Budgeting Decisions Research Articles

Equality and quality: The influence of private funds in public arts education in Boston and Baltimore

The aim of this article is to explore the influence of private foundation funding on arts policy and practice in two large, urban school districts: Boston Public Schools and Baltimore City Schools. Both school systems experienced declining enrollments and graduation rates, and in an era of high stakes testing and accountability, schools in both districts were described as “failing.” Central administration positions were eliminated in both school systems, and more authority over budget and program decisions was given to school principals. These building leaders often verbally supported the value of arts education, yet they felt unable to support arts educators in their school budgets. It was not surprising when they accepted nongovernmental funds to expand arts instruction in their schools. A priority for educational philanthropists is to help schools compensate for social inequalities, which was true of the funders who supported arts education in Baltimore and Boston. But increased access to arts instruction does not guarantee that every student in a school system receives a high-quality, sustained arts education. Using relevant literature to describe quality in arts education, an argument is made that equality can be achieved only to the extent that discussions of quality are central to strategic planning for arts expansion. Finally, philanthropic investments in research and advocacy have been considered some of the most prudent investments in education. Although research has not yet been conducted on the Baltimore or Boston arts education expansion, well-designed studies could support the models and expand the arts education vision to other, similar school systems.

Aggressively Helpful: A Case Study of Innovative Outreach to Special Library Patrons

This article is written by Kris Turner is the Associate Director of Public Services at the University of Wisconsin Law Library. He holds a MLS from the University of Wisconsin. He is currently attending University of Wisconsin Law School part-time and expects to receive his JD in 2020. Special libraries must effectively communicate value to prove the library’s worth to stakeholders making budgetary decisions. The University of Wisconsin Law Library embarked on a campaign of aggressive helpfulness to better serve existing patrons and reach under-served populations. The library implemented a three-pronged strategy that used formal workshops, informal events, and social media to emphasize the value the library provides. This article discusses the techniques used by the law library to better communicate value through aggressive helpfulness and provides tips on how other special libraries can successfully implement their own proactive outreach.

The President as Legislative Leader: The Use of Veto Power in Environmental Policy Making

Presidents use legislative powers in many ways to influence environmental policy. The relationship between partisanship and the use of these powers is an open question. Previous research has shown that legislative powers such as the passage of legislation and budgetary decisions display bipartisan effects. This study argues that this does not hold true for veto power. Presidents of different parties approach environmental legislation differently and use vetoes in dissimilar ways. Understanding these differences allows for a better comprehension of how environmental policy decisions are made and the role of presidents in this process.

,,,Financial Impact of the Opioid Crisis on Local Government: Quantifying Costs for Litigation and Policymaking

The opioids epidemic has had a significant impact on individuals and communities, including local governments responsible for serving and protecting those affected individuals. This is the first study of its kind to consider whether those local government costs are quantifiable, a question that has salience both for pending opioid litigation in federal and state courts and for local planning and budgeting decisions. This article first provides a detailed description of the opioid litigation landscape, including the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Ohio, the Native American tribes’ actions, and various procedural and other hurdles that local government plaintiffs face in seeking monetary recovery in court. The article also provides a literature review of existing studies on the financial impacts of the opioid epidemic, noting the shortcomings of those studies in regards to quantifying costs for local governments. Finally, it describes our study methodology, which involved unstructured, qualitative interviews with local government department heads and other service providers to determine the extent to which their opioid costs could be readily captured. Our findings reveal that some costs are easy to track and correlate with opioids, specifically, and we provide sample calculations for some of those; other costs are not currently tracked as opioid-specific but could be with additional effort, an effort we intend to undertake with future stages of this project; and still other costs are very hard to disaggregate or quantify, although they are very real and, often, significant. Ultimately, this article provides local governments and policymakers with observations and conclusions on how to calculate the damages governments have incurred from the opioid epidemic, as well the necessary data to make informed decisions in the future.

