Budget theory in local government: the process-outcome conundrum
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management
ISSN: 1096-3367
Article publication date: 1 March 2008
Abstract
Local government budget processes have changed substantially since the early 1990s, due in part to an expanded emphasis on performance accountability and the availability of information technology. We present evidence that local government budget outcomes also have changed over the same time period when disaggregated at the functional level. Though we do not assert a causal relationship between the two, our findings indicate that the normative-descriptive gap in budget theory described by Rubin (1990) deserves new scholarly attention. Our profession’s attraction to incrementalism may have blurred the success of budget reform in local government.
Citation
Kelly, J.M. and Rivenbark, W.C. (2008), "Budget theory in local government: the process-outcome conundrum", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 484-508. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-20-04-2008-B005
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008 by PrAcademics Press