In
every case, the needs and demands that make claims on the government resource
according to Nwosu (1980) are limitless: yet the resource available to meet all
these demands and claims are limited. There
is therefore need for a financial
plan or budget which
not only mobilizes, public resources but
endeavors to allocate the same to the competing needs of the differ from
place to place and country to country according to the participants in the budgetary process, and also according to the
underlining norms, values, interest and
economic goals of
the budgetary
actors. Wealthy nations such as the
United States of America, Germany, Japan,
France and Saudi Arabia are likely to
have large annual budgets. On the other hand poor states such as Togo, Republic of Benin,
Chard, Malairi and Lesotho have
small annual budgets. Whatever the size
and content of a country’s budget it is often meant to serve as a plan of
action for those who will implement it. But there is often a wide gap between the intentions of those who
prepare the budget and actual accomplishment. Although the language of the
budget may require that certain objectives and goals be accomplished through
planned expenditure at the end of the financial year, investigations may reveal
that no funds have been spent for these
goals and objectives rather funds have been diverted to unbudgeted projects or expenditures. Some times certain stated
objectives are not attended to become financial mismanagement. A government
budget which is a plan for the collection and expenditure of monies needed to
carry out the social, military and
economic policies of an administration (Ndan 2009). A government budget in its
entire ramifications is fragile with many definitions base on the views of
scholars and administrators. Ujo et al
(2001) asserted the budget is a control device used by administrators to guide them
in the allocation of resources. Further
more, (Abdullahi 2008)
seen that the budget as a control
device of specific expenditure for
projects. In a similar view, Robins
(1980) observes that budgets are control devices that are designed to guide
the actions of a unit and to provide feedback if the budget is secured. They are
the standards for comparing actual expenditure.