Asset

Valuable properties and things owned by the government. It could be physical in nature such as land, buildings and machines or financial as in cash and bonds.

Balanced Budget

A balanced budget is when government's money collection equals what they intend to spend. When the budget is not equal, its not balanced, and then it may be described as being either in deficit or surplus. Deficit means money spent is more than what came in and surplus means money collected is more than money spent.

Budget

A budget is a complete list and the most important document of any government showing how government plans to use revenues collected to meet the needs of the people.

Contingency Reserves

Contingency reserves are money set aside in every year for use during unexpected occurences. It is a good way of having money to fall back on but can also be dangerous if not wisely spent.

Debt

Government debt is the outstanding amount that the government owes to private lenders at any given point in time.

Earmark

Money set aside for a particular project. For instance, revenues resulting from taxes on fuel are set aside for transportation expenses such as road construction or mass transit subsidies.

Expenditure

Government spending in cash or by the writing of cheques. Expenditure can be capital and current. Capital expenditures are investments in physical assets such as roads and buildings that can be used for a number of years. Current expenditures describe salaries, pensions and other things that are used immediately. Actual expenditure may differ from the amounts established by the budget.

Extra budgetary

The terms means the businesses carried out by government that was not listed when the yearly budget was read.

Compiled by the International Budget Project
http://www.cbpp.org/