Making unrealistic budget submissions

Managers at all levels either disregard requests for budget estimates for the next fiscal year or submit estimates far in excess of what is possible. They reason that the government cannot fail to allocate some resources to their activities, that whatever they might submit is unlikely to be reflected in the ultimate budget, and that the actual release of funds will not match the budget anyway.

1. Unrealistic budget submissions destroy confidence among those who receive them. All phases of the process lose credibility in a cycle of mutually reinforcing scepticism.

1. Strengthening national accounting systems

1. Unreality