| a process in government and corporate finance of justifying an overall budget or individual budgeted items each fiscal year or each review period rather than dealing only with proposed changes from a previous budget. Abbreviation: ZBB |
Zero Based Budgeting - ZBB
A method of budgeting in which all expenditures must be justified each new period, as opposed to only explaining the amounts requested in excess of the previous period's funding.
Investopedia Commentary
For example, if an organization used ZBB, each department would have to justify its funding every year. That is, funding would have a base at zero. A department would have to show why its funding efficiently helps the organization toward its goals.
ZBB is especially encouraged for Government budgets because expenditures can easily run out of control if it is automatically assumed what was spent last year must be spent this year.
Also spelled: ZBB