The increasing use of management techniques may be viewed as a beneficial result of the financial problems currently being experienced by many community colleges. The college budget should be goal-oriented and the basis for a good management system. When properly used as a planning technique, the budget can become a vehicle for considering and sorting out alternative paths of action. The effectiveness of a budgeting sytem, however, is directly related to the attitudes of all persons involved; attitudes must be positive if positive results are to be obtained. Active participation at all levels also enhances effective control which will assist in the attainment of shared goals. One widely used budgeting plan, the Planning Programming Budgeting System (PPBS), is discussed in terms of its advantages and disadvantages as a planning tool. The author concludes by citing the experience of her school district in implementing PPBS and other planning efforts to more efficiently and effectively make use of limited resources. (Author/AL)