Budgeting, Revenue and Cash Management cheat sheet

Introduction to public sector budgeting

• The Public Finance Management Act, 2012 is Kenya's principal law on how public money is planned for, raised, spent and accounted for at national and county level, giving effect to the Constitution's public finance provisions.
• A sound budget keeps spending within sustainable revenue and borrowing limits, manages debt prudently, keeps fiscal policy predictable, and is transparent, accountable and equitably shared between national and county governments.
• A recurrent budget covers day-to-day operating costs such as salaries, supplies and maintenance; a development budget covers capital spending such as infrastructure and other long-term investment.
• A programme-based budget organises spending by programme and expected outcome rather than only by line item, and a supplementary budget adjusts an approved budget mid-year.
• The budget cycle runs preparation, approval, execution, monitoring and reporting, then evaluation and audit, whose findings feed the next year's preparation.