Public Budgeting and Good Governance
UGANDA MANGEMENT INSTITUTE Public Policy and Governance Module: Public Budgeting and Good Governance QUESTION: Budgeting process is a waste of time and valuable resources. Evaluate this statement.
A budget is a plan for financing an enterprise or government during a definite period, which is prepared and submitted by a responsible executive to a representative body (or other duly constituted agent) whose approval and authorization are necessary before the plan may be executed. In the case of Uganda, it is a financing plan for one year prepared by the president and approved by Parliament. Some scholars have argued that budgets are a waste of time and valuable resources. But this statement is not entirely true as the budget process has some very useful roles in public administration as shown below;- Financial control. Government needs to be able to exercise control over the ministries and departs - i.e. to make sure that the ministries are keeping to plan and that necessary actions can be taken to put them back on track when needed. Government needs to have control tools to make sure that financial plans and targets are being achieved, and the best tool is the budget.
The budget is a plan set out in numbers, which enables the government to exercise control. The difference between what is budgeted to happen and what actually happens is termed a variance. A favorable variance means that ministry or department is doing well while an adverse variance shows those that are not.
Allocation of scarce resources. One of the biggest tasks of government is the allocation of scare resources. This is often done through the budget. Resource allocation refers to the distribution of resources, and in particular finance, from the center to peripheral levels. Because the budgetary process is often participatory, it enable the various ministries and local governments to identify their needs and present them to the centre.
Programme Coordination. The budget
A budget is a plan for financing an enterprise or government during a definite period, which is prepared and submitted by a responsible executive to a representative body (or other duly constituted agent) whose approval and authorization are necessary before the plan may be executed. In the case of Uganda, it is a financing plan for one year prepared by the president and approved by Parliament. Some scholars have argued that budgets are a waste of time and valuable resources. But this statement is not entirely true as the budget process has some very useful roles in public administration as shown below;- Financial control. Government needs to be able to exercise control over the ministries and departs - i.e. to make sure that the ministries are keeping to plan and that necessary actions can be taken to put them back on track when needed. Government needs to have control tools to make sure that financial plans and targets are being achieved, and the best tool is the budget.
The budget is a plan set out in numbers, which enables the government to exercise control. The difference between what is budgeted to happen and what actually happens is termed a variance. A favorable variance means that ministry or department is doing well while an adverse variance shows those that are not.
Allocation of scarce resources. One of the biggest tasks of government is the allocation of scare resources. This is often done through the budget. Resource allocation refers to the distribution of resources, and in particular finance, from the center to peripheral levels. Because the budgetary process is often participatory, it enable the various ministries and local governments to identify their needs and present them to the centre.
Programme Coordination. The budget
References: Downs, Anthony. (1960). "Why the Government Budget is Too Small in a Democracy," World Politics (July 1960). Lee, Robert & Ronald Johnson. (1998). Public Budgeting Systems, 6th edition, Rockville, Maryland: Aspen Publishers. Chapters 1, 2, 15. Lyden, Fremont J. and Mark Lindenberg. (1983). Public Budgeting in Theory and Practice. New York: Longman. Chapters 1 and 2. Rubin, Irene. (2000). The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting, Spending, Borrowing and Balancing, 4th edition. New York: Chatham House, Chapter 1. Wildavsky, Aaron. (1992). The New Politics of the Budgetary Process, second edition, New York: Harper Collins. Chapter 1, 10, pp. 430-440. Wildavsky, Aaron. (1984). The Politics of the Budgetary Process, fourth edition. Boston, MA: Little Brown. Prologue, Chapter 1. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/State-House-budget-hits-record-Shs200b/-/688334/1745154/-/dbsmvn/-/index.html http://www.worldbank.org/afr/wps/wp24.pdf 0772313067 Dear all. In relation to Kalule 's suggestion that choices be revisited as per the original categorization, it is important to note that when the options were opened up, people drifted to two courses (diplomacy and media) which had been paired together. I think those are the modules which best fulfill people 's aspirations, ambitions, and carrier paths. What we are looking for is the best for everyone. If they are being made available we should not go back to a document (which is only a document). It was not cast in stone.