Below are some key Federal Financial Management Terms:
- Authorization: Act of Congress that permits Federal programs or activities to exist and recommends funding levels.
- Appropriation: Act of Congress to provide Federal agencies with budget authority to obligate government to future outlay of cash for a specific purposes and period of time.
- Commitment: An administrative reservation of funds by the financial controller or resource manager triggered by a procurement or purchase request.
- Obligation: A legal reservation of funds that binds government to future expenditure and outlay of cash from the Treasury triggered by the signing of a contract, travel order, credit card transaction, etc.
- Expenditure: Issuance of a payment disbursement by electronic funds transfer, check, etc.
- Outlay: Payment of cash from Treasury to vendor to liquidate a financial obligation.
These should be helpful in understanding the Federal financial management processes.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
