ABSTRACT
Reading and making sense of budgets is a challenge absent some understanding of the basic methods used by governments to organize budget information. Even armed with such an understanding, mastering budgets is a formidable task. Basic formatting principles are used in a wide array of often confusing combinations. Also, practices vary widely, so mastering the format of one budget may be of little help in understanding another. The diversity of practices can pose a challenge even for experts in the field, when, for example, they work with budgets from different governments.1
