Line-item budgeting is the most widely used approach because of its simplicity and its control
orientation. The criticism is that line-item budgeting presents little useful information to decision
makers on the functions and activities of organizational units. The performance approach is
generally considered superior to the line-item approach because it provides more useful
information for administrators (Shafritz & Hyde, 2017). The performance approach does not
necessarily evaluate the appropriateness of program activities in relation to an organization's
goals or the quality of its services or outputs. Program budgeting differs from the first two
approaches because it places less emphasis on control and evaluation. Some conditions can limit
the implementation of this approach, including changes in long-term goals, a lack of consensus
regarding the fundamental objectives of the organization, and the difficulty of administering
programs that involve several organizational units. The basic tenet of Zero-Based Budgeting
(ZBB) is that program activities and services must be justified annually during the budget
development process. A minimum level of service for certain programs may be legislated
regardless of the results of the review process. Incremental budgeting takes last year’s actual
figures and adds or subtracts a percentage to obtain the current year’s budget. It is the most
common type of budget because it is simple and easy to understand. This method is likely to
have a problem with being efficient and could give the appearance that the organization is always
under budget (Schmidt, 2023).
The preference of budgets for myself and my family is a line-item budget. We set out with our
income credits and then forecast what are debts will be to include our retirement and emergency
savings. We do not expect extra income from bonuses or travel pay and just add that to one of the
line items as it is received into our bank account. Christians have a responsibility to be good
stewards of what God has provided to us. He has also appointed those in administration, and they
have that same responsibility to the public (Christian Standard Bible, 2020, Romans 13:1). We
should be in continual prayer for those who have the daunting task of stewardship.
Dual federalism is when two levels of government function separately, such as the state level
of government functions separately from the federal level. Cooperative federalism is when
governments of different jurisdictions work together. Creative federalism gives the federal
government the ability to decide the needs of the states and then offer them the necessary
resources. New federalism is when the states took their power back from the federal government
to restore balance of power. Each of these types of federalism connect to budgeting through
performance and effectiveness. The government has seen success with its adoption of
performance-based budgeting in states, local governments, and other nations while also adopting
budgeting systems that were designed to connect the effectiveness of federal programs to
recourse allocation (Shafritz & Hyde, 2018).
WORD COUNT 483
Refernces
Christian Standard Bible. (2020). Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. (Original work published
2017).
Schmidt,. Jeff. (2023). Types of Budgets. Corporate Finance Institute.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/fpa/types-of-budgets-budgeting-methods,
accessed October 3, 2023.
Shafritz, J., & Hyde, A. (2017). Classic of Public Administration. Boston: Cengage Learning.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/fpa/types-of-budgets-budgeting-methods,
accessed October 3, 2023.
Joshua,
I enjoyed reading your post. You recommended the zero-based budget (ZBB) as the way to go
at the federal level. This type of budget is used in the private sector for reasons ranging from
improving profitability to slow growth in the industry. The emphasis on scrutinizing every dollar
spent is where the appeal of implementing ZBB lies. Companies that need to make faster
decisions and find smarter business models are turning to ZBB for its structured approach to cost
management and the subsequent opportunity to reinvest the savings into their business. No
government agency has implemented ZBB for an extended period of time, as budget managers
find it too laborious to go through the process of justifying every program and service on a
yearly basis. Governments in the U.S. and Canada have chosen to adopt ZBB for short periods
ranging from four to eight-year cycles, or as a tool to analyze programs and services outside of
the budgeting process. Those government agencies have been able to determine priorities,
streamline programs and services, and reduce costs. (Questica, 2019).
The ZBB first rose to prominence in U.S. government during the 1970s financial crisis.
President Jimmy Carter was faced with mounting pressure and promised to balance the federal
budget and reform the federal budgeting system using ZBB, which he had used while governor
of Georgia (Deloitte, 2015).
Blessings!
Dan
WORD COUNT 224
Deloitte. (2015). Zero-Based Budgeting: Zero or Hero?
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/risk/us-risk-zbb.pdf, accessed
October 9, 2023.
Questica. (2019). Zero-based Budgeting for Government Agencies.
https://questica.com/news/zero-based-budgeting-for-government-agencies, accessed October 9,
2023.
Russell,
Thanks for your post on budgets and the federal government. Your recommendation on what
type of budget reminded me of how the Department of Defense (DOD) operates their budget.
The DOD Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) system is a strategic
planning process for allocating resources among the military departments, defense agencies, and
other components. The process serves as a framework for DOD civilian and military leaders to
decide which programs to fund based on strategic objectives and produces the department’s
portion of the President’s annual budget request. Congress created a commission to study the
effectiveness of the process in view of concerns over the pace at which the U.S. military is
fielding commercially driven advances in software and other emerging technologies, such as
hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, and 5G mobile technologies (McGarry, 2022).
The commission published its interim report about reforming the Pentagon's budgeting system
amid criticisms about inflexibility, a lack of agility, risk aversion, and excessive workload
(Cancian, 2023). Noteworthy is the fact that the commission did not recommend starting fresh
with something entirely new but instead proposed a variety of fixes that would offer Congress a
workable solution. The commission made a wide variety of useful recommendations for training,
staffing, and information technologies.
Blessings!
Dan
WORD COUNT 206
Cancian, Mark F. (2023). Reforming the Pentagon’s Budgeting System: Can DOD and Congress
Strike a Deal? Center for Strategic and International Studies.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/reforming-pentagons-budgeting-system-can-dod-and-congress-
strike-deal, accessed October 9, 2023.
McGarry, Brendan W. (2022). DOD Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE):
Overview and Selected Issues for Congress. Congressional Research Service.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47178, accessed October 9, 2023.
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