Do revenue forecasts influence budget setting? A small group experiment

This article reports on the results of a small group experiment relating the effects of situational and psychological factors to the use of revenue forecast information on budgetary decision-making. The results suggest objective information is not completely ignored because of conditions in the budgetary environment and that one's role in the budget process influences how objective information is used. The results also indicate that some useful insights for budget theory are possible from small group experiments.This research is part of the Public Management Information Systems Project. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments provided on earlier drafts of this paper by William Ascher, Joseph Lipscomb and two anonymous referees.