The budgetary process is the means by which the executive and legislative branches together formulate a coherent set of taxing and spending proposals. The mechanics of this process, and the relative roles of the two parts of government, differ considerably among countries.

Although the process of preparing and discussing a national budget has progressed considerably during the 20th century, it is in a number of senses still inferior to the way budgeting is carried out by private sector companies or indeed by individuals. Commercial practice is governed by a series of well-defined rules, and firms are required to produce a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and to monitor their cash flow carefully. The total indebtedness of a company is monitored closely by its shareholders, who are also critical of future forecasts of profits and growth. Individuals who fail to budget adequately are equally closely monitored by bank managers and credit agencies, and those with complicated affairs can draw upon skilled professional help.

The accountability of government, even in a well-developed democracy, is in reality considerably less acute, or certainly less clear, than that of companies to their shareholders or individuals to their various creditors. As a result, governmental budgeting is frequently of lower quality than is the norm in the private sector. Forecasts of receipts and expenditures are often wildly at variance with reality; changes to accounting practices are sometimes made for cosmetic political purposes; and certain distinctions, such as those between capital and current expenditures, are frequently blurred deliberately.

These criticisms of the national budgetary process are more valid in some countries than in others. The extent of scrutiny of the national budget varies widely, and governments vary in how ready they are to provide relevant information and to what degree they try to obscure features of the budget by complicated and disjointed presentation. The United States has a relatively open budget, which is presented as a whole and subjected to congressional scrutiny. In contrast, the government of the United Kingdom presents the budget in different documents at different times, and, although subject to parliamentary scrutiny, it is rarely changed.

Since 1921 the budget of the United States has been the responsibility of the president. It is prepared under his direct authority by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The process begins when the various departments and agencies prepare their appropriation requests, based on expenditures required under existing law and those estimated under new legislation to be proposed by the president. These requests are carefully scrutinized by the OMB. In case of disagreement, Cabinet officers negotiate directly with the president, who is ultimately responsible.

Unlike the budgets of many countries, that of the United States deals mainly with expenditures. Revenue is covered in much less detail. Great significance is ascribed to the size of the expected deficit or surplus, even though there is no legal requirement that the budget be in balance.

The budget is submitted in January and normally applies to appropriations for the fiscal year beginning July 1. These must normally be spent in the following two years. For some items, such as construction or procurement of military hardware, appropriations are made to cover expenditures for the whole construction period.

When the budget reaches the House of Representatives, it is distributed among the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee. Each subcommittee is concerned with a particular organizational unit. There is virtually no consideration of the budget as a whole by the committee as a whole. Revenues fall under the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee of the House and are considered separately and possibly even at a different time from appropriations. The upper house of Congress, the Senate, plays a secondary role with respect to the budget. Its Appropriations Committee acts as a kind of court of appeal from the House Appropriations Committee. These procedures allow more coordination than appearance would suggest. The committee chairmen are among the most influential members of Congress, and the committee staffs are experienced and skillful.

The president sends three documents to Congress in January: the State of the Union Message, the Budget, and the Economic Report. The first is addressed to broad national policy, whereas the Economic Report is concerned with economic policy alone. In particular, it seeks to assess the economic impact of the budget and its effect on employment and prices. It is therefore mainly concerned with the stabilization rather than the administrative aspects of the budget.

Budget makers in the United States must also consider the international balance of payments. This is a relatively new problem for the United States, which enjoyed a balance-of-payments surplus until the 1960s. Since that time, declining trade balance, coupled with heavy military commitments abroad, has required that budgetary and other economic measures be designed with international as well as national economic balance in mind.

There is no formal machinery for ensuring that the budget strikes a satisfactory balance among the different programs contained in it. But the alternatives receive a good deal of scrutiny. Cabinet officers have their clienteles in the public and in Congress and through them can bring political power to bear in the competition for funds. Similarly, the congressional committees are able to exert some influence on the budget during its preparation. The president for his part is not passive; he has a political position of his own that permits him to assert his conception of the national interest. Other pressures come from the taxpayers, who are able to express their stand on expenditures both to Congress and to the president.

A satisfactory outcome for the allocative process depends on the evenness with which these competing forces are balanced. Opinions differ. It can be said that the process of decision making is at least an open one, even though vested interests have entrenched themselves in particular areas. Although amendments to the budget are usually minor, the influence of Congress is not negligible. The prospect of facing Congress is a sobering one to the officers of government; congressional committees often strongly influence departmental budget recommendations. The secretary of agriculture, for example, may have a relationship with the agricultural committees of Congress that is closer than his relationship with the president.