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How does the era of austerity affect flexibility and control in budget implementation? The execution phase of the budget has remained underexplored in the budgeting literature. Theoretically, a crisis and austerity period may trigger changes in budget execution in one of two key directions: either toward greater control or greater flexibility. This paper seeks to uncover which outcome is more likely.

The authors conducted elite interviews of key officials involved in the budget execution phases in two European countries: Portugal and Austria.

The cases demonstrate that the experience of a fiscal crisis and period of austerity tend to lead to greater control and constrained flexibility in budget execution.

The execution phase of the budget process has remained underexplored in the public budgeting literature, and there has been only limited discussion on how the experience of austerity affects it. This empirical study of Portugal and Austria helps to shed light on that question.

Much of the budgeting literature has focused on the questions of “how” budgets are prepared and “how” budget decisions are made. Minimal attention has been directed to “how” budgets are executed. This paper focuses on this issue with special emphasis on state government budget execution processes. The paper provides an overview of the similarities and differences of state and federal budget execution follows by an assessment of how state balanced budget requirements place special responsibilities on state budget offices to monitor “within” budget execution year expenditures and revenues. Actions which may be taken to insure that state budgets are balanced are discussed. These actions are enumerated and analyzed in terms of legislative and executive branch authority and responsibility shifts.

To modernize budgeting system is a challenge issue in many developing countries. To some scholars (Schick, 1998a, 1998b; Ma, 2009a), developing countries must first put into place basic budgetary controls before moving to more advanced models of budgeting. This approach of “basic first,” however, is questioned by others (e.g., Andrew, 2006). Drawing on China's recent budget reforms, this essay reconfirms the validity of the “basics first” approach. In China, budget reform since 1999 has begun to install budgetary controls for state finance, leading to an enhancement of budgeting capacity and financial accountability. However, governments at the same time have begun to be plagued by the unexpected problem of delays in spending and the accumulation of significant underexpenditures. Contrary to what many people may believe, we contend that this somewhat odd problem arises not because the new budgeting system has exercised too much control but rather because the new system is not yet effective in exerting budgetary controls.

This chapter defines the prospects of treasury technologies considering the current financial environment in Russia. The purpose of this chapter is to justify the promising treasury technologies, which improve the quality of budget flows’ management. The authors highlight the mission, role, and values of treasury institute. The evaluation of its functional activity and efficiency as well as the world experience in the development of the institution is provided. Comparative analysis of treasury technology for the implementation of foreign budgets with domestic practice is provided. The need for development of treasury technologies providing the liquidity of “single treasury account” is justified. This chapter suggests expanding the positive experience of the Federal Treasury using treasury technologies to ensure the efficient use of budgetary funds on both, regional and local levels.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of budgeting and accounting bases and their relation to financial accounting reporting systems through a comparative survey of three South-Eastern European countries (Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Entity of the Republic of Srpska).

The in-depth analysis based on the study of related literature and comprehensive review of existing indicators of accounting systems leads to the identification and characterization of the most important components of the government accounting systems’ focusing also on the information usefulness in the decision-making processes.

Dual reporting based on different bases is the main feature of the accounting information system of selected countries. Budgetary reports based on a cash basis represent the primary source of information for decision making. Selected jurisdictions started with the preparation and presentation of financial reports based on the accrual/modified accrual basis which was not the result of the informational needs of decision-makers, so the information themselves have become their own purpose.

By exploring the opportunities and obstacles in the implementation of the accrual basis in the selected countries, the paper contributes to the development of the EPSAS project.

This paper contributes to the literature on the application of various budgeting and accounting bases, with an emphasis on research of the similarities and differences of the reporting methods, for the purpose of distinguishing more easily two basic types of reports and, consequently, identifying their appropriate use.

The purpose of this paper is to explore financial governance as practiced by NGOs in Ghana and further examines the determinants of the financial governance structures of the NGOs. The study specifically investigates which organizational‐level characteristics exhibit any link whatsoever with governance as it relates to budget preparation, budget execution and internal controls and budget monitoring.

Using a questionnaire to conduct the survey, a cross‐sectional regression analysis was executed.

The findings of the study indicate that the most positively influential factor in explaining an NGO's adoption of a governance framework is its size. The other variables, organizational age and independence, are not significant across all three financial governance proxies and when they prove significant, the effect is negative.

The findings hold important policy implications and especially so for countries that attract significant funding via relatively small‐sized NGOs.

The budget has traditionally been viewed as playing an essential role in management control. However, recently it has become the subject of intense critique. The critiques concern the way budgets are used as well as the fundamental drawbacks of the budgeting process. At the same time, a number of studies provided evidence that budgets are still being used in most organizations. Responding to the call for more examination of these issues against empirical evidence, this chapter studies contemporary budgeting practices in the case of a Russian oil company.

The chapter is heavily based on primary data collected from the interviews with company representatives. Secondary data collected from public sources was used as well. The empirical description is organized around a monthly budgeting process adopted in one subsidiary of the case company. The description is presented from the perspective of the financial department of the subsidiary company.

The study concludes that, in spite of all the critiques, budgeting is widely used in the Russian oil company. It is extensively used for control purposes, and the main focus of budgetary control is put on a transactional level.

