CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

PREAMBLE

The government intention and policies describe on paper through a financial plan with detail estimates of receipts and propose expenditure clearly under various head is known as a budget. In other words, a budget is a project of the flow of funds and how such funds will be spend to achieve value objective, which may be of individual, household, business firms, government and institution. It can also be see as a future plan of action. Stating in detail the anticipate revenues and expenditures during an accounting period to meet the organizations objectives. It usually contains of anticipate income, spending for the upcoming/accounting year and recommendations. 

Therefore, a budget is a financial plan, which typically contains a detail estimate of expenditure, revenues and surplus or deficit for the present and succeeding fiscal years.
The budget is more than an accounting statement of propose expenditures and anticipate revenue, however, it contains the fruits of conscious policy decision about the kinds as well as the amounts of expenditure and revenue. Budgetary policy in fiscal policy direct attention specifically to questions involving activity within the framework of budget document.

There are two essential aspect within the budget framework and these are: the capital and recurrent estimates. The recurrent includes revenue and recurrent expenditure. Under this category, we have items which pave way for the smooth running of government policies d they are usually of consumption nature examples are salaries and purchase of stationer. Note this maintenance of infrastructure also come under recurrent budget.

1.1             BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 

The term budget is see differently by different people due to their areas of specialization for instance, a documents see budget from the preparation perspective, managers on the other hand see it from the implementation perceptive, still, behavioural scientists look at it from the human implication perspective.
Therefore, if budget is to obtain the best functional result all these diverse view point must be harmonize.

Basically, a budgeting system enable managers to plan, coordinate, control and evaluate the activities of the business more effectively. Planning involves establishing objectives in advance so that members of the organization will have specific activities i.e direct goals to guide their actions. Hence, budget enable the overall objectives of the organization to be translated into detail plan of action.

The budget as an instrument of economic policy have more vary of functions. First, in policy terms, it indicates and expresses intention regarding the utilization of the country’s resources. In operational terms, it leads to the determination of natural growth and investment goals and promotes macroeconomic balance in the organization, thereby the standard of living of the employees.
Achieving the lofty objectives of the budget require adequate understanding of the modalities or approaches are integrate in the techniques adopt in the preparation of the budget document.

The knowledge of budgetary techniques could enable the administration.
Hence, the essence of foregoing is to exposes students and policy makers of conceptual budgetary issues which are not only germane to the preparation, but also to be implement of budgets.

Though there are many types of budgets however, the following account for budget type and style.

The major purpose of having budgets.

The type of organization using the budgets.

The personalities of people handling the budget.

The personal characteristics of people subject to budget direction.

1.2             STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS 

Budgeting is a plain express in quantitative terms planning is futuristic in nature, and the future is subject to change.

Therefore to quantitatively state the future is an estimate or at least approximation of the future events plan for. Hence, the first problem of budgeting is either under or over approximation. This is variances sometimes, the variance may be totally off the ranger making its use of control purpose difficult. This situation is very common in Nigeria in these years of National Economic Empowerment Development Scheme (NEEDS) where:

The rate of inflation is hard to predict so this budgeting for price level see to be large less a guesswork Ibid.

The volume of activity cannot be foresee with certainty as unforeseen limiting factors (mostly government policies) arise to restrict output below budget level. Mayo (1990 pg. 102).