Handbook of Comparative Public Budgeting and Financial Management.

• Author: Tevlin, Andrea H.

This is a quite interesting compilation of the current issues and practices surrounding the public financing and budgeting arena. The book provides both international and national comparisons and research and presents a wide range of developments in the field. Its topics range from cutback management and purchasing to capital budgeting, revenue forecasting and debt management. Overall, it is a slightly more useful book for students than practitioners. For example, a chapter on managing state debt provides a good overview for students but nothing new for practitioners except perhaps to remind them of the problems they face. Practitioners will find, however, much of the information to be of interest.

The first two chapters take an international approach to analyzing revenue systems and budgetary performance. A historical summary of the revenue systems for 23 industrial countries is provided, along with an identification of major revenue sources. For the local government practitioner this is not particularly useful: the range of revenue sources and systems within the U.S. alone is mind boggling without international comparisons.

Another chapter analyzes the budgetary performance of the seven major industrialized nations during the 1980s to examine the impact of fiscal restraint policy, including controlling governmental spending, balancing governmental budgets, deregulation, decentralization and privatization. The chapter also provides an overview of budgeting in the United States since the late 1970s.

A Cross-National Analysis of Financial Management Practices has an interesting discussion of the financial management systems and budgetary practices in a number of countries. It examines the differing roles of the legislative and executive branches in financial management from one country to another. Highlighting recent improvements in budgeting systems related to budget review, strengthened management flexibility and the introduction of incentives, this is a very enlightening chapter for both the student and practitioner.

Chapter 5, whose purpose is to help the reader better understand public budgeting behavior, also is useful for both students and practitioners. It examines factors which influence the spending decisions of 131 state government budget analysts from the central budget offices of 10 southern states. The analysis takes into account fiscal climate, the organizational strength of the budget office and the office's technological...