Monetary evaluation of marine reserve ecosystem services in the Caribbean

The paper presents the findings of an evaluation of the total economic value (TEV) of marine ecosystems of a planned marine reserve in Precheur, North of Martinique, Caribbean. Almost 95% of the TEV, estimated at EUR 58 million annually, derives from non-use values, while about 5% are from Direct use values with a predominance of leisure values, and less than 1% percent comes from the Indirect use values despite the high biodiversity interest of the location. In that regards, estimates made in the context of this study are to be considered as orders of magnitude intended to feed the strategic dialogue for the development of the future marine reserve on one hand, and budgetary decisions of public policy guidelines on the other. It is therefore essential to adopt a collaborative approach between all actors involved on the coast. Moreover, public policies must take into account the protection of marine ecosystems and even more of their enhancement in a perspective that combines economic utilitarianism and selflessness. The marine ecosystems of Le Precheur have indeed emerged as elements of the identity of the coastal population of Le Precheur but also of Martinique as a whole and, as such, must be highlighted.

The Effects of Working Capital Management on Profitability of Manufacturing Companies: The Case of Dire Dawa City

In every organization, corporate finance deals with three decisions: capital structure decisions, capital budgeting decision, and working capital management decisions. Among these three decisions, working capital management is recognized as an important concern of the financial manager. The study examines the effects of working capital management on profitability of manufacturing companies in Dire Dawa city and have the following research objectives: Examine the effect of number of days account receivable (NDAR) on profitability of manufacturing companies, Examine the effect of number of days inventories (NDI) on profitability of manufacturing firms, To investigate the effect of no of days account payable (NDAP) on profitability of manufacturing firms and Examine the effect of cash conversion cycle (CCC) on profitability of manufacturing firms. The research was quantitative that utilizes secondary data of companies from 2011 – 2015 for sample of 14 companies to address the objectives. The study purposively selected Dire Dawa city this is because of the majority of the Eastern region industries found in this city. The secondary data was collected from different company’s records about from audited balance sheet and income statement that was submitted to Ethiopian revenue and custom authority Dire Dawa branch and Dire Dawa Administration Revenue Authority for tax purpose. The result of the study shows that there is significantly negative relationship between number of date account receivable, number of day’s inventory holding and company’s profitability. The study reveals that there is no significant relationship between number of days account receivable and profitability. But cash conversion cycle has significant negative relationship with profitability. Moreover debt ratio has statistically negative relationship with company’s profitability.

A Real Options Analysis of Spacecraft Software Product Line Architectures

Software and systems engineering for aerospace platforms presents many unique challenges. The decision if, and how, to employ software product line architectures is one recurring question. Real options analysis—applying option valuation techniques to budgeting decisions—can be a powerful tool for engineering managers, project leaders, and mission directors. In this paper, we demonstrate a real options valuation approach to explore this question.

Multilevel competing risks model for the performance assessment of highway pavement

ABSTRACT Transportation and highway infrastructure maintenance practices, including the use of preservation models and optimal budgeting decisions are being implemented nationwide to ensure overall sustainability of roadway networks. This research employs the competing risk framework as a model to evaluate the extent and contribution of different modes of pavement failure to the overall deterioration of highway pavements. Stochastic models are formulated from legacy inspection data for pavements segments monitored for the past 35 years to evaluate the performance of highway pavements using the product limit survival estimates, cumulative incidence functions, and cause-specific hazards. With failure defined based on an established inspected condition threshold, the results showed that the three modes of failure (cracking, riding and rutting) are all significant to the failure of pavements. As the roadway pavement section ages the chance of failure is likely due to cracking than the other competing events. Based on the road functional classifications, the survival probabilities and the cumulative incidence estimates showed that the cracking defect was predominant on both interstate and non-interstate roadways. Also, urban and rural pavements deteriorated by the cracking and riding defects with the rutting failure mode being significant at the end of the service life of the pavement.

