Glossary
Budget Analyst Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential budget analyst terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key budget analyst vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in budget analyst training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Appropriation
- Legal spending authority.
- Budget request
- Department ask.
- Capital budget
- Plan for major assets.
- Continuing resolution
- Temporary federal funding.
- Cost-benefit analysis
- Comparing costs and benefits.
- Encumbrance
- Money set aside for an order.
- Fiscal year
- Budget year.
- Forecast
- Projected spending.
- Fund balance
- Reserve money.
- Line item
- Single budget entry.
- Operating budget
- Day-to-day spending plan.
- Revenue estimate
- Projected income.
- Supplemental
- Mid-year budget change.
- Variance
- Difference from budget.
- Zero-based budgeting
- Justifying every expense.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Budget Analyst practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Budget Analyst training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.