This course examines the importance of governmental budgeting and explains the federal budget processes for the executive and legislative branches. It will familiarize you with the role of the federal budget in national economic policy, and explore how governments use taxes and other means to acquire and dispense resources. You will consider the relationships between budgeting and financial management, public policy, and politics. The course examines the different processes at the enterprise level (entire nation or entire state), agency level, and program level. While this course places an emphasis on budgeting and financial management in the federal government, it also includes numerous examples from the state and local levels of government as well as related to the nonprofit sector.

This course was developed by Albert C. Hyde, a Senior Scholar in Residence at American University. He is the author or editor of numerous public administration textbooks, including the forthcoming eighth edition of Classics of Public Administration. Hyde was a senior staff member and staff consultant at the Brookings Institution from 1997 to 2009. Before starting his academic career, he was a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department and a senior associate with the New York State Legislative Commission on Expenditure Review.

Course objectives:

• Understand federal budget processes for the executive and legislative branches
• Analyze technical budget articles and explain budgeting concepts
• Define various types of government revenue and spending and the factors driving that revenue and spending
• Compare and contrast government deficits and federal and state debt 
• Critically examine political budget proposals and determine their probable financial impact

Topics covered in this course include:

• Budgeting terms
• Mandatory vs. discretionary spending
• Federal debt and debt limit
• Strategic planning, budget, and performance integration
• The legislative budget and appropriations process
• Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the president’s budget documents
• Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis
• Tax expenditures, balanced budgets, unfunded mandates, and trust funds
• Capital budget writing and reviewing
• Budget justifications
• Budget execution and the alignment of budgeting, politics, and public policy

Learn more today. Call us at 855-725-7614 to speak to an admissions representative or request more information here.