Northwestern E-07 Study Guide

What are the three reasons why we budget?

A ___________ is a list of probable/estimated expenses and income during a given period, most often one year.

A ___________ _________ is a plan or schedule adjusting expenses during a certain period to the estimated income for that period.

Match the Role of the branch of government to the budget process:

a. Executive
b. Legislative
c. Judicial

1. Settles disputes
2. Makes laws,levies taxes, authorizes spending
3. Proposes and spends the budget

5. The phases of the budget cycle are:

A. Allocation, obligation, expenditure, audit B. Execution, allocation, preparation, audit
C. Preparation, approval. execution, audit
D. Approval, preparation, execution, audit.

Budgeting is a ______________ annual process resulting in a written commitment.

In summary, a budget is a critical document for ________, ________
and ________.

Personnel services, Operating expenses and Capital Expenses are the three major parts of the _____________ ________________.

The ______________ _____________ deals with expenses needed to run the department.

Operating expenses exclusive of personnel is considered as ________________.

The _______________ budget sets aside funds for special needs that arise (emergencies, special events, and unanticipated expenses).

Budgets are a law enforcement agency’s work plan translated into ________.

___________ ______ budget is when funds may be expended up to the total amount approved regardless of category.

_________________ is the process by which financial information about an agency is recorded, classified, summarized, interpreted and communicated to managers.

_________ _____ the 12-month accounting period used by an agency.

____________ _______ ________________ is a person licensed by a state to do public accounting.

________ _____ _____ is a cash fund of a limited amount used to make small expenditures.

Encumbrance- Committed during the current year for ______________ future expenditure for a specific line item.

Obligation- Cash liability. Money ________ to vendors for products and or services provided.

GAAP stands for ____________ ____________ ______________ ____________. The rules of accounting used by agencies (State & Local Governments) in reporting their financial activities.

Reducing _________ is all employees’ responsibility.

Match the term with the definition:

A. A gift of money from one entity to another Revenue
B. Money collected from any source
C. A loan to a government to be paid back w/ interest

1. Taxes
2. Bonds
3. Grant

Preparing police budgets is difficult because most law enforcement services are ___________________.

Employees should submit their ideas relating to budget items to their most ________________ ________________.

Budget preparation should be a ____-___________ project.

The _________ _____________ is the most important document to the police administrator in developing the budget

The _________ _____________contains all the needed information and ground rules for completing the budget.

___________ ____________ ________ are used to justify major discretionary purchases, new line-items or activities or significant increases in a line-item or activity.

True or False – Audits are submitted to a higher authority.

_________ _________________ means providing the same or more services with less funding, or budget reduction resulting from reduced expenditure spending.

Which of the following is not a cause of cutbacks?

A. Inflation
B. erosion of the economic base
C. taxpayer revolts
D. problem depletion
E. embezzlement

True or False - Reducing costs is every employee’s responsibility.

The lead federal funding agency for law enforcement programs is ________Office of Justice Programs

The _________ is the primary funding arm for law enforcement agencies.

The availability of grants is advertised in the _________ _____________ and _____________.

Six components of effective grant writing are:

The focus of _____-______ budgeting is to control and limit spending to line items by object code.

The _________ _______________ system looks at work as programs.

____-___________ budgeting system assumes NOTHING is getting funded, requires justification of all expenditures, not only those that exceeded the prior year’s allocations.

True or False – Performance Based Budgets:
Focus on Efficiency and Productivity and has performance measures.

________-_____ budgets are usually based on the preceding year’s budget and a comparison between it and actual expenses

True or False - Program Budgeting System (PBS) identifies the various programs an agency provides and allocates funds for each.

True or False - Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) begins with a clean slate, justifying each expenditure anew

Activity Based Costing (ABC) is the modern version of program based budgeting and breaks down costs by _______.

Discretionary budgets are for ____________ needs that arise.

What percentage of the average total police budget is for personnel?

True or False – Bottom Line Budgeting allows for funds to be expended up to the total amount approved regardless of category.

True or False - A basic starting point for budget preparation is the previous year’s budget.

The Federal Government’s fiscal year starts in:
A. October
B. July
C. January
D. April

True or False – Absenteeism and turnover are common cost problems.

True or False – Variance Analysis consists of comparing actual costs against what was budgeted and analyzing differences

A formula or ________ grant is awarded to states or localities based on population and crime rates.

True or False – Variable costs do not vary in total even though the amount of service provided is more or less than anticipated.

The top common cost problems are ___________, __________ and ___________.

The budgeting system where dollars are allocated based on productivity is called _______________ _______ ________________.

The two classes of expenditures are __________ and _______________.

Of the total amount budgeted for salaries and benefits, what percentage is allocated for fringe benefits?

Operating costs that cannot be easily assigned to a particular department are ___________ expenses.

__________ budgeting means providing the same or more services with less funding.

A 12 month accounting period is also known as ________ ______.

True or False – Salaries and benefits are considered direct expenses?

Rent and insurance are considered ___________ costs.

True or False – Line item budgeting was initiated in the 1900’s and is widely used today.

True or False – The first step in solving cost problems is to identify waste.

A modern version of the program budgeting system that breaks down costs by activity is called __________ ____________ _______________.

A list of major and minor object codes in a budget is a _______ __ ____.

______________ can suggest ways to cut costs through an employee cost improvement suggestion program