CHAPTER 21 Budgeting
CP 21–5 (FIN MAN); CP 6–5 (MAN)
a. The amount of actual expenditures was less than budget for the first 10 months of
the budget year. As the end of the budget year-end neared, the manager spent the
remaining excess budget and, as a result, went over the budget for May and June.
The amount spent for the year was equal to the total amount budgeted because
b. The budget system encourages this type of wasteful behavior. The budget could
be redesigned in a number of ways. The budget could be designed to flex with
underlying activity and adjusted monthly. Thus, the manager would always have
budgeted resources for changes in underlying activity. For example, if the number
of prisoners in the jail increased, then the budget would increase proportionately.
A manager with the flexible budget would be less likely to “reserve” the budget
portion of the unspent budget of a previous year. Such a system would reward
departmental thrift by allowing the department to keep a portion of the savings for
future needs. This would reduce the need for aggressive year-end spending because
a portion of the unspent amount could roll forward to the next year. This would
cause the manager to spend money when needed, not just to avoid the year-end