A survey of capital budgeting practices used by firms in Barbados

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the capital budgeting practices used by firms in Barbados using contingency theory.Design/methodology/approachThe study involves the use of a self-administered questionnaire sent to the individual responsible for capital budgeting decisions (either the accountant, financial controller or senior manager) in each of the firms selected. In total, 41 completed questionnaires are received; 12 follow-up interviews are conducted with respondents to indicate the reasons for use and non-use of capital budgeting practices.FindingsCapital budgeting practices are not widely used by firms in Barbados. The payback method (PBM) is determined to be the preferred method of choice because of its simplicity, agility and cultural practices. Based on contingency theory, organisations in Barbados believe that the PBM is a better fit for them. Top management drives the capital budgeting process with crude and non-traditional methods for the acceptance of capital projects. While there are no statistically significant differences in the capital budgeting practices used in different sectors, professional accountants are more likely to use net present value and sensitivity analysis than non-professional accountants.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is small, and consequently, findings may not be generalisable to the population.Originality/valueThis study makes a significant contribution to the body of literature in emerging countries such as Barbados on the usage of capital budgeting practices and factors that may influence their usage. It further contributes to policymakers, practitioners, organisations and stakeholders of organisations.

Costs and outcomes in evaluating management of unhealed surgical wounds in the community in clinical practice in the UK: a cohort study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the patient pathways and associated health outcomes, resource use and corresponding costs attributable to managing unhealed surgical wounds in clinical practice, from initial presentation in the community in...

Does participatory budgeting improve decentralized public service delivery? Experimental evidence from rural Russia

We present findings of the first experimental evaluation of the participatory budgeting (PB) model carried out in rural Russia within the context of a major decentralization reform. The reform aimed (among other things) to increase citizens’ participation in budgetary decision making and to strengthen public oversight over budget implementation in rural settlements. The experiment provided randomly allocated training and technical assistance to the settlement population and local authorities helping to introduce PB practices into the budgetary cycle. We document that training alone was not successful to ensure an effective implementation of PB. By contrast, training coupled with on-the-ground technical assistance generated full implementation of the PB cycle. Overall, we find that the implementation of PB increased citizen’s engagement in public decision making and raised local tax revenue collection. However, we find larger effects when the PB model was implemented in settlements with more years of prior experience with political and administrative decentralization. Among these settlements, we find that PB not only increased citizen’s participation and tax revenue collection, but also that preferences for public services between authorities and citizens were better aligned, local administrations allocated larger fractions of public budgets to services identified as top priorities by citizens, and citizens were more satisfied with public services. Our findings highlight: (1) the importance of context specific on-the-ground technical assistance to ensure effective implementation of participatory models; and (2) the relevance of taking the historical and institutional context into account when planning and sequencing meaningful participatory decentralization reforms.

BAGAIMANA KEUANGAN ISLAM MENGGUNAKAN FAKTOR DISKONTO DALAM CAPITAL BUDGETING DECISION?

<em>In the conventional financial management, the method of calculating the</em><em> capital budgeting decision using NPV and IRR, which both use the interest rate as one of its component count (as a discount factor). Then, how Islamic financial management sees this? With the research methods of literature study, this paper is about the financial outlook of Islam the methods of NPV and IRR as well as finding out what the proper method for capital budgeting decision. Results of the study were that in the process capital budgeting decision, the use of NPV and IRR methods are allowed (according Obaidullah, Prof. Shabir F.Ulgener, and Zarqa). The interest rate in the calculation only as a means of simplification and ease in the calculation. The use of a list of compound interest rate (compounded interest) is a tool to calculate the expected rate today and the future. It can be said that the Islamic finance uses a list of compound interest rate as a tool for simplify the calculation, just as a comparison level of opportunity cost in alternative investments. The level of interest in the calculation of these can be replaced with a comparator, such as: the return on the sukuk, the profit sharing ratio, and the return on investment or other real instruments in Islam.</em>

The impact of the economic crisis and obstacles to investments at local level

The global economic crisis had a significant impact on the fiscal stance of local government units. The literature discusses this issue by explaining that financial crises change budget decisions of central state authorities towards the financing of those priorities which could improve the economic situation at national level. The impact of the change in national government’s decisions influences local government units differently depending on the level of their fiscal autonomy. Investments at the local level are below pre-crisis levels in most European Union countries. This article analyzes the impact of the financial crisis on the fiscal imbalance showing that there is a lack of financial resources for investments. Due to fiscal constraints and annual borrowing limits of regional and local public administration authorities, the affordability of projects and investments is limited. Furthermore, the article analyzes the obstacles to investments at local level in Croatia, a country belonging to the group of European Union Member States which was hit hardest by the crisis and experienced a larger drop in investments. The results of the survey conducted among members of regional assemblies have been analyzed with respect to the level of local development and other factors enabling to identify more precisely the obstacles to investment.

