Over-spending and under-spending of the public sector budget

Over-spending and under-spending of the public sector budget The over-spending and under-spending of a budget is the positive or negative variance between what was actually spent and what was budgeted. Overspending Budgets overruns are the underestimation of costs and time or by the nonconformity of budget managers with the spending maximum defined in the budget, when projected. There are several explanations for overspending. Sometimes, it is simply bad forecasting on part of the budget manager. There was incomplete information or poor forecasting methods that led to an underestimation and/or unreal optimism of costs, expenses and revenues. Often there is change in scope of the project and costs associated with scope change are neither captured nor covered in the risk mitigation or contingency plan. Funds are allocated to the cost centers for spending, it is controlled. Overspent fund accumulate in arrears. Overruns could also be a result of off-budget spending which not considered part of the budget and is not included in budget totals. Off budget spending is often for political reasons. For example, after a request from President Reagan, Congress placed strategic petroleum reserve spending off-budget in 1982. Instead of using other means to control the deficit raising revenues or cutting spending placing this program off-budget gave the appearance of a smaller deficit, even though the government still needed to finance this spending. Source: Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Historical Tables and Mid-session Review, FY2006. Sometimes the expenditure processes are complicated and difficult. To circumvent this process exceptional procedures are development to speed to the process to release the funds. These exceptional procedures are tolerated by the treasury for politically sensitive expenditures. The procedures are frequently abused and should be discouraged. These procedures are used my officials to order supplies without making a formal request and much later the year un-forecasted invoices appear. Sometime fund are unavailable to make this invoices which leads to generation of arrears for the following year. The compounding of exceptional procedures also has long-term implications, incentivizing spending agencies to go outside the budget system to avoid control altogether. Such procedures are associated with or result in corruption. Often past experiences can lead to overspending. If a department head under spent the previous year and the budget for the following year was lost. The department is highly likely to spend the entire amount for the fear of losing funds for the next year. The way in which performance is reported can have a significant effect on the camaraderie and coordination between departments. If participation of the managers implementing the budget was absent, then managers can blame this for the file to abide by the budget. In addition impact of inflation and a sense of entitlement towards certain funds are also factors to be considered in budget planning. Overruns can be caused by such deficiencies in budget preparation. Under spending Many governments do not spend their full annual budget. The reasons for this under spending can be various and can result in many outcomes. Lack of timely spending or under spending can affect the citizens not receiving essential government services. Certain areas have more economic impacts such as jobs created through the timely initiation of new infrastructure project. Under spending can often obstruct resources from other departments/managers which/who are spending their budget more productively, preventing them to reach their complete potential of success in delivery of the intended service. Under spending in particular year frequently leads to rollovers and modifications in the subsequent years. These modifications are irregular and are cumbersome to be forecasted leaving the department ill-equipped to spend these rollovers. Factors that result in under spending include insufficiencies in budget preparation and project/program planning, unrealistic projections of revenues, poor governance and off-budget spending. Virement is another factor that fuels under spending: It is the transfer of funds from one budget head to another. To achieve efficiency or prevent the need for a supplementary estimate as an under spending from one head may be transferred to another head which has overspending. One problem with unrestricted virement is that managers would inevitably spend al their budget allocation for fear of a budget reduction in the subsequent year. Example: Within the ministry of education budgets are transferred from primary education to higher education it can result in the delay of programs starting in the K-12 grades. Example: The latest un-audited expenditure reports from the National Treasury indicate that R3.48 billion of the national government budget went unspent in 2000/01 financial year- about R1.7billion on both the recurrent and the capital side of the budget. The under spend in provincial government was far greater at R5.5 billion. The latest available data indicate that this picture has not changed significantly in 2001/02. Although the government is moving in the right direction, most initiatives to address under spending appear rather general and details have yet to emerge on how the Treasury will specifically tackle the problem. In the meantime, under-spending seems set to remain with us. Source: Government under spending remains a problem February 2002 By Marritt Claassens and Paul Whelan, Budget Information Service, Idasa, http://www.idasa.org.za/bis/ Different kinds of variances A variance is the difference between a budgeted, planned or standard amount and the actual amount. Variances can be divided according to their nature of the underlying amounts and is determined by the needs of users of the variance information. These include : Variable cost variances Direct material variance Price variance: is the difference between the standard cost and the actual cost for the actual quantity of material used or purchased. Usage Variance: is the difference between the standard quantity of materials that should have been used for the number of units actually produced, and the actual quantity of materials used, valued at the standard cost per unit of material. Direct labour variance Rate Variance is the difference between the standard cost and the actual cost paid for the actual number of hours. Efficiency variance is the difference between the standard labour hour that should have been worked for the actual number of units produced and the actual number of hours worked when the labour hours are valued at the standard rate. Overhead variances Fixed overhead variances: identifies what proportion of the total fixed overhead variance is due to actual fixed overhead being different from the budgeted fixed overhead. Variable overhead variance measures the change between actual expenditure and the allowed overhead for actual labour hours. Income variance is the difference between actual income and budget income. It is used to measure the performance of a income function, and/or analyze business results to better understand market conditions. Actual income can differ from budgeted income either due to the variance in volume sold or the variance in the price point of the budgeted price point. Best Practices The following are some key good practice for prevention and minimization of the variances: Broad goals should be established to guide government decision making. Budgeting methods are developed to achieve these goals. An appropriate budget is developed to achieve the goals and the performance criterion is determined at the beginning. Close interaction between the financial information system and the budgeting systems is essential. There should be a control on collective spending and any deficit, a overarching prioritization of strategies with regards to expenditures and better use of the budgeted resources. The approved budget should be entered into the financial information system. In addition to a full commitment system, memorandum notes should be included the system that capture records of commitment but does not amend the financial records. Timely comparative financial statements on a regular basis. These statements should include original and revised budget, capture variances and explain major variances. The audited and reliable statements are based in solid accounting standards with regular external reporting. Budget Monitoring: Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes are performed to observe that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary. The key benefit is that the actuals are observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the budget. During the course of the year, instance may arise where the income or expenditure is very large that may require and supplementary estimate. The better the level of control and intelligence available the earlier this situations can be detected and more swiftly and appropriate an action can be taken to minimize the variance. However if is determined there has to be a change then the financial information systems can be updated as soon as possible. If a department become aware that it will overspend at any time during the year it must notify the Treasury department immediately. It is possible that a supplement estimate is provided if deemed appropriate. Transparency is key publish the State accounting policies, establish system of internal controls, and keep doors open for public and parliamentary scrutiny. Flexible budgeting is a performance evaluation tool. It is not be prepared before the end of the fiscal period. A flexible budget adjusts the initial budget for the actual level of output. The flexible budget answers the question: If the department had known at the beginning of the period what would the output volume (units delivered or sold) would be, what the budget would have looked like? If the department actually delivered X units, then treasury should compare actual delivery costs for X units to what it should have spent to make X units, not to what the department should have spent to deliver X-1000 units or X+1000 units etc. The flexible budget provides a better opportunity for planning and controlling than does a static (initial) budget.

