Compiles 250 specific policy options for reducing federal spending or increasing revenues in a wide variety of programs. It is intended to help policymakers maintain budgetary discipline and accomplish related policy goals. Part One includes more than 200 options for reducing spending, organized by the functional categories of the budget. Part Two presents more than 50 options for generating revenues. The report concludes with an appendix listing the scorekeeping guidelines used to enforce the discretionary spending limits and pay-as-you-go requirement of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (as amended). Charts and tables.

Fiscal discipline is essential to improve and sustain economic performance, maintain macroeconomic stability, and reduce vulnerabilities. Discipline is especially important if countries, industrial as well as developing, are to successfully meet the challenges, and reap the benefits, of economic and financial globalization. Lack of fiscal discipline generally stems from the injudicious use of policy discretion. The benefits of discretion are seen in terms of the ability of policymakers to respond to unexpected shocks and in allowing elected political representatives to fulfill their mandates. But discretion can be misused, resulting in persistent deficits and procyclical policies, rising debt levels, and, over time, a loss in policy credibility. The authors first explore the role of discretion in fiscal policy, and the extent, consequences, and causes of procyclicality, particularly in good times. They then examine how a variety of institutional approaches—fiscal rules, fiscal responsibility laws, and fiscal agencies—can help improve fiscal discipline. While each of these approaches can play a useful role, the authors suggest that a strategy combining them is likely to be particularly beneficial. Although such a strategy requires political commitment and effective fiscal management, at the same time, the strategy itself can bolster political commitment by highlighting the restraints on government and raising the costs of failing to respect them.

Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.

This paper defines and explains key stages of the government expenditure chain and describes the controls applied at each stage, including their objectives and key features as well as centralized vs. decentralized approaches in application of those controls. The paper also examines the influence of different administrative traditions on types of expenditure controls, including the authority and responsibility of various institutional actors. Finally, it discusses typical weaknesses/problems associated with different traditions of expenditure control and suggests specific measures for strengthening the control framework. While providing examples of expenditure control practices from more than 32 countries, the paper points out that more than two-thirds of the 85 low and middle income countries covered by the publicly available Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments have weak systems of expenditure control that are also associated with higher levels of expenditure arrears and a lack of budget credibility. This paper will help public financial management practitioners to evaluate budget execution systems and identify priorities for strengthening expenditure controls. It will also usefully guide technical assistance work related to modernization of government budget execution and expenditure control systems, including the design and implementation of IT-based financial management information systems.

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed an influx of innovations and reforms in public financial management. The current wave of reforms is markedly different from those in the past, owing to the sheer number of innovations, their widespread adoption, and the sense that they add up to a fundamental change in the way governments manage public money. This book takes stock of the most important innovations that have emerged over the past two decades, including fiscal responsibility legislation, fiscal rules, medium-term budget frameworks, fiscal councils, fiscal risk management techniques, performance budgeting, and accrual reporting and accounting. Not merely a handbook or manual describing practices in the field, the volume instead poses critical questions about innovations; the issues and challenges that have appeared along the way, including those associated with the global economic crisis; and how the ground can be prepared for the next generation of public financial management reforms. Watch Video of Book Launch

Managing Public Expenditure presents a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of all aspects of public expenditure management from the preparation of the budget to the execution, control and audit stages.