Managing public resources: Budget execution

Much of the budgeting literature has focused on the questions of ‘how’ budgets are prepared and ‘how’ budget decisions are made. Minimal attention has been directed to ‘how’ budgets are executed. This paper focuses on this issue with special emphasis on state government budget execution processes. The paper provides an overview of the similarities and differences of state and federal budget execution followed, by an assessment of how state balanced budget requirements place special responsibilities on state budget offices to monitor ‘within’ budget execution year expenditures and revenues. Actions which may be taken to insure that state budgets are balanced are discussed. These actions are enumerated and analyzed in terms of legislative and executive branch authority and responsibility shifts.