Budget Games
Webinar
January 30, 2025
2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. ET
- Field of Study: Finance
- Credits: 1.5
- Prerequisite: None
Local government budgeting is about deciding how to distribute resources among different needs. Local governments are usually divided into departments, each having some freedom to manage their daily tasks and request funding. However, central budgeting authorities oversee and control the distribution of these funds. While this setup has its advantages, it can also lead to competition among departments when a local government is deciding who gets what. This competition results in “budget games,” where departments engage in strategies to secure more resources. The most common game is “padding the budget,” where departments ask for more money than they actually need. There are many other such games as well.
In this webinar we’ll focus on the information budget officers need to make sound budgeting decisions by identifying departments’ true intentions and resource needs. Additionally, we’ll explore how effective gamesmanship requires bending if not breaking the rules of the budget process so that requestors can attain more money than necessary to avoid scrutiny separating the important requests from the less pertinent ones. During the program you’ll hear how other practitioners navigated these budget games from both the finance director and city manager perspectives.
Who Will Benefit: Budget Manager, CFO, Department Director, Purchasing Manager, Budget Analyst, Elected Officials
- Understand the types of budget games finance officers need to be aware of during the budgeting process
- Explore how the Finance Foundations for Budgeting framework can be used to discourage budget gameplay.
- Learn how other finance officers identified and navigated various budget games
- Member Price: $75.00
- Non-member Price: $150.00