The politics of public money / David A. Good.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Good, David A., author.

Series:

Institute of Public Administration of Canada series in public management and governance.

The Institute of Public Administration of Canada Series in Public Management and Governance

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Government spending policy--Canada.

Government spending policy.

Budget--Political aspects--Canada.

Budget.

Budget process--Canada.

Budget process.

Canada--Appropriations and expenditures.

Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (417 p.)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Toronto, [Ontario] ; Buffalo, [New York] ; London, [England] : University of Toronto Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Annotation Public money is one of the primary currencies of influence for politicians and public servants. It affects the standards by which they undertake the nation's business and impacts the standard of living of the nation's citizens. David A. Good's The Politics of Public Money examines the extent to which the Canadian federal budgetary process is shifting from one based on a bilateral relationship between departmental spenders and central guardians to one based on a more complex, multilateral relationship involving a variety of players. This new edition offers an up-to-date account of the Canadian system, including the creation of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the government's response to the global financial crisis, Canada's Economic Action Plan, strategic and operating reviews, the most recent attempts to reform the Estimates, and much more. An insightful and incisive study of the changing budgetary process, The Politics of Public Money examines the promises and pitfalls of budgetary reform and sheds new light on the role insiders play in influencing government spending.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Part One: The Changing Politics of Public Money

1 Beyond Spenders and Guardians

Spenders and Guardians

From Old Village to New Town

Beyond Spenders and Guardians

Priority Setters

Watchdogs

Priority Setters and Watchdogs

New Questions

Part Two: The Public Money Players

2 The Guardians and the Changing Role of the Budget Office

Guardians and Budget Functions

Guardians and Budget Components

Guardians and the Budgetary Process

Different Guardians

""Guardians Diverging: ""Let the Managers Manage � Come Hell or High Water"" """"Guardians and Central Reserves""; ""Guardians Apart""; ""3 Why Spenders Keep Spending""; ""Getting Money""; ""Keeping Money""; ""Spending Money""; ""The Reciprocity of Expenditure Information and Expenditure Increases ""; ""Priorities and Allocations, Not Performance and Allocations""; ""4 The Priority Setters at the Centre""; ""The Centre""; ""The Most Important of All Relationships""; ""Priorities, Big and Small""; ""The Prime Minister's Arms ""; ""Priority Setters and Shift Points""

5 The Watchdogs: The Barks That BiteBuilding Credibility on Professionalism and Independence

The Performance Audit: The Audit for All Reasons

Mutual Expectations

Watching Both Spenders and Guardians

The Financial Watchdog and Internal Departmental Auditors

The Watchdogs and Parliamentarians

Indirect Influence, but Influence

Part Three: The Public Money Processes

6 Fiscal Aggregates: Controlling Totals

Credibility and Uncertainty

The Prudent Economic and Fiscal Outlook

The Prudent Fiscal Framework: Achieving Achievable Targets

Economic StimulusThe Elastic Fiscal Dividend

Prudence and Its Consequences

Exposing the Fiscal Framework

Containing Aggregates by Making Allocations

7 Budget Allocations

Allocations Types

The Big Fixes

The Big-Ticket Items

The Must-Dos

Small-Budget Items

Tax Expenditures

Reductions

Reallocations

Budget Allocations Are Incremental

8 Budget Implementation: Financial Management and Efficiency

On Paper

Successfully Implementing the Economic Action Plan

The First Line of Defence

Victims of Conflicting Norms: The Chief Financial OfficerThe Second Line of Defence

Victims of the Intractability of Cultural Change: The Comptroller General

On Becoming Players

Part Four: New Prospects for Public Money

9 Parliament and Public Money

Parliament as Watchdog

Shaping Government Spending: The Commons Finance Committee

Approving Government Spending: The Business of Supply

Holding Government Accountable for Spending: The Public Accounts Committee

Realism and Reform

10 Budget Reforms

Budgets and Reforms

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4426-6812-1

1-4426-6811-3

OCLC:

872601007