the external pressures on a company to generate a profit are translated into internal planning systems? Explain how this occurs in M&S. What is the purpose of a budget?
2. How does a budget operate as a control mechanism?
3. Explain why the financial information prepared for external purposes is not necessarily appropriate for managers.
4. Explain the notion of contribution to the profit of a business. What do the directors of M&S and Morrisons (www.morrisons.co.uk) have to say in the 2009 annual reports about sources of profit?