ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces students to a most fundamental yet vital aspect of the public organization: the budget. It discusses the ways in which governments raise revenues, and examines competing theories about how to allocate scarce government resources. The Budget and Accounting Act created a formal process for shaping a federal budget, and it also thrust the president into the dominant budgetary role. A line-item budget illustrates where public money will be spent item by item. Line-item budgeting is most popular among local governments, given its relative simplicity. The auditing part of the budget process is designed to ensure that public money is spent appropriately. Audits are independent budgetary investigations that look to see if government agencies, organizations, or programs are spending their money lawfully and efficiently. The public administration perspective has, to some extent, evolved from economic and political science logic.
