Recently we discussed the task of budgeting and this week we study the use of budgets as a control mechanism. Although we have primarily talked about budgeting with respect to manufacturing firms, it is applicable to, and a task carried out by all types of organizations including nonprofit and governmental entities. Perform some research related to budgeting by a nonprofit or governmental entity (this could be generally speaking, or something related to a specific entity).

1. Identify the source of what you found.
2. What did you learn and find interesting about what you found?
3. As a potential manager of a nonprofit or governmental entity (whichever you chose) either in general or specific to the nonprofit or governmental entity identified, how might your tasks of planning, controlling, and decision-making differ (if at all) compared to a for-profit setting?
4. As either a donor (if you selected a nonprofit) or a government constituent (if you selected a governmental entity), what would be the most useful information that the entity could provide to you with respect to both budgets and actual financial/operational performance?