Public Budgeting and Finance
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Public Budgeting and Finance explores the principles, practices, and challenges involved in the allocation and management of public resources. The course examines the processes by which government budgets are formulated, approved, implemented, and evaluated, emphasizing the political, economic, and managerial contexts that shape fiscal decision-making. Topics include revenue generation, expenditure analysis, financial reporting, fiscal federalism, cost-benefit analysis, and the roles of key actors such as legislatures, executives, and the public. Through case studies and practical exercises, students gain insights into issues of transparency, accountability, efficiency, and equity in managing public funds at various levels of government.
Recommended Textbook
Managing the Public Sector 9th Edition by Grover Starling
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12 Chapters
364 Verified Questions
364 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Nature of Public Administration
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Sample Questions
Q1) Generally speaking, the founding fathers approach to public administration was
A) Washingtonian
B) Jeffersonian
C) Madisonian
D) Hamiltonian
E) Whiggish
Answer: C
Q2) The classic management acronym POSDCORB is most closely associated with
A) Max Weber
B) Henri Fayol
C) Henry Mintzberg
D) Peter Drucker
E) Frederick Taylor
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: The Political-Legal Environment of Administration
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Sample Questions
Q1) Professionals in government have substantial control over agency operations.What are the bases of their power?
Answer: Professionals in government have substantial control over agency operations based on several factors. One basis of their power is their expertise and knowledge in their respective fields, which allows them to make informed decisions and effectively manage agency operations. Another basis is their authority and responsibility as designated by their positions and roles within the government agency. Additionally, professionals in government may also have power due to their connections and relationships within the government and with external stakeholders. Finally, the support and backing of higher-level government officials or political leaders can also contribute to the power of professionals in government. Overall, their power is derived from a combination of expertise, authority, relationships, and support within the government structure.
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Chapter 3: Intergovernmental Relations
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Sample Questions
Q1) Nixon's __________________ were part of a strategy to give more policymaking discretion and responsibility to the subnational governments.
A) categorical grants and mandate reform
B) formula grants and project grants
C) revenue sharing and formula grants
D) revenue sharing and block grants
E) block grants and mandate reform
Answer: D
Q2) During the 1980s, changing national priorities, tax cuts, and mounting deficits drove federal policy makers to cut funds going to the states and localities.Compounding the money problems was the problem of
A)double-digit inflation.
B)competitive federalism.
C)arrondissements.
D)interstate compacts.
E)unfunded mandates.
Answer: E
Q3) How do categorical grants differ from block grants?
Answer: not answered
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Administrative Responsibility and Ethics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the process of ethical analysis.
Q2) "Trust is a social good to be provided just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink." Who said that?
A) Sissela Bok
B) Philip K.Howard
C) Robert Redford
D) Sandra Day O'Connor
E) Ralph Nader
Q3) Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the following four approaches to ethics: the utilitarian ethic, obligation to formal principles, the rights ethic, and the ethics of Aristotle.Note: this question can be reformulated in a variety of ways.For example: "Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of two of the following three approaches ."
Q4) How might the concepts of product, price, promotion, and placement apply to the design of a customer-driven government program?
Q5) Why should an administrator study ethics?
Q6) How does Aristotle think one finds happiness?
Q7) What is administrative responsibility?
Q8) What is the difference between malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance?
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Planning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the three stages of crisis management.
Q2) According to Mitroff and Alpaslan, bombings, kidnappings, and cyber attacks are examples of:
A) irregular accidents
B) abnormal accidents
C) stochastic processes
D) 21st Century accidents
E) event-driven accidents
Q3) Discuss the barriers to public sector planning.How might these be overcome?
Q4) What is strategic planning and how does it work in the public sector?
Q5) Which of the following best explains the success of direct government action?
A)Eliminates transaction costs
B)Externalizes transaction costs
C)Third-party government
D)Relatively high media scrutiny
E)The power of eminent domain
Q6) How do policies, plans, and programs differ?
Q7) According to the new regionalists, there are three simple rules for developing the land.What are these rules and why might they be hard to realize in practice?
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Chapter 6: Decision Making
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following has NOT been identified by cognitive psychologists as a bias in human decision making?
A)Lack of confidence
B)Seeing only one dimension of uncertainty
C)Giving too much weight to readily available or most recent information
D)Ignoring laws of randomness
E)Being reluctant to audit and improve decision making
Q2) What are the four basic steps in systems analysis?
Q3) Compare and contrast systems analysis to operations research.
Q4) The four steps in systems analysis seldom occur in perfect sequence; therefore, the system approach is highly
A)linear.
B)geometric.
C)integrated.
D)iterative.
E)isometric.
Q5) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making techniques.
