Budgeting for Public Managers

by John W. Swain, B.J. Reed

Benefiting from the authors' many years of teaching undergraduate and graduate students and practitioners, here is a clear, comprehensive, practice-oriented text for public budgeting courses. Rather than presenting each budgeting concern in mind-numbing detail, the book offers a commonsensical view of public budgeting and its importance to current and future public managers. The text is designed to show readers how managers relate to budgeting and how their actions make a difference in the operation and performance of public organizations. The book covers the historical development of public budgeting, sources of public revenues, revenue management, budgeting processes and formats, operating techniques, politics within public budgeting, and more. "Budgeting for Public Managers" is concise, clearly written, well illustrated, and grounded in the real-world concerns of public managers. Each chapter concludes with a helpful list of additional reading and resources for readers who want to dig deeper into budgeting practice and application.

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2010

Reviews

[Sandee · Rating 1 out of 5]

All I can say is Hallelujah!!!! I am done and I read it only because I was forced to. The book lacks clarity in the formatting of the text. There are blocks and blocks of texts that would do nicely with some headings and sub-headings. There are some in there but not nearly enough.

It also seems that the ideas could have been consolidated into one paragraph. The feel that I had from reading the text is a lot of rambling. It was so hard to read, not because of the concepts but because of writing style and formatting.

I deserve an A for finishing this book.

[R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is a book about budgeting and public finance. I wish it was interesting or good . . . but it's not. So at least it's educational. It was a textbook, so yeah. If you're interested in learning about the public budgeting cycles and regulations in finance at city, county, state, and federal levels then this is a good fit for you I suppose. If you are interested in those things and it isn't purely for work or school I question your taste in books though.