Budgets are management tools universally recognized for their ability to support planning and efficient management of resources and activities in economic entities. The preparation and use of budgets is not without difficulties. This paper presents a synthesis of the studies on the difficulties of the budgeting process and the factors that determine nevertheless the adoption and use of this tool. We intend to put in balance the efforts and the effects of preparing and using budgets, in order to see if they deserve to be implemented within economic entities. The information obtained regarding the importance of budgets and the difficulties generated by these tools is supported in this paper by the use of a questionnaire distributed in the Romanian academic and business environments. The results show that budgets are useful tools and offer numerous advantages, despite the issues generated, which determines their importance and use in economic entities.