Budget Issues


Book Description

The federal government's financial condition and fiscal outlook have deteriorated dramatically since 2000. The federal budget has gone from surplus to deficit and the nation's major reported long-term fiscal exposures-a wide range of programs, responsibilities, and activities that either explicitly or implicitly commit the government to future spending-have more than doubled. Current budget processes and measurements do not fully recognize these fiscal exposures until payments are made. Increased information and better incentives to address the long-term consequences of today's policy decisions can help put our nation on a more sound fiscal footing. Given its interest in accurate and timely information on the U.S. fiscal condition, the Senate Committee on the Budget asked us to update our study of other nations' experiences with accrual budgeting and look at other ways countries have increased attention to their long-term fiscal challenges.







Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance


Book Description

This global encyclopedic work serves as a comprehensive collection of global scholarship regarding the vast fields of public administration, public policy, governance, and management. Written and edited by leading international scholars and practitioners, this exhaustive resource covers all areas of the above fields and their numerous subfields of study. In keeping with the multidisciplinary spirit of these fields and subfields, the entries make use of various theoretical, empirical, analytical, practical, and methodological bases of knowledge. Expanded and updated, the second edition includes over a thousand of new entries representing the most current research in public administration, public policy, governance, nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, and management covering such important sub-areas as: 1. organization theory, behavior, change and development; 2. administrative theory and practice; 3. Bureaucracy; 4. public budgeting and financial management; 5. public economy and public management 6. public personnel administration and labor-management relations; 7. crisis and emergency management; 8. institutional theory and public administration; 9. law and regulations; 10. ethics and accountability; 11. public governance and private governance; 12. Nonprofit management and nongovernmental organizations; 13. Social, health, and environmental policy areas; 14. pandemic and crisis management; 15. administrative and governance reforms; 16. comparative public administration and governance; 17. globalization and international issues; 18. performance management; 19. geographical areas of the world with country-focused entries like Japan, China, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe, North America; and 20. a lot more. Relevant to professionals, experts, scholars, general readers, researchers, policy makers and manger, and students worldwide, this work will serve as the most viable global reference source for those looking for an introduction and advance knowledge to the field.




Upcoming Transition: GAO¿s Efforts to Assist the 111th Congress and the Next Administration


Book Description

The upcoming 2009 transition marks the first wartime presidential transition in 40 years. The next admin. will fill thousands of positions across gov¿t.; there will be a number of new faces in Congress as well. Making these transitions as seamlessly as possible is pivotal to effectively and efficiently help accomplish the fed. govt¿s. many essential missions. The Presidential Transition Act specifically identifies GAO as a source of briefings and other materials to help inform presidential appointees of the major mgmt. issues, risks, and challenges they will face. This testimony provides an overview of GAO¿s objectives for assisting the 111th Congress and the next admin. in their all-important transition efforts. Charts and tables.




Passing the Baton


Book Description




Accrual Budgeting


Book Description




Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management


Book Description

Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.




Public Financial Management and Its Emerging Architecture


Book Description

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed an influx of innovations and reforms in public financial management. The current wave of reforms is markedly different from those in the past, owing to the sheer number of innovations, their widespread adoption, and the sense that they add up to a fundamental change in the way governments manage public money. This book takes stock of the most important innovations that have emerged over the past two decades, including fiscal responsibility legislation, fiscal rules, medium-term budget frameworks, fiscal councils, fiscal risk management techniques, performance budgeting, and accrual reporting and accounting. Not merely a handbook or manual describing practices in the field, the volume instead poses critical questions about innovations; the issues and challenges that have appeared along the way, including those associated with the global economic crisis; and how the ground can be prepared for the next generation of public financial management reforms. Watch Video of Book Launch




A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process


Book Description

A basic reference document for persons interested in the federal budget-making process. Emphasizes budget terms in addition to relevant economic and accounting terms to help the user appreciate the dynamics of the budget process. Also distinguishes between any differences in budgetary and non-budgetary meanings of terms. Over 300 terms defined. Index. Appendices: overview of the federal budget process, budget functional classification, and more.




Accrual Budgeting: Experiences of Other Nations and Implications for the United States


Book Description

The federal budget serves as the primary financial plan of the federal government. Although budget decisions are inherently based on political choice, the method of budget reporting plays an important role by determining the information available and incentives provided to policymakers. Further, because the budget process serves as a key point of accountability, the way costs are measured in the budget can have significant consequences for managerial incentives. Therefore, choices about the method of budget reporting represent much more than technical decisions about how to measure cost; rather they reflect fundamental choices about the controls and incentives to be provided by the decision-making process.