Zero-Base Budgeting in Georgia State Government: Myth and Reality

Abstract

This article on zero-base budgeting presents an analysis of information obtained in a series of interviews with budgetary personnel in Georgia state government. Georgia was the first state to install zero-base budgeting,' and it is currently one of the states with the most highly developed ZBB process.2 The Georgia system also gained national attention during the 1976 presidential campaign as the leading example of ZBB applications in governmental budgeting.3 For these reasons the Georgia experience is an important source of information about the impact of ZBB on traditional budgeting practices. Much of the early literature dealing with ZBB focused on defining it and describing its formal procedures.4 Subsequent writings have assessed the adaptability of ZBB techniques to public organization,5 speculated about their impact on those organizations,6 and described the problems attendant to installing the system.' Advocates of ZBB have praised it as an innovative management tool,8 while critics have expressed doubt that it represents much that is new.9 Absent from the literature, however, is an empirical analysis of the impact of ZBB on budgetmakers and the budgetary process. This paper provides such an analysis.