Completing the annual budget in a short time goes a long way in saving time and money across the organization. APQC finds that top performers (those at the 25th percentile) complete the annual budget in 28 days or less—nearly twice as quickly as organizations in the 75th percentile.Creating your annual budget doesn’t need to be a herculean process. While it’s likely to include some frustration, APQC recommends these four practices to help CFOs and other finance leaders to avoid the back-and-forth of protracted negotiations and drive a smoother budgeting process.