Summative Assessment: Budget Proposal Strategy

Summative Assessment: Budget Proposal Strategy

The criminal justice agency simply means court, police or law enforcement agency mandated to perform administration of criminal justice, including community supervision, pretrial services, and prosecution. The criminal justice agency I will discuss is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose mission is to defend and protect the U.S against foreign threats by enforcing laws in the country (Federal Bureau of Investigation (n.d). Basically, the FBI as a police agency has a budget that is strategically designed to enable the agency to address the current threats in the country. For instance, given the work that the FBI is mandated to do, it has numerous numbers of initiatives that require enough budget for maintenance and development. More importantly, the agency has a long-term strategic approach that allows it to best understand the implication of its proposed initiatives.

In financial analysis, budgeting is more than collecting revenue and expenditure estimates. This is because the budget is designed to enable an organization or agency to achieve its objectives. Basically, a budget is a systematic plan that shows where money will come from, the amount spent, and what will be spent (Ryckman, 2019). Thus, by understanding various budgeting formats, the FBI can improve resources allocation and develop short-term and long-term plans for its future operations as a law enforcement agency in America. Budgeting is an essential factor to the FBI agency; it helps guide the daily decisions, resources allocation, and salary in long-term fiscal planning. Although budgeting is important in keeping the agency progressive in service delivery, the reality is that the process is not a straightforward task as some issues are experienced at some point. Therefore, to identify the budget issues that affect most organizations and agencies like the FBI, they need to look at their expenses.

One of the selected budget issues I would like to discuss is expense allocations. This issue is important for the agency to overcome in the budget because without limit allocation, the expenditure can exceed the budget allocated to the agency, thus resulting in financial shortfalls. It is important for the agency to understand how they use their budget allocation to ensure that the resources are efficiently and effectively used. Moreover, the budget expense allocations issue enables the agency to limit operating costs to the lowest possible amount to protect the country's mandated objective. Basically, expanse allocations are an important budget issue to the FBI because it enables the agency to know the amount of money it needs to spend during the budget period. It is because if the budget allocated to the agency remains on the ground that it is not spent, then the next budget allocation will be reduced. The trend of expense allocation makes an agency believe it is entitled to a certain amount of funding each year, irrespective of its actual need.

In addition, looking at my selected budget issue of discussion, it is evident that it might be different at different levels. It is true expenses allocation of State and local operating agencies are different; thus, the budgeting issue of expense allocation is different at both levels. At different levels of the agency, budget allocations might not be accurately estimated because reoccurring expenses are not included in the budget at both the state and local levels (Ryckman, 2019). This indicates that at different levels of FBI agency operation, they should be modified so that each level can have a budgeting allocation that satisfies its operations. For instance, to meet the expenses and smooth running of the agency at each level, the agency needs to ensure that it has routine monitoring of its budgetary allocations so that to ensure the amounts budgeted are sufficient to meet the expenditures. The expense allocations issue is different at each agency level because their expenditure is different, thus identifying the specific amount of allocation in each level of operation. For instance, with enough expense allocations, the FBI can address the country's security by disrupting and detecting domestic terrorism across the U.S. Therefore, it is evident that expense allocations might be different at different levels because each focuses on achieving the same goal at different levels of their operations.

The expense allocations are a budgeting issue that needs a significant approach to help the organization create a budget with consideration of the previous year's expenditure. Expense allocations in budgeting ensure that the agency's resources are effectively and efficiently used. Given the impact of the issue on the agency's budgeting, there are different approaches that I have identified to be essential in improving the issue. The first thing I have identified to improve the budget issue is identifying spending requirements. As that means that the agency has to outline all expenditures and financial obligations they plan to cover with their budgets. This should include salary, inventory and expenses (Bragg, 2022). Another way to improve the budgeting issue is choosing the right budgeting method that best fit agency needs. With the use of activity-based budgeting, the FBI agency will be able to calculate the exact total cost needed to meet the agency's activities in each financial year. Also, determining funding methods is another significant way of improving the expansion allocations of the agency. By determining the funding methods, the FBI runs its programs and initiatives because it has enough resources that are well allocated. Although the three identified approaches can help improve the budget issue, governing policies may affect the approach because they are adopted to clarify the expenditure based on government allocation. Also, governing policies ensure that budget allocated meets the agency's financial needs; thus, no other expenses can be added without informing the government on the need. Moreover, the policies also clarify the budgeting allocation and process; thus, it is not easy the adjustment of expense allocation by the agency. More importantly, the governing policies always have regulations and tax policies that the agency needs not exceed in its budgeting structure. Consequently, the public sector funding may affect my approach of improving the expense allocations because they lack enough funds to cater to the agency's smooth running. Furthermore, the public sectors include entities owned or controlled by the government; thus, depending on them will lead to agencies' failure to meet their needs due to a lack of funds.

Budgeting is an important tool to any agency because it helps implement the plan. Evidently, a budget proposal is an important document because it clearly provides a financial budget plan that displays expenses and reasons for the expenses. Therefore, given that I need to compile the budget proposal that addresses the expense allocations issue, it will be significant to develop that measure and indicate the agency's performance. For instance, the main reason for compiling the budget proposal is to ensure it meets the agency's expenses; thus, the first strategy is creating the objectives that ensure the allocated budget meets the agency's needs (Bragg, 2022). In addition, given the FBI's main focus is to address the current range of threats to the country while focusing on the future needs of the FBI. Thus, for that need, I would ensure that the agency increases its spending by expanding its services, thus sourcing for new financial sponsors. Also, the budget goals should be focused on ensuring that it aids in ensuring that the agency is successful in its operations. Also, I will ensure that the agency's activities are controlled by management as that will help meet the meeting and address the budget issue of expenditure. In addition, communicating plans of how the budget will be used will help ensure that everyone understands the plans, initiatives, and goals that the agency needs to achieve at the end of every financial year.  

Cost worksheet is an important element to any organization because it helps to analyze components of cost in order to show per unit cost of given products. The agency I have selected can meet its goals with the cost worksheet by creating a strategy for each project.

Cost Worksheet (2020)

References

Bragg, S. (2022, January 24). Budgeting problems. Accounting Tools. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/the-problems-caused-by-budgeting.html

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) FY 2022 ... - justice. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://www.justice.gov/jmd/page/file/1399031/download

Ryckman, M. L. (2019, April 24). What is a budgetary allocation? Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/budgetary-allocation-31340.html