Open AccessThis study aims to analyze the criteria and procedures adopted by companies for determining the budget communication. Specifically, we intend to identify how companies organize the system of deciding the budget and deal with the budget cuts throughout the process of implementation of promotional activities. The data collection involved in-depth interviews conducted with communications professionals from ten companies belonging to the ranking of the 300 largest advertisers in Brazil. As data analysis technique, we have chosen content analysis. The main results showed little or no participation by the communication manager's final decision on the budget area, the lack of criteria to justify budget cuts during the promotional period and the adoption by firms of judgment methods and percentage of sales to determine the budget amount of communication