Analysts’ Forecasts, the Abandonment Option and Intellectual Capital

The abandonment option under various capital budgeting models are discussed in this manuscript to bring forth the notion that present value of cash flows is often improperly estimated in the financial models utilized in the decision analytic process. In this study, Intellectual Property Rights and other intangible assets often are not considered in accounting estimation processes utilized in financial accounting. A decision maker often utilizes misestimates of the present value of cash flow resulting in less than optimum capital budgeting decisions. Decisions to abandon for salvage and other similar decisions improve when the present value of intangibles and property rights are included in the decision process. This last statement is the goal of this study and to present well founded processes to improve abandonment and similar decisions in capital budgeting decisions. The estimation problem in financial accounting is included in the analysis to accomplish this goal.

Corporate finance approaches of Icelandic private firms after the financial crisis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide insights about corporate finance decision-making of Icelandic private firms that have experienced a dramatic financial crisis in 2008–2010. It observes the capital budgeting methods and cost of capital techniques for private firms after a systemic financial crisis. Moreover, the paper identifies the main determinants of capital structure and capita rationing during this period.Design/methodology/approachThis paper surveys corporate finance practices of 80 out of the 250 largest bank-centred private firms after the financial crisis.FindingsHighly leveraged private firms that have experienced a dramatic financial crisis in 2008–2010 use payback and net present value techniques almost at a similar rate when assessing new investments. The sample firms largely rely on the cost of debt to determine the cost of invested capital. However, capital asset pricing model is the most popular method among the few sample firms that estimate the cost of equity. The need to maintain financial flexibility and cost associated with financial distress are the most influential factors regarding capital structures, whereas investment practices avoid capital rationing associated with the financial crisis.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the study are that it is country specific and absence of data over the period before the financial crisis that may have been applied to present more insight into this topic.Practical implicationsSample firms fail to incorporate appropriate cost of capital methods and as the result they are likely to apply incorrect “hurdle rate” which could undervalue or overvalue new investments. This paper indicates that capital budgeting decisions by managers of the bank-centred Icelandic private firms who tend to be major shareholders do not reflect the tendency to expropriate outside and minority investors. Private firms that have emerged from the meltdown of the financial system highlighting the importance of “special” lending relationship in assisting bank-centred firms to avoid the severity of financial constraints.Originality/valueThis study employs a failure of the banking system to provide new knowledge about corporate finance practices of private firms after the financial crisis that have curtailed the access to both internal and external sources of capital.

PHP215 - DANISH MEDICINE COUNCIL PROCESS OF ASSESSING NEW HOSPITAL MEDICINES– FIRST YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION

The Danish Medicines Council was established on January 1, 2017. The Council and AMGROS assesses the value of new hospital drugs based on a clinical assessment and categorization of the clinical value using the Grades of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation system, an economic assessment of the added costs per patient as well as the overall budgetary impact to set a framework for the procurement of the same. The aim of this study was to describe the new process and the outcomes of the recommendations during first year of implementation. A review of the guidelines was conducted and assessments reports were reviewed. Categorization of clinical value, categorization of severity and safety, incremental costs and budget impact, final recommendation and decision on reimbursement were analyzed. Eleven hospital drugs were assessed by the Council in 2017. Factors associated with a lower clinical evidence grade included contradicting study results and indirect comparisons. Factors associated with a higher grade included large incremental efficacy and a dose-response gradient in the results. Only two drugs were not recommended on the basis of limited incremental clinical value compared to costs. Two drugs received a restricted recommendation. One drug received a negative recommendation from AMGROS but a positive recommendation from the Council based on the severity and safety principal, with recommendations to follow the usage in a registry. The highest publically available assessed incremental cost per patient based on list price was DKK 1M per patient and year and one average DKK 160k per patient and year. However, because of confidential price agreements the true willingness to pay could not be assessed. Hospital products in Denmark assessed with this process becomes subject to public procurement which seem to influence the recommendations regardless of the clinical added value is considered to be high or low.

