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Sometimes regarded as the best method of prioritizing budgetary expenditures, Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) was introduced into China in the early 1990s and systematically adopted since the recent budgeting reform although it has experienced numerous failures in many countries. This study examines ZBB as practiced in Hubei province in China. In Hubei, although the reformers are intended to create ZBB as a general budgeting framework, eventually, it was a Chinese style Target-Based Budgeting (TBB) rather than ZBB that has been put into place. Interestingly, ZBB has not disappeared but is deliberately applied to budgetary decisions of one type of expenditures under the Chinese style TBB. However, even in the field where ZBB is practiced, its achievements are at best moderate. The Chinese experiment of ZBB presents something new not only for the theory of ZBB but also for the budgeting literature.

This article reports key findings from a comprehensive survey concerning budgeting within UK hotels. A postal questionnaire was sent to company finance directors. The results are based on 44 companies representing a 45.4 per cent response rate. It considered many aspects of budgeting policies and procedures such as: why they use budgets; who is involved in the process; for what time period they produce budgets; the use made of flexible budgets and zero‐based budgeting techniques; and how budgets are used in the control process. Key results indicate that the main use of budgeting was to evaluate performance and aid control. In producing budgets the bottom‐up approach was most commonly used, but not as widely as in the USA. Zero‐based budgeting and flexible budgeting techniques seemed under‐utilised. As 59 per cent of organizations did not review their budgeting policies and procedures on a routine basis it is possible organizations could be making better use of their budgets to aid the organization. It might also be possible that some theoretical techniques are not appropriate in an hospitality environment.

This article evaluates quantitatively the impact of four common budget approaches on disaggregated United States state spending data in the 1990s. Pooled time series cross sectional data of the 50 states is used to test the impact of incremental, program, zero-based, and performance-based budgeting on the dependent variables state total and functional expenditures. The results demonstrated that there was support for all of these approaches in terms of their impact on state budget outputs. These findings imply that budget decision-making should focus more on a system-wide approach, which takes into account many of the characteristics of these rival models, rather than exclusively focusing on each one singly. A possible suggestion is a hybrid form of budgeting, which is a combination of incremental and rational approaches.

This paper explains how library budgets can be cut in ways that are quick and unexpected. The purpose of this paper is to provide reasoning for these cuts with strategies for mediation and avoidance.

By understanding the intricacies of three unique types of phantom cuts, library managers can keep their budgets secure and even win additional monies moving forward.

Budgets can be cut through sound library fiscal management, large‐scale restructuring, or swift reaction to unexpected losses in revenue. Keeping the philosophy of the library as the best centerpiece for the potential for learning is the proper method to retain funding.

This paper shows sound fiscal management as a potential danger to managerial rewards for sound judgement, and introduces the reader to various aspects of zero‐based budgeting and strategic moves for handling complex fiscal change.

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the influence of contextual factors on public financial management reform (PFMR) process. It provides a comprehensive analytical view of PFMR in the UAE over the period (2003-2016).

The paper is based on a case study approach as a research methodology. It draws on archival data as well as interviews with key staff of the Ministry of Finance (MoF). A contingency model is used as conceptual framework to examine PFMR in the UAE.

Finding of this study show that the PFMR process cannot be viewed as an isolated initiative, rather, as part of a set of broader NPM reforms to strengthen public accountability for performance. The transition process creates major organisational changes; strategy, structure (new rules and roles), culture (core values about organisational vision, mission, and objectives). Benchmarks and milestones have been set in the accompanying monitoring matrix, though in practice, delays have typically occurred in the implementation of reforms. Challenges ahead facing the MoF are addressed.

The findings should be understood in the economic, social and historical contexts of the UAE. Given the narrow scope of this paper, a single case study was conducted. Crucial themes for future research including how public sector executives employ effective independent measures of outcomes. The impact of basic supporting subsystems in translating strategic priorities and integrating them into the federal budget.

Research on PFMR is inherently practical. Essential factors for successful implantation of PFMR include government strategy, regulatory framework, information communication technology, technical experience, strong leadership, long-term political and administrative commitments, strategic pre-decision control mechanisms and accurate performance measurement.

This paper contributes to the limited studies on PFMR in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. Lessons of this study may be valid for other countries considering similar developments in their PFMR.

The literature on budget preparation is almost redundant in pointing out that librarians insist on sticking with the line‐item format despite evidence that it is the least effective means of developing the library's case for support. Perhaps we don't make the shift because we lack the understanding of the four major budgeting techniques — line item, program, performance, and zero‐based — and thus can't evaluate their usefulness to our institutions.

The knowledge base in public budgeting has certainly grown during the twentieth century, but the most enduring features of public budgeting were developed or documented in the first half of the century. The line item budget is still the dominant format in government budgeting; incremental adjustment to the previous year’s allocation is still the dominant budget process. Later developments in public budgeting, like planning-programming-budgeting system (PPBS), management by objective (MBO), zero-based budgeting (ZBB), and performance budgeting have had very little enduring impact on the practice of budgeting, largely because they reflected presidential attitudes about the role of government in society rather than theoretical advances in budgeting.

The purpose of this article is to provide information about many different budgeting systems that are used to allocate resources to libraries.

A number of methods of resource allocation are reviewed. The types of budgeting covered are incremental line‐item, formula, mathematical, zero‐based, program (including planning, programming, and budgeting systems), performance‐based, responsibility center, block‐incremental, and initiative‐based.

There are numerous types of budgeting systems and each of them functions differently.

There are many variations of each of these basic types of budgeting systems. As a result, this article reviews the most prominent ones.

This is a very useful source of finding out the fundamentals of each of the basic kinds of budgeting systems. In addition, the article gives many references for finding out more about each of these methods.

This paper covers the various types of budgeting systems. This allows librarians to better understand the budgeting system they deal with so that they might better work with it to maximize their library's funding.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into budgetary practice in UK‐based hotel organizations and an update on previous survey work in this area. The research aims to cover a broad range of budgeting issues, including: the process used in setting budgets, monitoring and review of the budgetary processes, and the human aspects of the budgeting process.

This research used a census‐based questionnaire of hotel organizations' finance directors. The questionnaire consisted of mainly closed questions, with opportunities for further explanation to be given. Statistical analysis tools included Chi‐square tests, Spearman's Rank Coefficient, and ANOVA.

The paper finds that the key reason organizations produce budgets are to aid control, evaluate performance and aid planning. Neither the top‐down, bottom‐up or combination approaches to budgeting dominated in the UK. The results showed a higher rate of the top‐down approach in the UK, compared to previous surveys in other countries. Budgets were generally viewed as the main performance indicator in hotel organizations. There is little use of flexible budgeting, budget committees or budget manuals in the hotel industry. The “human aspects” of budgeting identified some interesting contradictions such as the belief that participation is key in budgeting working, yet there is a lack of participation in practice, most significantly amongst hotel department managers.

Limited information as to budgetary practice in hotels has previously been published, particularly related to the UK. This survey and further findings from the broader research project it is part of identify hotel industry budgetary practice. This aids identifying change over time and provides an invaluable insight into how budgets are used in the industry.