Public Budgeting from a Managerial Perspective

Nowadays there is a recognized right to have a budget in all democracies. Citizens have the right to know in advance the amount of taxes they will be required to pay, and for what purposes and objectives that money will be spent. The literature on budgeting is immense. However, this specific analysis will be limited to a few topics: the budget as a political and managerial document; approaches used to explain and justify budget formulation, including classical rationality, with its variant bounded rationality, and disjointed incrementalism; the functions and principles of budgeting; and budget formats. The perspective used in the presentation and discussion of these topics is consistent with public financial management theories and practices, though reference will also be made to public policy literature.