The word budget developed from bougette or ‘small bag’ in middle French. The use of the word spread to England, where it came to designate the leather bag in which ministers of the crown carried financial plans to parliament, and eventually it became synonymous with its contents. The use of the word in the United Kingdom now refers to the spring financial statement, which focuses on taxation measures. In most countries, the term refers to the annual expenditure and revenue plans tabled in the legislature. The first traceable legal definition of the budget is contained in a French decree of 1862: ‘The budget is a document which forecasts and authorizes the annual receipts and expenditures of the State…’ (Stourm 1917, p. 2). In most countries, the government budget is drafted at regular intervals by the executive and tabled in the legislature for review and approval before the beginning of the fiscal year to which it applies.