Relevance of Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) to Commercial Banks in Asia under Present "Slow Economic Growth" - A Perspective on Cost Governance

To arrest the deteriorating profitability performance of Asian Commercial Banks, the top management has to install such a planning and control systems as could force the executives to identify and analyse what they are going to do in total the "cost" involved in performing the activities, set objectives and goals, make requisite operating decisions and evaluate changing responsibilities and work load as an integral part of the monitoring system. This is done only under "Zero- Base Budgeting" (ZBB), the basic idea underlying this approach is not just to cut expenditure but to make the entire programmes more effective by a more purposive allocation of financial resources to various programmes under slow economic growth scenario(s).