Economic Analysis of Vaccination Programs: An ISPOR Good Practices for Outcomes Research Task Force Report

This report provides recommendations for budget holders and decision makers in high-, middle, and low-income countries requiring economic analyses of new vaccination programs to allocate scarce resources given budget constraints. ISPOR’s Economic Evaluation of Vaccines Designed to Prevent Infectious Disease: Good Practices Task Force wrote guidelines for three analytic methods and solicited comments on them from external reviewers. Cost-effectiveness analyses use decision-analytic models to estimate cumulative changes in resource use, costs, and changes in quality- or disability-adjusted life-years attributable to changes in disease outcomes. Constrained optimization modeling uses a mathematical objective function to be optimized (e.g. disease cases avoided) for a target population for a set of interventions including vaccination programs within established constraints. Fiscal health modeling estimates changes in net present value of government revenues and expenditures attributable to changes in disease outcomes. The task force recommends that those designing economic analyses for new vaccination programs take into account the decision maker’s policy objectives and country-specific decision context when estimating: uptake rate in the target population; vaccination program’s impact on disease cases in the population over time using a dynamic transmission epidemiologic model; vaccination program implementation and operating costs; and the changes in costs and health outcomes of the target disease(s). The three approaches to economic analysis are complementary and can be used alone or together to estimate a vaccination program’s economic value for national, regional, or subregional decision makers in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.

Does Management Accounting Information Meet the Needs of SMEs? An Investigation of Its Usefulness from Manufacturing Enterprises

The use of appropriate management accounting techniques for the problem at hand are useful to managers. This study describes the level of usefulness of management accounting tools (MATs) used, test the relationship of MATs used to net income and capital, test of difference between the level of its usefulness and the difficulties encountered in applying the tools. Questionnaire survey was used to obtain information from manufacturing sector. Frequency, median, Spearman Rho and Mann-Whitney U were utilized to analyze the data. The study suggest that medium firms utilized more tools than small enterprises. Statement of cash flow analysis, capital budgeting decisions and financial budgets were considered as the very useful tools used. Likewise, the study developed significant relationship between selected variables of size, level of net income and level of capital to the level of its usefulness for medium-sized enterprises and sufficient to create significant difference between the levels of its usefulness. Lack of qualified employees and its use are not deem necessary as to the nature of the enterprise operations ranked as the top barriers encountered in applying the tools. Therefore, the appropriateness of management accounting information depends upon the operating activities, strategies and the size of the organization.

Asymmetry in Priority Perception Form Local Community to PA – Budgeting through Citizen Participation (Municipality of Elbasan)

Abstract Considering several developments recently, especially at local self-government level, on budget design and application, we can notice that citizens have a deeply different perception on local PA performance than this last itself. Local government continuously claims their increasing performance, especially on accountability processes, even measuring it through effectiveness and efficiency of their investments as well as number and size of public services offered to the local community. Their pay-offs are not far of being glorious and making happy everybody taking notice on the presentation. While, on the other side, citizens of the same community have a far different view and estimation on this regard. They complain on communication, quality of public services, distribution quality of investments, division of local budget through sectors, till that point to refuse paying local taxes and tariffs, as well as burning career of “highly performance” local leaders (mayors) voting ‘no’ on elections not considering their ‘glorious increasing performance’ during the governmental mandate. Introducing citizen participation in a process of budget decision making in local self-government, especially during priority selection stage, as well as budgeting an important part of the local budget through common decision making – PA and community representativeness, analysing, first, the state of nature through adverse pricing or asymmetry reduction, both in their perception on prioritization, as well as estimating investments to each priority through independent estimation by each participator in a common Committee PA&citizens, Participatory Budgeting Committee, and second, presenting their project proposal, as well as defending it in front of the City Council, could produce a far better perceived performance by both sides.

참여정부의 게임 예산 결정 패턴 및 특징연구

참여정부의 게임 예산 결정 패턴 및 특징연구