At the beginning of the budgeting process, budget director alerts every division to the need for gathering information to help to make predictions about the future. There are several resources for gathering the data. Historical data is also a possible source; however, it is not enough for accurate predictions. For example, the previous year’s production may provide good input for predicting the next year’s production, but unless it is supported by market research, it cannot be a reliable source for predictions.  Some companies apply a bottom-to-top approach and collect sales predictions from individual salespeople and combine together to have the forecast for the company, region or a product line. Then the upper-level managers consider some additional information to improve the accuracy of these sales forecasts; such as general economic conditions, competition, pricing policies, etc. On the other hand, some companies supplement the sales forecasts by using more formal approaches, such as econometric modeling, industry analysis and trend analysis. Budgeting relies on some other factors as usual. Costs and cash-related items, for example, have important roles in the budgeting process. The same factors that are considered in the sales forecast (inflation, exchange rates, competition, etc.) are used in forecasting the costs for the coming period.