Budgets and Government Accounting

In private sector businesses, a budget is an internal document that people outside of the business will likely never see. For these businesses, the annual financial report is the most important report of the year. However, for governments, the annual budget is of primary importance and the annual financial report only generates a modest amount of interest, at best. What is it about the differences between accounting for governments and private sector businesses that causes this to happen?

Please share any experiences you may have had at your workplace involving annual budgets.