Accrual Budgeting: Experiences of Other Nations and Implications for the United States

摘要

The federal budget serves as the primary financial plan of the federal government. Although budget decisions are inherently based on political choice, the method of budget reporting plays an important role by determining the information available and incentives provided to policymakers. Further, because the budget process serves as a key point of accountability, the way costs are measured in the budget can have significant consequences for managerial incentives. Therefore, choices about the method of budget reporting represent much more than technical decisions about how to measure cost; rather they reflect fundamental choices about the controls and incentives to be provided by the decision-making process.