AN EVALUATION OF THE FUNCTIONS OF BUDGETING IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0    INTRODUCTION

The life cycle of any business either private or public enterprise lie on its financial power, this entail the management of fund and scarce resource for the advancement of such enterprises.

        However, before a fiscal year begin such enterprise must draw out its business plan or programme in order to be able to utilize its fund effectively and efficiently for maximum productivity in all the department. It calls for planning and control of fund by the management all units or department must be able to utilize its fund effectively and efficiently for maximum productivity in all the department. It calls for planning all units or department must be able to determine precisely the necessary needs which will contribute to the growth and progress of the enterprise. This vital point will help the management to avoid spending unnecessarily on ideal matter but rather concentrate of matter that will yield interest.

        Nonetheless, budget serve as financial frame work designed to guide the operation of an organization for futuristic purpose, this helps the management to verify well before fund is released and to ensure that such fund is adequately utilize to achieve its proposed goals or objectives.

1.1       Background and need for the Study

This study is base on budgeting in the management of public enterprises or institution.

        Putting into consideration that all public or private enterprise deals with acquisition and use of material (Human and Equipment) which should be effectively and efficiently utilized more maximum output such task falls for planning and control.

        Budget have be described by different scholar in their own perspective and understanding, according to Henry (1980:2006) he said that many to problems of public administration that concept budgeting have the longest and major impact on the fields of administration, impact on the field of administration.

        Also according Reed and Swain (1997:4) put it this way that public budgeting is concerned with the planned budgeting is concerned with the planned acquisition and use of resources by public entities and involves the decisions of what revenues to collect and what expenditure to make that is to say concrete decision must be reach in order to avoid great loss, management must be reach in order to avoid great loss, management must work toward achieving this both in human capital and material as well.

        However, budget has a great impact  on the behavior of public officer in Nigeria, according to Olewe (1995:392) states that every January in Nigeria Civil and public servant show particular kinds of interest about our security matters in various state precisely in the worth have no heading solution.  All these are sufficient indications that out national budgets all this years leave much to be desired looking at the words of Schick (1978:178) budgeting tends to grossly over estimates administration capacity to calculate programme effectiveness and vastly under estimate the important of political and technology constraints.  The views has been shared by the researcher as one of the major problems of budgeting in the public institutions it has been observed that the most public official have been unable to make the calculation needed for their respective department policies.  Also another scholar Obiekewe (1999:18) observed that our nations national house of assembly and senates do not have the analytical and staff capacities needed to properly analyze the president budgetary (supplementary) proposals required in order to develop worth while policy alternative within the whole, idea about budget in Nigeria boils down to certain factors which have contributed to non-executive of budget plan as it was stipulated and read to the hearing of all Nigerians, these can be attributed to poor man power and capacity, non-monitoring bodies, political dichotomy among public servant and about of internal democracy in our national house and representatives respectively.  The difficulties encountered by public officers in budgeting and solutions to the identified problems have proffered.

1.4    Theoretical Foundation of the Study

The theoretical foundation of the study was based on planning programme and budgeting system (PPBS). This has been a technique in budgeting.

        According to Ocheoha (1998:34) there is no known author who can rightly claim to have originated the (PPBS) though the name of Robert Mc Mamara have been associated with the it because he popularized the adopting of the PPBS in the United State of America.

The PPBS Has the following Features

1.     Carefully identification and evaluation of goals and obejcives in each major area of government orientated towards greater specification of goals.

2.     Systematic evaluation of poor achievement in terms of obejcives that is programme outputs.

3.     Measuring the extents to which current decision commit future resource that is total cost of the system.

4.     Analyzing of alternative strategies to determine the most effective mean of achieving result to and at the least cost.

5.     Multi-years programme planning.

6.     Creation and implementation of a decision system that integrates planning policy and progamme decision with budgeting a major innovation characteristic of PPBS is the multi year planning circle with requirement that all decision structural be linked together in a system.

1.5    Research Questions

The following question have been drawn as a guide to the study:

1.   How does frequent change of administration in the ministry affect the budgeting process.

2.   To what extent does the public internals the budgeting process?

3.   To what extent does the administration adhere to the budgeting process?

4.   How does the ministry implement her budgetary allocation in order to meet people aspiration.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study has a lot of significance in that it represent a symbol of academic achievement as having contributed to the already records of research in social science.  Again the study shall be useful to the colleagues of the research and the entire student of the field of management sciences as they shall resort to in their various works on the same topic of study in future.

        The research should be relevant to public administration in general and budget experts in various ministries and department as it shall assist them in carrying about their budgeting duties.

        Nonetheless our policy makers are not left out because it will help them in formulation and execution of policies in respect to budgeting