The Basics of Public Budgeting and Financial Management: A Handbook for Academics and Practitioners

Connecting budgetary theory with practical tools, Charles E. Menifield carefully examines the key areas that every budgeting and financial management student needs to know in order to be a successful budgeteer in a local government, nonprofit, or state-level budget office. From the perspective of a bureaucrat, students examine various concepts and then work through in-class and out-of-class exercises and problems to reinforce those concepts and ideas through practical applications.

Menifield provides an overview of the basic budgeting concepts, types, and techniques to orient students, along with discussion of budget cycles and the actors involved in the process. Chapters unfold to present personal services, operating, and capital budgets, as well as the various ways to fund public budgets. Students will gain an understanding of budgeting techniques and analytical models, but also how these methods are useful in answering important policy questions. Other topics include cash management, risk management, procurement, debt management, incentivizing economic development, and cutback management strategies. Menifield concludes with an examination of different data sources, data quality and appropriateness, and the different ways to communicate budget data effectively using charts, graphs, and slides.

Each chapter provides the student with a list of important terms, phrases, and exercises that require the students to apply what they have learned in each chapter using only basic office applications. The Fifth Edition of the book provides in-class exercises for each chapter, allowing students not only to compare their responses to their peers in small groups, but also to present those responses to the entire class with the goal of improving their presentation skills. This book blends budgetary theory and practice in a volume that is easy to understand by both undergraduate and graduate students alike.

Charles E. Menifield is a professor and the former dean of the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-Newark. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of budgeting and financial management, public health and welfare, and policing. Other areas include, health and education finance, and public administration education. Dr. Menifield served on the Executive Council of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), the Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation, as President of the International Conference on Local Government, and on editorial boards for several top journals. An award-winning teacher and author, he is a former Ronald E. McNair Scholar and in Spring 2016 won the Missouri University Faculty Achievement Award in Diversity. He is a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).