Best Practice in Government Budget Management


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Governments, just like households or companies, need to plan annual budgets, based on their revenue and expense projections.

A Government budget will lead to a deficit or a surplus, which is the difference between government receipts and government spending in a single year.

Just like households, if a government spends more money than it brings in, it has a deficit (indicated by a negative number). If it spends less than it brings in, it’s a budget surplus (indicated by a positive figure).

Unlike households, there is no universal best practice pertaining to government budget management; worse, best practice recommendations vary.

A deficit occurs when the expenses of a government exceed the revenues collected by the government; on the contrary a surplus is when revenues exceed spending.

It is usually presented as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Government deficits or surpluses are measured using the net borrowing (or net lending) figures of the general government sector in the national accounts. Put another way, it is the difference between total revenue and total expenditure, including capital expenditure (in particular, gross fixed capital formation).

Revenue is mainly in the form of taxes, social contributions, dividends and other property income.

Expenditures are chiefly compensation of government employees, social benefits, interest on the public debt, subsidies and gross fixed capital formation.

A government that has a recurring yearly deficit increases its debt.

Governments have 3 ways to raise debt: they can print money (banknotes etc…), sell off assets, or borrow.

  1. Printing money can run a risk of “runaway” inflation.
  2. Selling assets can be a short-term, partial fix and in some cases necessary – but, as in a household, it is not a substitute for learning to live within one’s means.
  3. Borrowing is the most common way to finance debt, but it comes with interest payments, which can also hamper long-term growth and, in some cases, add to the deficit. Borrowing can be from residents of the country (internal debt) or from foreigners (external debt). Economists generally believe that internal debt is more manageable than external debt.

Throughout history there have always been different opinions and fierce debates on  what is the best practice in budget deficit. The schools of the ”pros” and “cons”  of budget deficit best practice have alternatively prevailed.

  • The “pro deficit”

Many economists, the most influential of them being John Maynard Keynes, believe that governments should run deficits during recessions and periods of high unemployment to compensate for low private demand, while governments should work to balance the budget only during times of full employment and strong growth. The underlying assumption is that more government debt during a recession can stimulate the economy, whereas during times of prosperity, deficits can lead to high inflation rates. They state that the 2008-2010 stimulus packages around the world have softened the threat of a potential new “Great Depression” into a “Great Recession.”

  • The “deficit phobics”

In contrast some Economists argue that the most important issue is to reduce the deficit by cutting government spending and/or increasing taxes. While at the start of the subprime crisis in the late 2000’s world leaders massively embraced the Keynesian economic theories – with huge stimulus packages in many countries-, the political decision makers have then focused on the growing debt levels and called for sharp cuts in public expenditures, as market turmoil was sparked by government deficits of countries in the euro area, particularly Greece in 2001.

Essential Governance Best Practices


There are ten essential governance best practices recommended for banks and financial institutions in the US and other countries. These include:

1. Formalizing Duties and Functions

There is need to formalize and announce the appointment of voted directors on the board. Their duties and roles must be presented in writing to ensure compliance.

2. Reform the Structure of the Board

This will add more value to the effectiveness of the board. The size and level of commitment influences compliance with responsibilities. Moreover, the directors and the chairperson should be independent. This is important because it increases efficiency. Most importantly, the chairperson and CEO must not be the same individual. They must be separate offices, with defined duties. Ideally, the board should also have an established nomination committee.

3. Responsible and Ethical Management

Important best practices must be complied with to manage the organization. This requires agreement with Code of Conduct. There are other necessary practices needed in order to maintain customer confidence in the company. Though responsible and ethical management can be achieved through investigation and reporting. Reporting must be done in compliance with standard formats. Besides, directors, officers and employees must be informed about trading policies and securities involved.

4. Financial Reporting Protocols

There must be an established audit committee that provides data for reporting. CEO’s and Chairmen should be able to certify that the information is valid. The protocols required for generating these reports must involve reporting best practices.

5. Timely Disclosure of Information

Important matters and information regarding the company must be disclosed ONLY to people concerned. Timely disclosures are important because they ensure conformity with established policies.

6. Respect Rights

Stakeholders have rights that must be respected. They must be encouraged to take an active part in general meetings and other activities. Likewise, external auditors should also attend the meetings to answer questions related to audit reports.

7. Risk Management

There must be a strong system to oversee risk management. This involves identifying risks and implementing compliance with internal controls. Policies about risk management must be reviewed regularly. All these must be put into writing and disclosed to employees, officers and stakeholders.

8. Standards for Performance Evaluation

The organization must have standards for performance evaluation. This involves making established criteria that must be met by individual directors, key executives and the community as a whole.

9. Compensate Responsibly and Fairly

You must compensate employees and customers responsibly. This is one of the toughest practices in every organization. Managers must take account of the employee’s performance. In a standard firm, there must be remuneration policies.

10. Recognize Legitimate Stakeholders’ Interests

There are legal obligations and other requirements that must be fulfilled. Providing information about stakeholders’ interests in the report is recommended. These are important in establishing risks attached with decisions about the business.

