A budget process refers to the process by which governments create and approve a
budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...
, which is as follows:
* The Financial Service Department prepares worksheets to assist the department head in preparation of department budget estimates
* The Administrator calls a meeting of managers and they present and discuss plans for the following year’s projected level of activity.
* The managers can work with the Financial Services, or work alone to prepare an estimate for the departments coming year.
* The completed budgets are presented by the managers to their Executive Officers for review and approval.
* Justification of the budget request may be required in writing. In most cases, the manager talks with their administrative officers about budget requirements. Adjustments to the budget submission may be required as a result of this phase in the process.
Budgeting is the setting of expenditure levels for each of an organization’s functions. It is the estimation and allocation of available capital used to achieve the designated targets of a firm.
Terminology
* Revenue Estimation performed in the executive branch by the finance director, clerk's office, budget director, manager, or a team.
* Budget Call issued to outline the presentation form, recommend certain goals.
* Budget Formulation reflecting on the past, set goals for the future and reconcile the difference.
* Budget Hearings can include departments, sections, the executive, and the public to discuss changes in the budget.
* Budget Adoption final approval by the legislative body.
* Budget Execution amending the budget as the fiscal year progresses.
Constitutional economics
Constitutional economics
Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of econo ...
is the study of the compatibility of economic and financial decisions within existing constitutional law frameworks, and such a framework includes government spending on the
judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
which in many transitional and
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
is completely controlled by the executive. It is useful to distinguish between the two methods of
corruption
Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
of the judiciary: corruption by the executive branch, in contrast to corruption by private actors. The standards of constitutional economics can be used during annual budget process, and if that budget planning is transparent then the rule of law may benefit. The availability of an effective court system, to be used by the
Budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...
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Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
Political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
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Constitutional economics
Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of econo ...
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public budgeting Public budgeting is a field of public administration and a discipline in the academic study thereof. Budgeting is characterized by its approaches, functions, formation, and type.
Authors Robert W. Smith and Thomas D. Lynch describe public budgetin ...
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budget deficit
Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...
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budget surplus
A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...
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budget crisis
A budget crisis is an informal name for a situation in which the legislative and the executive in a presidential system deadlock and are unable to pass a budget. In presidential systems, the legislature has the power to pass a budget, but the ...
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Canadian federal budget
In Canada, federal budgets are presented annually by the Government of Canada to identify planned government spending and expected government revenue, and to forecast economic conditions for the upcoming year. They are usually released in Febru ...
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Comprehensive income
In company financial reporting in the United States, comprehensive Income (or comprehensive earnings) "includes all changes in equity during a period except those resulting from investments by owners and distributions to owners". Because that use ...
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Government Accountability Office investigations of the Department of Defense Government Accountability Office investigations of the Department of Defense (DoD) are typically audits in which the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the United States Congress' investigative arm, studies how the Department of Defense spends ...
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Government-owned corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
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public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...
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public finance
Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achiev ...
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United States budget process
The United States budget process is the framework used by Congress and the President of the United States to formulate and create the United States federal budget. The process was established by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressi ...