Budget Request Deck

About this template

Ten slides that ask for one decision

A ten-slide deck for taking a funding request to an approval meeting. Its whole shape assumes the audience has to answer yes or no in one sitting, which is why the closing line is “Only one decision is needed.” If you need a discussion about strategy rather than a decision about money, this is the wrong file – a planning deck will serve better and this one can carry the number afterward. The agenda on slide 2 runs Request summary, Basis of estimate, Keep as is vs the request, Key metrics, Trend analysis, with a 05 / 05 counter in the corner that has to be edited if you add a line.

The summary slide carries the ask

Slide 4, under “What we ask for, how much, and why, on one page.”, holds the three facts an approver needs before anything else: KRW 840m requested with 3 new items, approval needed by November 15, and a four-month slip if it is not approved. The third line is the one that gets softened in review and should not be – a request with no consequence attached is a request that can be deferred indefinitely. Slide 6, “Basis of estimate”, shows the work behind the number: the median of three supplier quotes, labor at 4 people times 6 months, contingency at 5% of the request. Those three lines have to reconcile to KRW 840m, and the fastest way to lose a budget meeting is to be asked to add them up on the spot and fail.

Slide 7 does the persuading

The comparison slide is labeled A / B and puts “Keep as is” against “Approve request”: KRW 310m lost every year, no answer when equipment fails and 3 staff on constant overtime, against breaks even in 6 months, breakdown response within 4 hours and overtime down to 12 hours a month. The left column is the cost of doing nothing, and it must be a figure someone in finance already accepts. If KRW 310m is your own estimate rather than a booked number, say so on the slide, because an approver who doubts the left column will not read the right one.

Tiles and the spend curve

Slide 8 carries KRW 840m amount requested, 3 new line items, 5% contingency share and an 11/15 approval deadline. All four already appear on slides 4 and 6, so they are the places an edit most often gets forgotten; the 5% tile in particular has to match the contingency line in the basis of estimate. Slide 9 shows Dec 30, Jan 25, Feb 25, Mar 20 under “Unit: index” – a spend schedule as percentages, adding to 100, not a monthly trend. If the money will actually be drawn on contract signature, interim payments and a final payment after acceptance, reshape the bars to that and change the caption to the currency amount per month. Leaving an index caption on a payment schedule invites the question of when cash actually leaves.

Common failures

• Asking for the money before establishing what breaks without it.
• Quoting a single supplier price. Three quotes and a median is the reason the number survives challenge.
• Putting the approval deadline only in the speaker’s notes. It belongs on slide 4 and on the metrics tile, as it is here.
• Adding alternatives that were never seriously considered. If the deck compares only A and B, do not claim a third option was evaluated.