A static budget is a budget that does not change as volume changes. If a company's annual master budget is a static budget, the budget for sales commissions expense will be one amount such as $200,000 for the year. In other words, in a static budget the budgeted amount for sales commissions expense will remain at $200,000 even if the actual sales during the year are $3 million, $4 million or $5 million.
In contrast to a company's static master budget, the company's sales department might have a flexible budget. In the flexible budget, the sales commissions expense budget might be expressed as 5% of sales. In that instance, the department's budget for sales commissions expense will be $200,000 when actual sales are $4 million, but it will decrease to $150,000 when actual sales are $3 million, and the budget will increase to $300,000 when actual sales are $6 million, and so on.
