An empirical study on the perception of budget in higher education institutions

Budget is regarded as an effective means which sets forth the fundamental principles for the public sector to operate efficiently. Budgeting is the most powerful tool of any government in terms of economic and social policies, and plays an important role in the lives of citizens. Therefore, citizens' understanding of government budgets, getting the appropriate knowledge and accessing to the related processes have a critical significance in order for them to hold responsible the government for using public funds. This study is intended to examine the perception of budget in the institutions of higher education. In line with this aim, the conceptual framework for budget and the right to the budget are put forward with references to their historical developments in England, France, the United States of America, Germany and Turkey. Accordingly, some countries are taken into the account, where participatory budgeting for improving the perception of budget, citizens' budget and its applications, as the main issues of this study, are practiced. In the last chapter of the study, the questionnaire/survey which is made for measuring the perception of budget is reviewed and assessed. The survey is applied to 474 persons who are students majoring in finance, academics and administrative staff working at the Dumlupınar University, chosen by simple random sampling. The data derived for measuring the participants' perception of budget and budget applications are analyzed through the program IBM SPSS Statistics (21.0). Key Words: Budget, Right to the Budget, Higher Education Institutions, Participatory Budgeting, Citizen Budget.