From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Obligation photo credit: smudie A legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. A promise to pay. The obligation, the promise to pay, is the initial action in the Federal spending process. Appropriations laws establish whether funds are available to … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Bases of Budgeting photo credit: Scott Ableman Methods for calculating budget figures. Not all methods are mutually exclusive. For example, the federal budget includes both net and gross figures and reports both obligations and cash or cash equivalent spending. As a general rule, budget receipts … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Outlay photo credit: smudie Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. The issuance of checks, disbursement of cash, or electronic transfer of funds made to liquidate a federal obligation. Outlays also occur when interest on … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Offsetting Receipts Collections that are offset against gross outlays but are not authorized to be credited to expenditure accounts. Offsetting receipts are deposited in receipt accounts. Like offsetting collections, they result from (1) businesslike transactions or market-oriented activities with the public, (2) intragovernmental transfers, and … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Refunds Improper Payments in State-Administered Programs: Medicaid Payments returned to the government that were made in error. They are credited to the appropriation originally charged. Either (1) the return of money that the government improperly collected or collected in excess of the amount … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Offsetting Collections photo credit: Seth Tisue Collections authorized by law to be credited to appropriation or fund expenditure accounts. They result from (1) businesslike transactions or market-oriented activities with the public, (2) intragovernmental transfers, and (3) collections from the public that are governmental in nature … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Collections photo credit: thewebprincess Amounts received by the federal government during the fiscal year. Collections are classified into three major categories: (1) governmental receipts (also called budget receipts or federal receipts), (2) offsetting collections, and (3) offsetting receipts. Governmental receipts result from the exercise of … Read more