臺灣基金會預算過程之研究

The Research on Budget Process of Taiwan Foundations

政治民主化、經濟自由化、社會多元化的浪潮下，非營利組織的興起與發展與日俱增，國內外相關的研究不勝枚舉，或探討非營利組織內部運作與管理，或探討組織外部與政府及一般大眾關係，然任何組織之運作無法脫離預算議題，由於非營利組織財務或多或少依賴捐款與政府補助，預算過程究係為何，有其探討之必要性。本研究訪談11個基金會的執行長或預算相關人員、四位學者專家，以及執行問卷調查，針對基金會預算過程進行全盤瞭解，研究結果得知基金會多半採由下而上的預算編製方式，然近年因經濟不景氣，民眾捐款減少，也逐漸兼採由上而下的方式，以控制整個預算規模。各基金會主要由董事會進行預算與決算審查，才能送主管機關核備；預算執行遇有經費不足或剩餘之情形，有些基金會具有相當明確之預算追加減程序與規定，有些基金會則較簡化，可能由執行長進行預算變更，再請董事會追認。鑑於預算過程之周延有助於基金會之財務控管與決算掌握，也有助於相關預算資訊之準備與公開，從而建議基金會強化預算編製、預算審查、預算執行與決算辦理等預算過程之各階段。

Along with contemporary trends of political democratization, economic liberalization and social pluralization, nonprofit organizations’ establishment and development have dramatically increased and strengthened, so was related research on nonprofit organizations. Some of the research focused on internal management, and the other discussed their external relationships with governments and between those and the general public. However, any research attempting to thoroughly understand nonprofit organizations’ management can not neglect the issue of budget. Since nonprofit organizations heavily rely on donation and government grants, it is important to know their budget process and how it works. This study interviewed 11 foundations, 4 scholars / experts, and conducted questionnaires to foundations. The research found out that most foundations adopt bottom-up approach for budget preparation, though top-down to control budget scale due to economic recession. Budget and final reports have to been approved by the board before sending to the government agency in-charge. If budget slack or deficit, some foundations have formal procedures for budget amendment, but some only have simple requests made by chief executive officers. Since sound and complete budget process will benefit financial management and openness of budget information, it is suggested that foundations place great emphasis on each stage of budget process -budget preparation, approval, implementation and final reports.