The chapter traces the budgeting process currently adopted in one of the Russian oil corporations. This contributes to research evidence on Russian companies, an area which has previously received little attention from researchers and provides evidence supporting the view of budgeting as continuing to play an important role in many organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the processes of management accounting change (MAC) in the Jordanian Customs Organization (JCO) within its social context following public sector reforms. It focuses on the regulative way in which a new accounting system of government financial management information system (GFMIS) was implemented throughout three levels of an institutional framework.

The paper uses an interpretive case study in which the GFMIS was imposed by the government. It draws on a framework that comprises three institutional approaches: old institutional economics; new institutional sociology; and power mobilization.

In the JCO case, the GFMIS contributed effectively to the development of a comprehensive approach to the preparation of the budget while it works to facilitate the estimated process of expenditures and revenues. The study recognizes that the implementation of GFMIS may have emerged primarily as a response to external political and economic pressures. The MAC was carried out in the “from-top-to-bottom” level of institutional analysis, which confirms the “path-dependent” and evolutionary nature of the change. It concludes that the evolutionary MAC in the JCO case study was not only a decorative innovation in management accounting, but was also represented in the working practices. It has produced comprehensive and timely information about strategic planning, chart of accounts and classification of assets, liabilities, and revenues and expenses at all levels of management and programs. The study also confirms that management accounting is not a static phenomenon but one that changes over time to reflect new systems and practices.

The need for having an integrated GFMIS in the authors’ case arises from two key dimensions: increasing pressures from the International Monetary Fund to improve fiscal management and reporting, and the government needs to respond to the demand of better information disclosure. GFMIS has provided an integrated solution for public financial management through the automation of the entire life cycle of budget preparation, budget execution, and financial reporting. The system operates across all budget organizations to ensure transparency and accountability in all public resources transactions, including allocation, use, and monitoring. Hence, it has important implications for policy decision makers through linking all budget organizations, for the purposes of supporting the process of decision making in an informed manner. The study has important implications for the ways in which change dynamics can emerge, diffuse, and implement at three levels of institutional analysis. It also explains the interaction between the external origins and internal accounts, which identified that GFMIS is both shaped by, and is shaping, wider socio-economic and political processes.

This study fills a gap in the literature, as it explains the processes of MAC associated with the introduction of GFMIS in the JCO within its social context. It recognizes the institutional pressures that affected the emergence and diffusion of GFMIS and how they interacted through three levels of institutional analysis.

In the past, the field of public libraries proved to be a neglected area of government in terms of allocating handsome budgets for adequate services and developing infrastructure. The aim of this research is (1) to understand the level of library professionals and associated challenges in the preparation and implementation of the budget in public libraries and (2) to analyze the annual grand and regular library budget allocated to public libraries.

A comprehensive literature search was carried out from work published in the past – the quantitative study based on a structured research questionnaire followed by the five-point Likert scale. The primary data were collected by distributing printed questionnaires among the library professionals serving in the directorate of public libraries and its suboffices. The secondary data “Budget Grand” for seven years (2009–2015) and the regular budget for two years (2015–2016) were collected from seven public libraries, and data on the district population and literacy rate were obtained from the provincial bureau of statistics. The authors used the one-way ANOVA on primary data to determine the average difference between samples and descriptive statistics on secondary data.

Survey results show that budgeting is a useful tool for predicting the future, controlling resources and improving employee performance and departmental levels. The findings disclosed that the annual budget review includes guidelines for implementation without adequate discussion and guidance for overcoming challenges. In addition to increasing print and database resources, currency fluctuations, unfair resource allocation and budgeting processes proved to be a potential obstacle to the execution of the library budget. Moreover, library material usage and regular membership are decreasing compared to literacy rates in each district of the province. It also turned out that the limited resources in a library compared to the population and the insufficient budget for operation, maintenance and other library processes posed another challenge for the administration.

The results, which are based on the primary data of experts and the secondary data on the library budget, can help the directorate of public libraries to push ahead with budgetary reforms and overcome challenges.

This article outlines some basic steps for librarians, publishers and sellers to cope with changes caused by currency fluctuations and falling budget pressures. Given the regional population, literacy gaps and the current state of libraries, the results could also cause the government to expand the public library network across the province.

The study builds upon the qualitative method using a questionnaire and on the secondary data for an in-depth understanding of the whole budgetary process. This comprehensive coverage of the budgeting process provides professionals with useful information in preparing a balanced budget for public libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze late disbursements for service delivery by focusing on donors’ General Budget Support disbursement to Tanzania and on the intergovernmental money flows in Tanzania.

The authors examined empirical analysis using statistics of intergovernmental transfers in Tanzania.

This paper shows that such center-local transfers are significantly correlated with the timing of local government expenditures in general and health expenditures in particular. It also shows that development expenditures are more affected than recurrent expenditures by delays in the transfer.

In order to improve service delivery on the ground, the transfers from donors to the central government and from the central government to local governments need to be timely.

The authors examined empirical analysis using statistics of intergovernmental transfers in Tanzania so as to see whether timing of transfers matters or not, which has not been considered thus far.