Municipal budgeting
Schaeffer, Michael
The focus of this paper is to outline the role of budgeting as a critical tool of local government finance and to provide guidelines to strengthen local public finances in improving the financial management and creditworthiness of local government entities. An essential first step is to put sound budgetary and financial procedures into place. Local budgets must be comprehensive, accurate, periodic authoritative, timely and transparent. A strong budgeting and financial system along these lines satisfies several requirements of good government: a) it establishes the basis for financial control; and b) it provides accurate, uniform, and timely financial information. This toolkit provides practical guidance to municipal finance managers on how to implement prudent, service oriented budgeting practices. This report is organized into several sections including: accounting and auditing, the municipal budget, municipal revenues, public expenditures, the capital budget and investment planning, and budget performance information and measurement. The report concludes by suggesting the budget system be reformed to create an enabling environment for performance - providing for greater transparency, accountability, flexibility, and predictability. At the same time, accounting systems may need to be revised so that they can provide real cost information by program, and can support the accountability that is necessary for improved performance.
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