For well over half a century students of budgeting have assumed that the format into which a budget is cast influences budget decisions. Yet as late as 1980 Haves stated that “there is little or no material on the factors affecting outcomes in the budget process and, indeed, little basis for any judgment as to whether the character of the process has any significant impact on the results obtained.... The fundamental need is for analyses of exerience.” Since that time, several studies have analyzed budget outcomes quantitatively and related them to the budget formats used. This article provides a framework for integrating the results of these studies with earlier case descriptions of budget reforms. It then identifies an area that still needs exploring and presents the results of one study that addresses this n