Public Affairs 6040: Public Budgeting and Finance

Back to All Courses

This is a sample syllabus to provide general information about the course and it's requirements. Course requirements are subject to change. This syllabus does not contain all assignment or course detail and currently enrolled students should reference the syllabus provided by their instructor. For a specific syllabus, please email us a request.

Back to All Courses

Course Overview

4 Credit Hours
Modalities Available: Asynchronous Online

The budgetary process is arguably the most important and fundamental component of the public policy process and democratic governance. The budget impacts the financial condition of governmental entities, defines, and prioritizes the different substantive policies to be implemented by governmental entities, allocates scarce public resources, and distributes the burden of paying for public goods and services. The budgetary process is inherently political in democratic societies and, as a result, the budget is both a political document and a management tool. The purpose of this course is to understand the complexities of the budget process, its central role in both democratic institutions and the profession of public administration, and the importance of using management tools and processes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public budgeting. The course will examine both budget theories and the practical application of those theories by public administration professionals.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should understand:

  • The public budgetary processes employed at the federal, state, and local government levels.
  • The components and different formats of a budget, including financial and performance information.
  • The primary quantitative methods used in budget development.
  • The difference between a current operating budget and a capital budget.
  • The appropriate uses of debt to finance public assets and projects.
  • The economic and financial criteria for evaluating taxes and nontax government revenue sources.
  • The major tax structures and nontax revenue sources used by governments.
  • The responsiveness of tax revenue to economic and tax rate changes and the implications for government budgeting.
  • The major intergovernmental fiscal relationships between the federal government and state and local governments.
  • Some of the major expenditure areas of federal, state, and local government.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

  • Develop and arrange financial data and performance information for a government budget document.
  • Evaluate the appropriate public policy, financial, and operational information that should be included in a government budget document.
  • Appropriately communicate information in government budgetary document for policy makers and the public.
  • Use budget estimation, cost allocation, and cost analysis methods to estimate baseline expenditures and the cost of government programs or services.
  • Compute long run growth rates and revenue elasticity measures to analyze the impact of economic and policy changes on tax revenue.

Requirements and Expectations

  • Video Introduction, 5 points

  • Virtual Workgroup Meetings (10 points each), 30 points

  • Budgetary Methods Assignments (20 points each), 180 points

  • Local Budget Rating Assignment, 40 points

Description: Students are required to post a brief video introduction discussing their professional background (if any), their educational program of study, and their educational and professional goals.

Independent Work: The video introduction is to be posted using video recording tool in the video introduction discussion forum on Carmen. The discussion forum provides instructions about the video and posting a video in a discussion forum.

Description: Students are required to attend and participate actively in 3 virtual work group meetings during the semester.

Collaboration Required: At the beginning of the course students will be randomly assigned to work groups for the duration of the course. The work groups will meet on Zoom during:

  • Week 5-6 to discuss the program performance measures assignment,
  • Week 7-8 to discuss the cost allocation and estimation assignment, and
  • Week 11-12 to discuss the revenue analysis assignment.

Work group meeting dates and times will be set by the work group and held when all members can attend. Work group meetings will allow students to interact and discuss their work on a particular assignment, advance understanding of pertinent concepts and methods, and improve performance on assignments. Work groups are required to produce and submit minutes of each meeting. Instructions for the meeting and meeting minutes are included in assignment folders on Carmen.

Description: Students are required to complete budgetary methods assignments on an individual basis throughout the semester.

Independent Work: The assignments allow students to work on managerial and policy issues or problems relating to topics, concepts, and methods covered during a weekly module. The assignments require students to submit a deliverable such as a memo. Students may collaborate to prepare for completing assignments, but final assignment deliverables must be each student’s original, independent work product. Each assignment folder on Carmen includes instructions and a grading rubric to guide student performance.

Description: Students are required to complete an assignment analyzing and rating a budgetary document of an Ohio local government based on the budget rating system of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The government budgets and GFOA rating rubrics will be supplied by the instructor. Students must submit a memorandum summarizing their results and findings.

Class Schedule

  1. Purposes and Fiscal Functions of Government
  2. The Budget Cycle, Budget Processes, and Budget Documents
  3. Budget Preparation and Approval
  4. Budget Reforms and Formats
  5. Budget Execution
  6. Important Budget Execution Practices
  7. Capital Planning and Budgeting
  8. Debt and Debt Management
  9. Alternative Budget Models
  10. Principles of Taxation
  11. Tax and Revenue Structures: Income Tax and Sales Tax
  12. Tax and Revenue Structures: Property Tax and User Charges
  13. Revenue Forecasting and Estimation
  14. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations

Previous Instructors Have Included