Government fiscal activity can be reported through the budget to the nation. Governments perform a number of functions. Public expenditures and taxes are used to stabilize the economy; that is, when private demand is weak, expenditures may be increased or taxes adjusted downward or both. Even if stabilization goals are satisfied, the government would have to fulfill other roles, such as resource allocation and income distribution in the economy. These roles represent themselves in the provision of certain public goods and services to society at large or to specific individuals separately. Given the multiple roles the public sector performs in the economy, how can we judge the allocation or assignment of these roles in a framework of multi-level government? Also, how can we understand the actual performance of government in the past and present? All of these can be conveyed via the budgets and the budgetary process. Each country has historically developed its own unique system of budget. It is difficult to look for any resemblance from one country's budget to another. The budget system serves many functions to execute those roles mentioned above. Main tasks of the budgets are to control government fiscal activities, to review previous actions and to identify future government programs. In order to clarify these roles and functions assigned to the government, we must explore carefully an entire system of budgets and in turn the fiscal structure in the public sector. This paper starts with an outline of Japan's budgetary system with special reference to alternative concepts and uses under the present system. Then it describes the budgetary process and procedures which is sometimes called ''budget cycles''.
