Blog
Counting Trillions: Meet the Federal Budgeteers
Budgeteering: Not Your Average Bean Counting Let’s talk about a group of folks who’ve mastered federal budgeting—the budgeteers. These aren’t your garden-variety number crunchers. Budgeteers stand front and center, managing a colossal annual discretionary budget of nearly two trillion dollars, a figure that makes even the toughest calculators blink. When you consider the emergency supplementals […]
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From Mirage to Mastery: The Myth of ‘Single Source of Truth’ in Federal Budgeting
The Long Road to Mastery Imagine taking three years to grasp the ins and outs of your role. That’s the reality for newcomers to federal bureaucracy. They spend most of their time just learning processes and grasping the significance of data relationships, tirelessly chasing traceability and accuracy. The goal is to master the lifecycle integrity […]
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Ditching the Jack-of-All-Trades Software in Federal Budgeting
It’s no secret that federal budgeting often feels like you’re trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. The unpredictability, the diverse workforce, and the nonspecialized systems make it an Everest of a task. But what if the uphill climb could be transformed with the right equipment, fine-tuned to the distinct challenges federal budgeteers face? Let’s […]
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Navigating Challenges in Federal Budgeting: A Vision for the Future
The Silent Crisis in Federal Budgeting Managing, consolidating, and interpreting vast and intricate data is paramount in the complex labyrinth of federal budgeting. Yet, an undeniable challenge lurks in the shadows: the obstacle posed by disparate systems and data silos. This problem intensifies during high-pressure periods such as the production of the President’s Budget and […]
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Should Service Chiefs Be Accountable for Budgets?
It is a time-tested question and debate among VHA Directors, ADs, and CFOs: Should Service Chiefs be accountable for tracking and managing annual financial performance? There is a predictable and emerging trend for delegating to Service Chiefs financial authority to be accountable for financial performance. For Stations that wish to move in this direction, it is critically important to understand the governance structure (to include processes, decision making authority, and tools) that must be in place to effectively administer a delegated model.
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