Compliance with these essential governance best practices is the basis of a strong business enterprise.

IT Governance Best Practices


IT governance is an important aspect of corporate governance. It focuses on the IT system of the business organization to improve overall performance. It involves computer audit, information security management and IT risk management.

Recently there has been an increase in interest towards IT governance, due to compliance management initiatives. The implementation of Basel II in Europe and Sarbanes-Oxley Act in USA has also contributed to bringing IT governance into perspective. Moreover, the want for improvements in decision-making and accountability also contributes to the need for better IT systems. This particularly benefits stakeholders in companies.

Traditionally, executives and business owners make decisions in any firm. However, IT decisions are made by IT professionals, not by executives of the company. Therefore, it is only logical that IT compatibility affects the outcome of decisions taken by top management in any firm. In the long term, stakeholders get negatively affected by poor decisions. Hence, their involvement in business best practices is crucial.

IT governance involves everyone in the company. Involvement of customers, employees, stakeholders, management and directors is equally important for the success of IT governance. Therefore, IT governance provides a module or framework that ensures transparence and accountability. Through proper IT governance, it is possible to trace decisions made. This is because IT governance requires allocation of duties and responsibilities of key players in the firm’s system.

IT Governance Framework

This includes the following best practices:

  • Control: This means practicing control of work done by employees of the firm. It must be in moderation to ensure successful best practices and risk management.
  • Coordination: In every industry there are segments of work /departments, and duties are distributed. IT governance framework ensures coordination of best practices at every segment/department.
  • Evaluate Outcome: It is important for the management to assess and evaluate the outcome from business decisions. IT systems make this easy and quick through compliance with IT best practices. Moreover, this also helps with implementing risk management strategies.
  • Internal Policies and Regulations: This best practice is important to ensure the success of risk management. Through IT systems, controls and standards can easily be implemented on employees and customers.
  • Rationalized Spending: IT governance assists with rationalizing spending. Managers can use data for making decisions accurately.
  • Transparency and Accountability: IT systems ensure proper data management. This increases transparency and accountability at various levels of the firm.
  • Customer Service: Through IT governance, techniques employed for customer management improve. This facilitates good connection of customers with the business. Additionally, handling stakeholders also becomes effective.

Conclusively, IT governance best practices are the key to proper risk management and good management decision-making. It improves business performance at various levels.

Budget Development and Management within Departments


As a compulsory best practice, agencies and departments in any business enterprise must manage their annual appropriation. This is important in order to be able to deliver products and services efficiently, in compliance with government regulations. Therefore, departments must possess a sound budget management and development system. Additionally, there will be need for best practices to integrate internal budgets with business processes.

In addition to this, according to the Audit Act 1994, Section 16AB business enterprises must submit a report of their audit to the parliament. In order to ensure compliance with this, the government sector has two recommended budgeting processes. These include:

  • State Budget Process: This requires the government’s estimate of expenditure and revenue for the entire budget year, combined together. This process is also known as the “External Budget” and offers appropriations to departments to encourage delivery of products and services.
  • Internal Budget Process: This is best described as a “Departmental Budget Setting Process”. It is an important best practice, included in the department’s financial management system. It is important for business planning, performance management and resource allocation.

State Budget Process:

This process is hinged on the submission of budget tenders or bids. These bids are submitted to the government by the budget development department of the organization. This is a two step process:

Step 1: The best practice of updating forward estimates every November in order to input it in budget planning. As part of best practices, the treasury and finance department must seek information to assist with the process.

Step 2: The treasury and finance department must present a brief to the government about its output (products and services). It must also include assets in the reports. This will facilitate the government to consult with special interest groups and broader communities before concluding its stand on the proposed budget.

The final decision is dependent on cabinet approval, which depends on annual state budget and departmental budgets.

Internal Budget Process

When an audit department focuses on internal budgeting, it must focus on the level of training and education of employees. In addition to these business best practices, auditors must focus on the following:

  1. Integrate business planning and internal budgeting process
  2. Develop and manage the internal budget
  3. Monitor and review budget performance

Recommended Best Practices

Here are some recommendations for budget development and Management within departments:

  1. The training and infrastructure department must ensure the following best practices.
  • Align internal budgets with output delivery cost targets.
  • Modify financial management systems and information best practices so that they show budget and actual outcomes against output delivery targets.
  1. The department responsible for training employees must whether budget centers are performing responsibly. This involves the best practice of assessing cost of maintenance and accountability of the budget centers.
  2. The advisor budget management system must meet the requirements outlined by managers.
  3. There must be a benchmark for internal budget to guide development processes. This best practice will enhance efficiency or a wide range of departmental processes.
  4. The infrastructure of the department must review variations between budget estimates and actual results mentioned in the annual budget report.

Conclusively, compliance with these practices involved in budget development and management within departments, is compulsory for a professional business setup.

In this section we will discuss:


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