ABSTRACT
Government budgets in the United States encompass a great diversity of formats and procedures. Governments vary in the activities and programs they cover in their principal budget documents; they make different choices about when in the course of a budget plan’s development to prepare and release a budget document; they differ in how they organize budget information in those documents; and they choose from among a variety of methods and standards for preparing and recording budget numbers. The choices made can alter how a government appears to have performed; they direct the focus of our attention and the kinds of questions and concerns likely to be raised.
