Consider the following questions:
1. Question about agency budgetary activities
Individual agencies are very significant players in the annual or biennial budget processes of national and state governments. Describe the role that agencies play in budget preparation and explain why these roles are so influential in determining the final outcome of government Policies related to taxing and spending. Begin your essay by defining what a budget is and by then explaining the variety of purposes that a budget serves. Continue your essay by describing the multiple tasks those agencies must pursue as they prepare their budgets. Take two of those tasks and explain the range of financial questions that agency budget officials must answer before they can sent their budgets forward to the examiners who work for the central budget office of their respective governments. Relying on the WOU operating budget for fiscal year 2014 that was used in class, describe the various components that one would expect to find in a typical agency budget.
2. Question about central budget offices
Discuss the role of a central budget office in the executive budget process. You may answer this question by focusing on the central budget office of the U.S. government, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). or you may use the more generic term of central budget office and refer to the processes employed by the states and/or federal governments. Focus your attention on the major roles of the central budget office in overall budget preparation, on how this office examines and oversees the individual agencies in their budgetary processes, of how it seeks to implement the political program of the elected chief executive, and of how it serves as nne of the most important policy creation components of the modem executive branch of government.