Q6) What are the four steps in program evaluation? Discuss some of the difficulties in doing an evaluation of a government program.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Organizing
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Sample Questions
Q1) How does a matrix organization operate.What are its strengths and weaknesses?
Q2) Explain the sports metaphor that Keidel uses to describe the kinds of interaction, communication, and chemistry at work in certain organizations today.
Q3) The text identified two types of teams: cross-functional and permanent.Given example of each.
Q4) When is the matrix type of organization best used?
I.When work is applied to standardized services with high volumes
II.When work is for narrowly defined projects
III.When the organization has a large number of specialists
A)I
B)II
C)III
D)land II
E)I, II, and III
Q5) According to the text, at least for critical questions must be addressed in designing an organization.What are they?
Q6) Defined a network organization and give an example.
Q7) List the key features of a bureaucracy.
Q8) What are some of the reasons that governments reorganize?
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Chapter 8: Leading
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Sample Questions
Q1) The slacker sees others as lazy; the selfish person complains that others do not share; the administrator with low concern for people complains that no one seems to take an interest in him.These are all examples of
A) reversion
B) projection
C) reification
D) misinterpretation
E) syncretism
Q2) "The significant factor affecting organizational productivity was not the physical conditions or monetary rewards derived from work but the interpersonal relations develop on-the-job." This was the central finding of:
A) Frederick Taylor's Shop Management
B) Abraham Maslow's The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
C) Hawthorne studies
D) Ohio State studies
E) Saul W.Gillerman's How People Work
Q3) How might an administrator actually use Maslow's hierarchy of needs?
Q4) What is the difference between McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y?
Q5) What leadership traits do you consider most important.Why?
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Chapter 9: Implementation
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Philadelphia office of the Department of Veterans Affairs uses _____________ to improve many of its processes.Similarly, the Defense Distribution Depot tries to mimic the distribution processes of such private carriers as Federal Express and UPS.
A) scheduling models
B) reengineering
C) total quality management
D) streamlining
E) benchmarking
Q2) In The <i>Fifth Discipline</i>, Peter Senge explains
A) the dangers of micromanaging
B) the importance of expediters
C) the importance of seeing the whole
D) the importance of follow-up
E) ways of improving participative decision making
Q3) In the case study "Friendly Fire," how did practical drift occur?
Q4) Why is the distinction between micromanagement and management-by-exception important?
Q5) What are the strengths and weaknesses of a management-by-objectives system?
Q6) What are the lessons of the case study "Friendly Fire" for every organization?
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Chapter 10: Human Resources Management
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is organizational culture and why is it important to administration?
Q2) Explain the difference between mediation, fact-finding, and arbitration.
Q3) Should public employees be allowed to strike?
Q4) What two subjects are off-limits to collective bargaining in virtually every jurisdiction?
A) types of positions assigned to any organizational unit and the agency mission
B) technology of the workplace and methods of performing work
C) the process for selecting employees and the agency mission
D) the process for selecting employees and types of positions assigned to any organizational unit
E) technology of the workplace and the process for selecting employees
Q5) Catholic schools may, if they choose, refuse to hire non-Catholic teachers.The basis of this refusal could be:
A) a "grandfather" clause
B) a BFOQ requirement
C) Executive Order 10987
D) the Civil Rights Act of 1991
E) the RICO Act
Q6) Discuss the relevance of the "big five" personality dimensions to recruiting and testing
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Public Financial Management
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Sample Questions
Q1) Under current federal budget procedures, the fiscal year 2011 will begin on
A)September 30, 2011.
B)October 1,2010.
C)January 1, 2012.
D)December 15, 2011.
E)July 1, 2011.
Q2) Which of the following concepts is most closely associated with a consumption tax?
A)Estate tax
B)User fees
C)Proportional tax
D)Value-added tax
E)Stabilization
Q3) Discuss some of the political strategies various agencies, legislators, and interest groups employ during the budgeting process.
Q4) What is the capital budget?
Q5) According to Allen Schick, there are three purposes of a budget.List these purposes and explain how these purposes shaped the budget's format.
Q6) What is debt management?
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Chapter 12: Information Management
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain data mining.
Q2) Describe the main characteristics of a "learning organization."
Q3) ________________ are designed for problems in which sets of rules exist to solve problems.
A) expert systems
B) executive information systems
C) decision-support systems
D) human portals
E) formal knowledge management programs
Q4) IBM has provided several National Basketball Association teams with software called Advanced Scout that allows coaches to ask "what if?" questions.Advance Scout is an interesting example of how ____________ works in basketball.
A) the five phase information management process
B) a firewall
C) data mining
D) a data warehouse
E) a virtual private network (VPN)
Q5) What role should the chief information officer (CIO) play in a government agency?
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