Review Memo One
Name
Institution
Review Memo One
Summary
In the first place, the memo introduces the main concept behind it; essentially the financial crisis in the town. The main causes of the crisis are the shutdown of the automobile plant and the national financial crisis leading to massive loss of jobs and difficulty in finding new ones. As such, the town manager requests for proposals that will necessitate a speedy 3-5 years recovery. From the set of proposals presented by the various teams, the political leadership will instigate the necessary actions as proposed.
In order to manage the process of gathering the right data and get the right information, the teams will be allowed to access the budget briefing books. In this case, the books will assist the teams in determining the most troubling problems in the town’s finances in such a manner that their budgets will be revised. By using what the team members know, the teams are advised to apply the budget knowledge and own experiences to find out the needs of the budgets with the current needs of the town. Additionally, the teams are advised to analyze the obligations of the town that are most essential and that should be entitled in the proposed budget.
Importantly, the teams should analyze some town departments and recommend ways of reducing the ways of spending. Further, the teams should present a proposal to the council on ways and means of reducing the budget by 13% in the recommendations through the findings. Essentially, the elimination of the budget needs to be done within a span of three years.
Challenges and Opportunities
Mainly, the problem has some very good opportunities for the team members. Firstly, they will be able to undergo a realistic process that will lead to the application of recognizable theoretical knowledge in the budgeting process. Such knowledge is very important in the event that the people will need to look for similar or other opportunities in the same field. Secondly, through the process, one will be required to analyze the financial documentation of the town, giving an insight into how governments are run. For future, some of this information is essential for it can give someone an opportunity to run the financial departments of the town. In the case that a proposal is selected as a feasible one, there is a direct opportunity for the members to be involved in realistic implementation.
Various challenges are expected, however. Firstly, confidential disclosure of pertinent information may not be possible leading to loopholes in analysis. Considering that the teams involved are external to the operations of the town, there might be a problem in accessing some of the essential documents that might be required; for instance, the expenditure process.
Depending on the manner that the budget proposals will be assessed there might be a conflict in selection of the right procedures to use. Ter Bogt, Van Helden, and Van Der Kolk, (2015) assert that various principles are applicable in determining performance; differentiation of standard and complex programs, focus on relevance of programs in a political way and differentiating various performance information terms. As such, the authors noted that application of such a system appeared great but formal application of the system remained impractical. In essence, choice of whatever system the teams will come up with is one of the most complex problems expected.
Reference
Ter Bogt, H. J., Van Helden, G. J., & Van Der Kolk, B. (2015). Challenging the NPM Ideas About Performance Management: Selectivity and Differentiation in Outcome‐Oriented Performance Budgeting. Financial Accountability & Management, 31(3), 287-315.