Governance (GOVN) 450

Overview

Governance 450: Public Budgeting and Financial Management in a Globalized World, a senior-level, three-credit course that examines, from a multidisciplinary perspective, the theory and practice of public budgeting and financial management in an era of globalization. The course conveys an understanding of the purposes and roles of budgeting in public organization and examines the major trends and the political, economic, and financial considerations involved in budgeting. One such consideration is globalization. You will explore the impact of globalization on the governance capacity of governments and discuss what globalization means for budgeting.

The course examines the various theories, practices, challenges, and reforms of budgeting and financial management in governments and government agencies. You will learn what public budgeting and its related theories are; how budgeting is formulated; what are the roles of politics, economics, and management in public budgeting; how public resources should be allocated efficiently; the impact of globalization on the governance capacity of governments; what globalization means for budgeting; and how feasible the recent public sector reform initiatives are. The content deals primarily with budgets and budgeting in Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal governments. Canadian and some international research on budgeting, governance, and globalization is reviewed.

Outline

The course consists of the following 12 units.

Unit 1: Introduction to Budgeting and Financial Management in an Era of Globalization.

Unit 2: Overview and Trends in Public Budgeting in Canada.

Unit 3: Theories of Budgeting.

Unit 4: Theory Continued-Politics and Bureaucracy in Public Budgeting.

Unit 5: Budgeting in the Federal Government.

Unit 6: Budgeting in the Provincial Governments.

Unit 7: Budgeting in Municipal Governments.

Unit 8: Macro-Economic Issues and Public Budgeting.

Unit 9: The Tax System, Tax Expenditures, and Tax Reform.

Unit 10: Accountability, Management, and Efficiency of Resource Allocation.

Unit 11: Public Sector Reform: Developments in Industrialized Countries.

Unit 12: Reform Initiatives and the Realities of Budgeting.

Evaluation

To receive credit for GOVN 450, you must complete all of the assignments, achieve a mark of at least 50 percent on the final examination, and obtain a course composite grade “D” (50 percent) or more. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

3 Written Assignments	Final Examination	Total
60%	40%	100%

The final examination for this course must be taken online with an AU-approved exam invigilator at an approved invigilation centre. It is your responsibility to ensure your chosen invigilation centre can accommodate online exams. For a list of invigilators who can accommodate online exams, visit the Exam Invigilation Network.

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbooks

Other Materials

The course materials also include a student manual, a study guide, and a reading file.

Challenge for Credit Course Overview

The Challenge for Credit process allows students to demonstrate that they have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university level course.

Full information for the Challenge for Credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.

• Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Policy
• Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Procedures

Challenge Evaluation

To receive credit for the GOVN 450 challenge registration, you must complete all required components, and achieve an overall grade of at least “D” (50 percent).

Written Assignment 1	Written Assignment 2	Exam	Total
10%	15%	75%	100%

Undergraduate Challenge for Credit Course Registration Form

• Challenge for Credit Form