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A collection of original essays by specialists in the field, this book examines the crucial budgetary and financial management problems that face the United States government and makes concrete recommendations on how current processes can be improved. The authors make it clear that although the present federal budgetary and financial management systems are not working, the case is far from hopeless.
Several chapters analyze the flaws in the federal budget-making process that lead to deadlock between the president and Congress and ultimately to higher deficits. To remove the checks and balances system from its present political stalemate, a workable two-stage budgetary process is suggested and bipartisan action at the highest level is strongly urged. Another chapter explains the context in which forecasting is used in federal government budget making and addresses the problem of the failure to predict the yearly budget deficit with reasonable accuracy. Proposals for improving public financial management include centralizing financial management functions, improving debt collection practices, eliminating deficiencies in the application of information technology, and privatizing entities such as the postal service, AMTRAK, and Social Security. Providing clarification of complex issues together with constructive approaches to reform, this book will be of interest to both general readers and scholars, students, and professionals concerned with government, public policy, and financial management.
List of contents
Introduction: Call for Reform by Thomas D. Lynch
Presidential Power and the Budget by Joseph White
Coordination of Budgeting by Ralph Bledsoe
Delay, Deadlock, and Deficits: Evaluating Proposals for Congressional Budget Reform by James A. Thurber and Samantha L. Durst
Federal Budget Making: A Bipartisan Failure by Thomas D. Lynch
Forecasting and the Federal Budget by John Forrester
Recent Developments in Federal Accounting and Financial Management by Ronald Points
Federal Financial Management by W. Bartley Hildreth
Data Processing in Federal Budgeting and Financial Management by Stanley B. Botner
Privatization and Federal Budget Reform by Lawrence L. Martin
Conclusion: Addressing the Problem by Thomas D. Lynch
Index
About the author
THOMAS D. LYNCH is Professor of Public Administration at Florida Atlantic University. He is Vice President of the American Society for Public Administration and will be its President in 1992-93. He has written many books and articles, but he is primarily known for Public Budgeting in America which is in its third edition and co-editor of Handbook on Public Budgeting and Financial Management. He founded and edited for ten years The Bureaucrat.
