ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the control function operates in the context of budgetary management. The functions necessary to achieve budgetary management have been shown to extend far beyond a simple control technique. As far as interpretation is concerned, managers must create mobility in order to make changes. This means that they must assure the quality of their decisions and actions so that controlled movement takes place. Purchasing decisions may be taken deliberately or passively, and their impact may therefore happen according to plan or by default. The main threat of public purchasing policy, whether it relates to human or other resources, is to reduce as far as possible unstructured spending and to move towards purchases which can be regulated by formal contracts. In a so called ‘steady state’, were there is no movement either in workload or in resources available, a financial model could easily be created which ensured that expenditure did not exceed income.
