In modern democratic regimes the authorization and use of public resources involves forms of representation, consultation, degrees of transparency and accountability; in authoritarian or absolutist regimes these attributes will be less apparent although many of the fundamental budgetary functions will remain indispensable. But, irrespective of the type of political system involved, there is a relatively standard set of definable tasks to be performed repeatedly by a constellation of actors through more or less enduring decision-making processes. While government budgetary systems across the entire globe are inherently sui generis; they differ in almost every detail, their procedures and planning styles, reporting requirements and different ways of execution. This chapter will discuss different budgetary systems and then explore the drivers toward some degree of conformity and better practices. The chapter then analyses the pursuit of fiscal discipline and budgetary control, before going on to explore the themes of the quest for greater efficiency in government spending, pressures for greater transparency over budgetary information and finally the imperatives to link results and performance to budgetary management and allocations.