PK is a large public company in the telecommunications sector. One of its main planning and control tools is the preparation and use of traditional annual budgets. Whilst this may be appropriate for the Sales and Manufacturing divisions, it draws criticisms from the directors of divisions such as Training and Education, Advertising and Publicity, and Research and Development who are responsible for large amounts of discretionary expenditure. These directors have submitted a joint report to the finance director which suggests that zero-based budgeting (ZBB) should be used for their respective divisions.

The finance director has agreed to use the Research and Development division as a pilot for ZBB for the next financial year.

Required:

Explain zero-based budgeting and the main stages that would need to be undertaken to introduce it into the Research and Development Division.