On January 14, 2015 the Local Finance Board (LFB), which is part of the Division of Local Government Services, adopted regulations that require municipalities in the State of New Jersey to complete on an annual basis a User-Friendly Budget document. As a result of this requirement, as of fiscal year 2015, New Jersey municipalities must submit to the Division of Local Government Services a User-Friendly Budget as part of their annual budget package. Due this requirement, as a member of the Department of Local Government Services, I am developing a strategic research plan for determining whether or not the new requirement to create a User-Friendly Budget is having a positive impact on local government. The proposed research project will analyze …show more content…
These three objectives are: i) to summarize the annual municipal budgets; ii) to display information on key cost drivers; and iii) to better explain the municipal budget’s impact on local property taxes. As described by the LFB, these objectives were adopted to address the fact that local municipality budgets tend to be complicated and confusing and can run upwards of 50 or more pages. Creation of the User-Friendly Budget was intended to result in a simplified presentation of the actual municipal budget. Information included in the User-Friendly Budget consists, among other items, of the tax impact, revenue summary, appropriation summary, structural imbalances, tax assessment, and personnel costs. This information is designed to give citizens a brief understanding of the how a local municipal budget is going to operate based on revenue and expenditures for the coming fiscal year. In creating this research project, a logic model was used to demonstrate the resources, activities and outputs that are necessary in order to analyze the two proposed hypotheses. The resources in each municipality involved in the creation of a User-Friendly budget include the LFB which required the use of User-Friendly Budgets, the local municipal mayor, town council members and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), all of whom create the budget, and local citizens who provide this group feedback on any proposed budget. Consequently, these are the resources that must be involved in the analysis of the two
Budget management analysis is used by mangers as a tool and helps determine that all resources available are being used efficiently. The budgets are determined yearly and are based upon the previous year’s budget and variances. This paper will discuss specific strategies to manage budgets within forecast, compare five to seven expense results with budget expectations, describe possible reasons for variances, give strategies to keep results aligned with expectations, recommend three benchmarking techniques, and identify those that might improve budget accuracy, and justify the choices made.
For example interest rates, the cost of raw materials including fuel, the number of sales or orders that we make and in turn all of these rely on other factors. The best therefore that can be done when developing a budget is to look at all the factors that are likely to affect the budget and decide how to take account of each one. If there is a previous budget (last year or last month) then it is sensible to look at how this has been achieved or not as the case may be, and what factors affected the outcome. If we are looking at monthly budgets it might be a better comparison to look at the same month twelve months ago as well as the previous months. The more factors we take into consideration when estimating a budget, the more accurate our budget will be.
The budget process is a powerful planning tool for government to make important resource decisions. According the Carney and Schoenfeld‘s article on How to read a Budget, an operating budget is a reflection of government’s financial plans. When a budget is
This memo is to serve as description of how the economy can impact projections related to revenues and expenditures in regards to the city budget. Several examples will be provided including explanations on why these items can have a tumultuous effect on the city budget. These examples include the effect property taxes and income taxes had on our fiscal stability as well as how even with proper accounting and financial reporting, the budget still fell victim to the economy.
Budgeting is perhaps the most essential process involved in the United States government. While this process seems to exist only in the background, it is, in reality, what allows all other processes of government to function as they do. In order to satisfy the most necessities of modern society, changes must be made to each of the three major categories of the budget: the big five, the middle five, and the little guys.
The budget for the city of San Clemente has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards from the Government Finance Officers Association for the past 17 years. Not surprisingly, considering those honors, the city's budget is organized in a manner largely consistent with the guidelines we have learned in this course.
5. How would you identify timescales, priorities and financial resources when preparing a budget? [2.3]
The financial health and welfare of Thurston County is dependent upon establishing and maintaining sound budgetary principles and strategies for implementation. These financial principles will govern the development and administration of budgets for all county offices and departments. The County is to prepare fiscal and capital budgets that are to be balanced to be able to forecasted, which are to be consistent with approved strategic goals and capital improvement goals. Each county office and department will periodically seek to use citizen feedback in the development of the internal strategic plans to develop the high priorities for Thurston County government. For each department, resources are made available that will remain aligned with the strategic planning and priorities developed with the public input. Thurston County will create and maintain a reserve for the general fund that is equal to one month of the budget annual expenditures. The reserve will serve the purpose of the financial stabilization account to safeguard against possible revenue shortages
This research paper is a brief discussion of budget management analysis. Budgeting is the key to financial management, and is the key to translates an organization goals or plan into money. Budgeting is a rough estimate of how much a company will need to get their work done, and provides the basis for evaluating performance, a source of motivation, coordinating business activities, a tool for management communication and instructions to employees. Without a budget an organization would be like a driver, driving blinded without instructions or any sense of direction, that’s how important a budget is to every organization and individual likewise (Clark, 2005).
Budgets serve five main purposes; planning, facilitating communication and coordination, allocating resources, controlling profits and operations and evaluating performance and providing incentives. The budgeting process requires both technical and interpersonal leadership skills to achieve each of these purposes effectively. The director’s memo demonstrates several short comings in the budgeting process. The director instituted the “responsibility accounting system” as a means of evaluating performance. However, the DPW director has not consulted Sam in the budget process. Sam understands that his total expenditures are impacted by relatively unpredictable events that contribute to an uncontrollable element of his cost. The
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) budget criteria framework covers 27 budgeting categories and was launched in 1984 to encourage the preparation of high quality budgets (Bland, 211). The following memo evaluates the budget of the City of Lake Oswego using GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Criteria, and also compares it to the budget of the City of Detroit.
A budget can be disadvantageous also. There is judgment and subjectivity in the budgeting process. It does not consider quality and customer service. Budgets can be seen as pressure devices imposed by management, thus resulting in: bad labour relations. Budget could results departmental conflict arises due to disputes over resource allocation, and departments blaming each other if targets are not attained. It is difficult to reconcile personal and corporate goals
Estiville FD will implement a line-item budgeting system. This type of system requires revenue and expenditures to be equal to balance. The City’s Finance Director will manage the overall system, but the Fire Chief will direct day-to-day operations. The Finance Director for accountability purposes will give statements to the Fire Chief on the fifth of every month, showing percentages and monies used to date. All purchases from the previous months will be included on the statements. It is the goal of EFD to remain fiscally responsible throughout the budget year. The Finance Manager will perform quarterly reviews and any
Our entity, People’s Network and Media Communications (PNMC) is a media organization that operates dual media service, CNN Headline Publication (Headline Ngayon National Newspaper), and Kastigo Aksyon @ Balita aired every Tuesday and Thursday at 2pm-3pm thereafter, over DWBL1242KHz and AM Band.