US government mngement budget plnning nd control Essay

US government mngement budget plnning nd control - Essay Example work outing describes wht governments do by listing how governments spend money. budget tie in tsks to be performed with the mount of resources necessry to ccomplish those tsks, ensuring tht money will be vilble to wge wr, support housing, or mintin streets. Budgets limit expenditures to the revenue vilble, to ensure blnce nd prevent overspending. Most of the work in drwing up budget is technicl, estimting how much it will cost to feed thousnd shut-ins with Mels-on-Wheels progrm or how much revenue will be produced from 1 percent tx on retil sles. But public budgets re not merely technicl mngeril documents they re lso intrinsiclly nd irreducibly politicl. The efficiency of budgeting is determined by the wys it is plnned nd control. The following pper described the wys tht US budget is crried out, how scrce resources re llocted nd the choice between potentil objects of expenditure is chosen. ll budgeting, whether public or privte, individul or orgniztionl, sees choices between possible expenditures. Since no one hs unlimited resources, people budget ll the time. child mkes budget ( pln for spending, blncing revenues nd expenditures) when she decides to spend money on mrshmllow rbbit rther thn chocolte one, ssuming she hs money profuse for only one rbbit. The ir force my choose between two different irplnes to replce current bombers. ... For exmple, I my boldness t the min course nd sk bout the mount of protein for the dollr. I my compre the desserts in terms of the mount of cholesterol or the clories. Budgeting often lloctes money, but it cn llocte ny scrce resource, for exmple, time. educatee my choose between studying for n exm nd plying softbll nd drinking beer fterwrd. In this exmple, it is time tht is t premium, not money. Or it could be medicl skills tht re in short supply, or expensive equipment, or prtment spce, or wter. Government progrms often involve choice of resources nd sometimes involve combintions of resources, ech of which hs different chrcteristics. For exmple, some federl frm progrms involve direct csh pyments plus lons t below-mrket interest rtes, nd welfre progrms often involve dollr pyments plus food stmps, which llow recipients to py less for food. Federl budgets often ssign gencies money, personnel, nd sometimes borrowing uthority, trey different kinds of resources. (Blnd, Rubin, 1997)Budgets hve to blnce. pln for expenditures tht pys no ttention to ensuring tht revenues cover expenditures is not budget. Tht my sound odd in view of historiclly huge federl deficits, but budget my techniclly be blnced by borrowing. Blnce mens only tht pass by is mtched or exceeded by income. The borrowing hs to be pid off. Borrowing mens spending more now nd pying more in the future in tell to mintin blnce. It is blnce over time. Budgeting cnnot proceed without some kind of decision process. The process determines who will hve sy nd t wht point in the d ecision mking, nd frmes the decisions tht hve to be mde. Budget process typiclly involves estimtes of revenues nd limits on expenditures, structures the comprisons mong lterntives, nd regultes the flow of