Budgeting & Financial Management for Gov

Priority Reg: MIA and MPA. Public sector budgeting in the United States, and perhaps globally, has become increasingly contentious in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession. This course introduces students to budgeting and fiscal management in the public sector. We will look at the particular challenges of developing a budget within a political environment and the techniques used for reporting, accountability, and management control. Domestically, the landscape for government budgeting is being tested in unprecedented ways. Fiscal pressures at the federal and state levels have increasingly pushed responsibilities for program funding to the local level. Municipal bankruptcy, once a theoretical and untested concept, has emerged more frequently as a solution despite its long-term consequences. Selected topics will include inter-governmental relationships, taxes and other revenues, expenditure control, audits, and productivity enhancement. Lectures will also address current events related to public sector budgeting at all levels, especially as the world emerges from the COVID-19 global pandemic and the ensuing economic and fiscal crises. This course seeks to provide students with practical budgetary and financial analysis knowledge. Drawing from theory and case studies, students will acquire valuable skills to help them design, implement, and assess public sector budgets. The practical nature of the subject requires the students’ active, hands-on participation in assignments such as in-class debates, case analyses, and a budget cycle simulation. By the end of the semester, conscientious students will be able to formulate budgetary recommendations backed up by cogent analysis and calculations. 

Special thanks and credit to the late Steven Levine, SIPA professor and longtime official in the New York City Office of Management and Budget, for originating and refining this course syllabus.