Question 22

Does the Executive’s Budget Proposal or any supporting budget documentation present estimates of expenditure for more than one year prior to the budget year (that is, BY-2 and prior years) by any of the three expenditure classifications (by administrative, economic, or functional classification)?
 * a. Yes, expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are presented by all three expenditure classifications (by administrative, economic, and functional classification).
 * b. Yes, expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are presented by two of the three expenditure classifications.
 * c. Yes, expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are presented by only one of the three expenditure classifications.
 * d. No, expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are not presented by any expenditure classification.
 * e. Not applicable/other (please comment).

Guidelines
Question 22 asks if expenditure estimates for more than one year prior to the budget year (BY-2 and prior years) are presented by any of the three expenditure classifications — by administrative, economic, and functional classifications. Each of the classifications answers a different question: administrative unit indicates who spends the money; functional classification shows for what purpose is the money spent; and economic classification displays what the money is spent on. (See Questions 1-5 above.)

To answer “a,” the Executive’s Budget Proposal or its supporting documentation must present expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years by all three of the expenditure classifications. To answer “b,” expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years must be presented by two of these three classifications. A “c” answer applies if expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are presented by one of the three classifications. Answer “d” applies if expenditure estimates for BY-2 and prior years are not presented by any of the three classifications.

1) Some, but not all, expenditure by economic, administrative, or functional classification
Some countries present some, but not all, of expenditure by economic classification (for example: Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia). In these cases, if more than 2/3 of expenditure is presented by economic classification, the answer should be “a.” If less than 2/3 of expenditure is presented, it should be a “b.”

Some countries also present partial administrative classifications (Indonesia IYR in Q68 and Philippines YER in Q85) or functional classifications (Papua New Guinea YER in Q85). These cases were also accepted in OBS 2019 as more than 2/3 of expenditure is presented in the classification.

2) What counts as an economic classification?
In OBS 2019, we agreed that current and capital disaggregation are not sufficient to qualify as an economic classification. For an economic classification to be counted, it should have some level of disaggregation below the level of recurrent expenditures (such as wages or interest payments), though capital expenditures presented as a single line item is acceptable. In the case of Vietnam, their use of an “economic classification” shows varying degrees of detail across their budget documents. Vietnam’s EBP and EB include some categories below current expenditure, including interest payments, even though wages and salaries are not shown. The classifications shown in these two documents were accepted as economic classifications in OBS 2019. However, in Vietnam’s YER, expenditures were only shown with expenditure categories for capital, current, and contingencies. Because there was no disaggregation of the current expenditure, this presentation was not accepted as a economic classification in OBS 2019.