A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE IMPACT OF CAPITAL BUDGETING ON PUBLIC SECTOR

BACKGROND OF THE STUDY: Every business firm normally will like to know how it perform over a period of time this leading to a preparation of profit and loss statement. They also ask about their position at a particular point in time, which lead them to the preparation of budget. A budget can be seen as a document or financial document used to project future income and expenses. In budgeting there are types of budget prepared by the firms, such as capital budget, sales budget and cash budget and so on. The process of preparing capital budget is called budgeting. Capital budget are long-term budget made for acquisition and expansion of fixed asset. Many firms prepares capital budget today, it was originated in the  United states of America (U.S.A). In America it was applied by all firms before the second world war. After the second World War many firm saw the need  to plan for capital expenditure, hence it is prevalence today. The Nigeria brewery limited and other beverage are not left  out in the train of firm that prepare budget for its capital expenditure. The process of capital budgeting is vital to any responsible, well managed business. if that business is public and owned by public shareholders, the budgeting process becomes more crucial, since shareholders can hold management accountable for accepting unprofitable projects that can have the effect of destroying shareholder value. The decision of whether to accept or deny an investment project as part of a company’s growth initiatives, involves determining the investment rate of return that such a project will generate. Capital budgeting is also vital to a business because it creates a structured step by step process that enables a company to develop and formulate long-term strategic goals, seek out new investment projects, estimate and forecast future cash flows, facilitate the transfer of information and creation of decision. Capital budget however is not easy as it is fought with a lot of problems.