modern operational budgeting procedure

by studying the evolution history of budgeting systems, you may discern three stages: in the first stage, controlling role of budget is regarded its major function. in the second stage, budget is considered as a means for management improvement. in the third stage, the role of budget is considered in economic planning, implementation of programs and government performance management. after world war ii, the developed countries began to devise and apply types of budgeting systems that classified under performance-based in order to improve the management known as operational budgeting in various types this budgeting system survived in most of these countries in later years. operational budgeting has lead to different actions in different countries and in different times. these actions in extensive level comprise the following two definitions: 1. operational budgeting in relation to budgeting with the emphasis on outputs of governments operations rather than the inputs 2. operational budgeting in relation to classifying governments operations on the basis of plans and activities that lead to outputs production. in this definition, operational budgeting is often used as synonymous to program-based budgeting. meanwhile, there is a vast literature regarding program-based budgeting but unfortunately as there is not a unique model for program-based budgeting and since the terms such as program-based budgeting, operational budgeting, planning-programming-budgeting system (ppbs) and results- or output-oriented budgeting are often used interchangeably, the literature has become chaotic. this paper tries to explain the characteristics and deployment trends of all budgeting systems such as planning system, planning-budgeting and modern operational budgeting.