A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction

How far can humor go? This question is often asked regarding ribald, lewd, or obscene humor. In these cases, critics often ask whether humor has gone far enough.Critics and questioners ask whether what the comedian presents as humor has crossed the line into the offensive and revolting. How far has a particular bit humor gone to the bottom of the barrel and how do we know if it has reached the bottom.How far can humor go? That same question may be asked for Jon Stewart’s 2004 humor book America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. However, instead of asking how the degenerate the humor is, after reading Stewart’s book, we are forced to ask how enlightening humor can be?Can humor be a tool to scrutinize? To question? To criticize? The likelihood of these possibilities are astonishing, especially when you consider that Stewart’s book is about America and its government and political system.Jon Stewart is the host of the popular comedy program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The Daily Show is a satire news program, complete with the familiar news program introduction, faux field reporters and even interviews with current newsmakers. Instead of glorifying news programs, The Daily Show takes pride in crucifying it and the political culture it inculcates.The late-night show is notorious for its no holds barred treatment of politicians and pundits from all sides of the political spectrum. The show prides itself as an equal opportunity offender as it makes fun of all political entities from all sides. This has resulted in great popularity for the show as well as for its host, even generating a spin off show from one of its faux pundits.That said, there are many parallels to be drawn between the Daily Show and America (The Book). While The Daily Show pretends to be a nightly news program, America (The Book) pretends to be a high school social studies textbook. In this regard, America (The Book) is successful as it really does look and feel like a social studies textbook. Its content and outline matches that of common high school textbooks.Its layout is also befitting that of a high school textbook, complete with margin notes, sidebars, interviews with â€Å"noted† individuals and numerous illustrations and figures. It is even complete with end of chapter questions and classroom activities.

