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Review your peer's choice for the least transparent budget format. Do you agree with their reasoning? Offer your perspective on why a different format might be less transparent, or expand on their points with additional insights or examples.

Discussion reply 1

The line-item budget is the least clear of the three main government budget types, line-item, performance, and program, for taxpayers to understand. Although it is the oldest and most commonly used format in government, it mainly focuses on how money is spent instead of what results are achieved (Chen, Weikart, & Williams, 2014). Because of this focus on costs, it is hard for the public to see how well their tax dollars are being used. Lack of Transparency A line-item budget lists every cost by category, such as salaries, travel, equipment, and supplies. While this helps officials track and control spending, it does not explain what programs or services the money supports. For example, taxpayers might see how much was spent on office supplies, but they cannot easily tell how that spending helps improve public safety, health, or education. This gap between spending and outcomes makes it difficult to measure the real value of government activities (Chen et al., 2014). Alternative Budget Formats Other types of budgets make things clearer. A performance budget connects spending directly to measurable results, such as the cost to repair a mile of road or the number of permits issued. A program budget goes further by showing how money supports larger policy goals, like education, public safety, or the environment. These formats help taxpayers better understand what their money is achieving (Chen et al., 2014). Administrative Use vs. Public Understanding According to Chen et al. (2014), line-item budgets work well for keeping spending under control and ensuring rules are followed. However, they do not show how policies perform or what impact they have. As a result, even though this format is simple for administrators to use, it prevents taxpayers from clearly seeing how government spending benefits them or whether public funds are being used wisely.

Discussion reply 2

Taxpayers are the primary source of funding for a variety of public services, including education, transportation and public safety (i.e. police and fire services). Due to this forced burden, the community is entitled to know where and how their money is being spent. Searchable and accessible public services’ budgets and financial plans provide a certain level of transparency to witness the expenditures of the various governmental agencies (Chen, et al., 2014). This transparency then provides an opportunity to build trust and buy-in from its citizenry. However, some budget formats are more transparent than others. Line-item budgeting is the oldest and simplest budgeting format. There is a list of financial source inputs and categorized expenditures or outputs of that money. Due to its simplicity and easily observable purchases, this intuitively appears to be the most transparent. This can be true within certain contexts, however, within the public services this is the least transparent budgeting format (Understanding Types of Budgets: A comprehensive Overview, 2020). Line-item budgeting focuses on objects or things of expenditures. Public agencies provide community services, and defining “services” can be very challenging to specifically quantify. This budgeting format works well at identifying the cost of resources to facilitate service delivery (i.e. vehicle, equipment, etc.), but are the services that are being funded actually produce its designed outcomes? Line-item budgeting transparency design flaws are contrary to program and performance budgeting, which specifically focuses on anticipated outcomes. Program and performance budgeting attempts to identify costs and expected defined outcomes. This structure provides additional information to the taxpayers in order to gather a greater understanding of what services should be expected from their investment. Responses: Consider your peer's explanation of the budgeting formats. Share whether you agree or see things differently, and explain which budgeting format you find most useful in practice, providing an example. 535 discussion 1 reply A government’s budget is one of its most important documents because it turns policy goals into detailed spending plans. To manage public funds responsibly, agencies use different types of budgets that focus on control, performance, and long-term planning. According to Chen, Weikart, and Williams (2014), the three main types of government budgets are line-item, performance, and program budgets, each serving a unique purpose in managing and evaluating public resources. The line-item budget is the oldest and most widely used format. It organizes spending by category, such as salaries, travel, supplies, and equipment (Chen et al., 2014). This format is simple and straightforward, making it useful for tracking how money is spent and ensuring funds are not misused. Lawmakers and administrators can easily see where each dollar is allocated. However, while the line-item budget provides strong financial control, it does not show what results were achieved or whether spending produced meaningful outcomes (Chen et al., 2014). The performance budget was developed to address this limitation. It links spending to measurable results, such as the number of permits issued or the cost of maintaining a mile of road (Chen et al., 2014). This format helps agencies assess efficiency and make better decisions about how to allocate resources. As Chen et al. (2014) note, performance budgeting promotes accountability by showing the relationship between the money spent and the work accomplished, which helps public agencies continuously improve their operations. The program budget focuses on broader goals and outcomes. Instead of listing expenses by department, it organizes them by purpose, such as education, public safety, or environmental protection (Chen et al., 2014). This approach helps policymakers understand how much funding supports major policy objectives and encourages more strategic, long-term decision-making. In summary, the line-item budget provides financial control, the performance budget promotes efficiency, and the program budget supports effective, goal-based planning for the future (Chen et al., 2014) 535 discussion 2 reply Budgeting is the process of preparing a plan that identifies the needs of an entity, the necessary funding to fulfill those needs, and possibly the expectant results or consequences of that funding utilization (Chen, et al., 2014). There are three different formats used in this process: (1) line-item, (2) program, and (3) performance, in which each contribute various benefits to this procedure. Simply stated, line-item budgeting is the process of listing income sources and expenditures, allowing an “organization of expenses by grouping related costs together on separate lines to create a comprehensive financial picture” (Etienne, 2025). Line-item budgeting’s greatest advantage is its simplicity to identify and organize monetary inputs and outputs, allowing for the relative ease of interpretation of the overall system’s financial functioning. However, this is considered a rigid system with one significant disadvantage of being reliant on fixed incomes and expenditures for accuracy. This structure creates limited insight into broader less tangible items (i.e. effectiveness of financial support of service programs) (Dumortier, 2025). Program budgets shifts focus from product purchases to goal orientated outcomes. This structure identifies the services and activities that will be purchased or supported with financial resources, such as funding public safety, public transportation, and education services. “This budgeting method focuses on the provision of goods and services, rather than mere purchases, supporting a longer horizon for planning and decision-making” (Dumortier, 2025). Performance budgets provide greater control and accountability of the various funded programs. This budget structure attempts to identify a program’s cost through its specific activities, and the effectiveness of those activities with qualitative and quantitative output measures. Performance budgets evaluate effectiveness of financial resource expenditures, viewing those expenditures as an investment with a certain level of expected return (Dumortier, 2025). These budgeting structures can be used exclusively or in conjunction with each other. The entity creating the budget, the services provided, and the resource inputs and outputs (or outcomes) will dictate the necessary methods.