A Roadmap for Real Collaboration in Budgeting

Trust in government is eroding, and there is significant pressure for real collaboration and change.

The changing nature of governing requires local jurisdictions to implement new best practices for the cornerstone task of governing: making a budget.

In the Government Finance Officers Association's more than six years of deep investigation into what’s working and what needs changing in budgeting, as described in “Why Do We Need to Rethink Budgeting?”, the GFOA has articulated three core functions to the future of budgeting, including:

• Budgeting - allocating a local government’s limited resources

• Planning - articulating a desired future state for the organization

• Monitoring/reporting - making sure that the commitments made during planning and budgeting are lived up to and maintaining an understanding of the environment

This white paper aims to introduce a roadmap that incorporates those functions for a modern government budget process. In it, our companies come together to propose an integrated, iterative, and transparent process that — when driven by inspired civic leaders and motivated staff — can steer government in the wisest possible direction.