PA 641 - Public Budgeting and Finance Administration

1. Describe how government influences the economy: particularly its powers to influence price, distribution of goods and services and the distribution of income or wealth.
2. Discuss taxation theory and concepts, how and why state and local governments tax certain goods and services, and how to apply user fees.
3. Describe the budgetary process at the federal, state, and local levels, providing an overview of how public organizations are managed today via governmental budgets with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area and California local and regional government.
4. Articulate the elements involved in the full governmental budgeting cycle and demonstrate critical thinking, assessment, and analytical skills as public administrators by using governmental budgets as a set of management instrument and administrative control.
5. Identify the various types of budgets and the advantages and disadvantages of each type, thereby emphasize the importance of meeting public accountability and understand priority-setting in alternative budget scenarios under limited and/or scarce funding resources.
6. Explain the difference between the technical, socio-economic, and political aspects of governmental budgeting and the budgetary roles and interactions between policymakers, public administrators, special interests, community interests and the public environment during budget deliberation and presentation.