Which of the following is a drawback of zero-based budgeting?

In zero-based budgeting, every department must justify its budget requests from scratch rather than basing them on previous years' budgets. This requires a comprehensive review of all activities and expenditures, which can lead to a time-consuming justification process. Managers and staff must spend significant time analyzing and explaining their needs and the relevance of their spending, which can slow down decision-making and divert resources away from core activities.

While this thorough process can lead to more efficient allocation of funds in the long term, the immediate drawback is the significant investment of time and effort required to review and assess each budget item anew. This aspect can be particularly burdensome during periods of high activity or for smaller departments with limited resources for such extensive planning.

The other options do not accurately capture the primary drawbacks associated with zero-based budgeting as they relate to potential benefits or operational aspects that are not drawbacks.