Annuality (principle of): principle whereby revenues and expenditure authorized by the finance bill are only valid for one year.
Programme authorization: cap on spending that paying agents are authorized to spend on investments provided for by development plans.
Complementary budget: account comprising the financial operations of a public department not granted legal entity status by law, and whose activity is mainly to produce goods and provide services in exchange of payment.
Economic budget: macro-economic forecast framework in the short term (2 years) detailing the range of operations by economic operators in terms of national accounts data.
General budget: account charting out annual state expenditure and revenue not specifically allocated as complementary budget or special treasury account.
Common charges: range of allocations in the general budget that are not assigned to a specific ministry because of their general nature.
Special treasury accounts: accounts used for operations that are not part of the general budget because of their very specific purpose, because they are subject to a causal relation between revenue and spending, or because of their lifespan.
Public accountant: civil servant or public agent entitled to collect revenue, spend public funds, or deal in government bonds.
Cap on spending: limit set on funds to be spent in the course of a budget year.
Unexpected spending and provisional allocations: special rubric allocated to no particular department which can cover, with regard to the running costs of the general budget, emergency spending or spending not provided for in the budget, using a supplementary allowance.
Pledge: act whereby a public entity makes or attests to a pledge entailing a charge.
Assistance funds: funds deposited by legal entities or natural persons to be pooled with public funds used for spending of common interest. These funds that also comprise the produce of donations and bequests derogate from the principle of non-allocation.
Settlement: operation involving the verification of the reality of debts incurred, and setting the extent of spending.
Finance bill for the year: bill that assesses provides for and authorizes the entire range of state revenues and spending for each budget year.
Corrective finance bill: bill that modifies, in the course of a budget year, provisions initially made in the finance bill of that year.
Settlement law: law attesting to the actual amount of revenues collected and spending incurred with regard to one budget year, closing the accounts for the year.
Budget Document: document appended to the finance bill detailing spending incurred in the general budget and complementary budgets.
Payment order: administrative act authorizing the servicing of debt incurred by public entities, in accordance with settlement findings.
Paying agent: public authority authorizing the collection of revenue and expenditure. Government ministers are paying agents by right.
Payment: act whereby a public entity settles its debt.
Gross domestic product: overall added value derived from all sectors of production, used to measure a country's wealth in the course of one year.
Economic and financial report: report appended to the draft-project of the finance bill designed to provide parliament with data regarding the main elements of economic and financial balance, with attested results and future prospects, as well as modifications relating to revenue and expenditure.
Carry over: possibility of carrying over and adding on to allocations for the following year, allocations intended for investment expenditure that were not spent in the course of the previous budget year.
Government services with independent management: these are government services with no legal entity status, and with areas of expenditure that are covered with own funds and not catered for by the general budget. These services manage their own independent budget.
Specification of allocations (principle of): allocations granted by the finance bill to specific services and for specific areas of expenditure. The principle entails the allocation of funds divided into different areas, and within the same area into, sections, chapters and items.
Management system: system whereby all revenues and spending is entered in the budget of the year it is actually collected or incurred, regardless of the authorization date, as opposed to the budget year system whereby all revenues and spending is entered in the budget year it is authorized, regardless of the date of actual collection or incurment.
Balance table: table featured at the end of the first part of the finance bill and setting funds allocated to the general budget, the complementary budgets, and to special treasury accounts, as well as the resulting charges ceiling and general balance for the budget year under consideration.
Payroll table: document appended to the finance bill laying out the number of staff positions authorized.
Unity (principle of): principle whereby all revenue and expenditure is entered in the general budget.
Universality (principle of): principle whereby all revenue and expenditure is entered in full in the budget without any adjustment against each other.
Transfer: transfer of funds between different items and lines within the same chapter/ rubric. Transfers, which derogate from the principle of specification of allocations, are authorized by the Ministry of Finance.
