The hidden process of budgeting: Execution

Despite great attention paid to budget execution in the last decades by practitioners, the academic literature is still largely focused on budget preparation. This article extends the study of budget execution by examining the Department of Defense's main supporting expense account, Operations and Maintenance (O & M). The intent is to show the turbulence that exists in budget execution, while illustrating some of the rules and constraints DOD managers must cope with in this turbulent environment.