Bianca & skill

Although after three months of total immersion of a language, most people should show significant progress, Bianca’s lack of progress does not necessarily mean she has a learning disability. There are a number of possible causes for her lack of progress and a learning disability is only one of them. In Bianca’s specific case, her history should be considered. She was orphaned due to a tragic event and traumatized.This life event at the age of five, the time when reading often begins, could significantly affect her rate of developing reading skills without factoring in the second language. An additional social factor that could affect Bianca’s language and reading acquisition skills could be her recent adoption and move to a new country and environment. Anyone would have some difficulty adjusting to a new family, home, culture and language at the same time.It would undoubtedly be more difficult for a traumatized eight-year-old to adapt to and thrive in a short amo unt of time. The adoptive parents have legitimate concerns about how extensive testing for a specific learning disability during her adjustment to her new life could cause additional trauma. If, however, Bianca does have a learning disability, it would be important to find this out and treat her accordingly. The teacher could do some basic observations in order to get an idea about possible learning disabilities.It would be important to observe her development in other areas such as motor, social, and cognitive. If she is delayed in other developmental areas, the problem could easily be due to her trauma and adjustment. In spite of the school total immersion policy, a few age-level books should be acquired for her in her native language. By listening to her read in her native language a teacher could determine if she struggled in the language she understood as well as she did in English.The teacher could recognize a struggling reader even if she is not familiar with the language. If Bianca reads well in her native language the problem is probably not a learning disability, and the best assistance in her development would be time and attention dedicated to her. If Bianca is discovered to have significant difficulty in her native language, it would warrant the need for additional testing to determine if the problems are due to a learning disability and if a way can be found to help her overcome it.If she does have an actual learning disability, the earlier intervention can be found, the better her chances of effectively developing new language and reading skills. Bianca is a unique child, who should not be caught up in a standard school policy of total immersion. She might require some special attention due to her traumatic past and extensive changes. Some of this special attention could involve some translation and allowing her to do some of her work in her native language in order to help her catch up to her grade level.

The Paradox Of Science A Contrivance For Childrens...

Part a: The paradox of science: a contrivance for children’s learning A cornerstone of the sciencing discourses evident in early childhood education and care settings revolves significantly around the children, educators and families of the service. It is therefore essential to explore teaching methods utilised with children to harness optimum engagement of children’s interest in science. Within this paper teaching methods are explored and discussed with an emphasis on the sciencing of sociology with children three to five years from a constructivist based approach. Sociology for children: Conceptualised thinking of one’s self Sociology can be explained as having two components, macrosociology and microsociology. Macrosociology†¦show more content†¦Therefore the brain response of sensory input such as the child’s curiosity, emotions and feelings are a conduit for children to learn about themselves, others and the world around them (Harlan Rivkin, 2012, p. 10). Children are developing and are eager to learn about themselves and as they develop it is appropriate to foster and link new concepts to the knowledge which the child may have in regards to their social world (Harlin Rivkin, 2012, p. 14). So crucial is sociology studies in early childhood education and care settings that the Early Years Learning Framework underpins the most essential perspectives of the relationships to family, community, culture and place (DEEWR, 2009, p. 7) core components of sociology. Action concepts include: †¢ I wonder what makes us the same as other people. What makes us different? †¢ I wonder if the things you do now were harder when you were a baby. †¢ Who is in your family? Let’s find a way to see if your family is like other families? †¢ Where do you live? Is it the same as others children at Preschool? Part B: Active learning I wonder how ... A leading question based on a constructivist theoretical pedagogy where active and guided learning are recognised as ways that children three to five years of age learn about the science of sociology discussed within this paper. The perspective of active learning from a sociology point of view consists of many factors including the construction of knowledge children obtain through their