The document discusses reviews and reports of past budgets. It describes internal reviews conducted informally by public managers to learn lessons from a budget year. It also describes external reviews conducted formally by outside parties to answer specific questions in a written report. Additionally, public organizations generate independent reports to inform the public or that serve as the basis for further reviews. Reviews and reports of past budgets can provide guidance for future budgets.

1. INTRODUCI'ION 7
greater range or degree of discretion in this stage than is
generally understood. Otherwise, why are there so many public
managers? Ifbudget implementation were mechanical, robots
could implement budgets. This stage ends when the collecting
and spending stops.
The reviews and reports stage involves various people looking
at a budget year to see what can be learned, and producing
required and perhaps optional reports in connection with or
independent of reviews. Parties internal and external to an
organization conduct reviews. External reviews usually involve
someone outside an organization conducting a review in a highly
formal fashion to answer one or more specific questions in a
written report. Internal reviews involve people within an
organization or organizational subunit conducting reviews of a
budget year in an informal fashion to answer the general question
of what can be learned by looking at that budget year or specific
questions; many such reviews are not reported on in any official
fashion. Additionally, public organizations also generate reports,
frequently required or expected, that are completely independent
of reviews or that are intended to be the basis of reviews.
Reviews and reports of past budgets may provide useful guidance
for later ones. Examples of reviews include external financial
audits conducted by accountants who examine annual financial
reports from
accounting systems to determine if accounting rules were
followed and if financial statements reflect the financial condition
of the organization, and informal reviews of a budget year by
public managers concerning their own
area of responsibility. Annual reports intended as a means of
informing the public of the valuable public services provided by
a public organization may be essentially free from an internal
review process, but they may be the basis for reviews by others
using the information provided.

2. Multiple Budget
Documents
People often refer to "the budget" of a particular public
organization as if that
term referred to one specific document The proper use of the term
''budget'' refers to the acquisition and use of resources generally
and to a wide array of documents created and used in the various
stages of the public budgeting process; no one document is "the
budget." Knowing about the wide variety of different budget
documents helps in understanding budgeting activities.
Here, some common budget documents are described. The
specific details of many of these documents vary greatly
depending on their audiences.
During the preparation stage, central offices or officials
produce documents meant to inform and guide others, and
operating units prepare more detailed documents. A budget
calendar shows a schedule of activities, often with deadlines and
responsibilities. A call or call letter instructs managers