Which of the following is used before the appropriation bill is approved?

In government (public sector) accounting, spending by ministries and agencies can only take place once the legislature has approved the appropriation bill that authorises the year's expenditure. Because the process of approving the appropriation bill can take time, a mechanism is needed to allow essential government spending to continue before that approval is granted.

A provisional general warrant is the authority issued to permit government spending to continue, usually based on a proportion of the previous year's approved estimates, during the period before the appropriation bill for the new year has been passed into law. It bridges the gap between the start of the financial year and the date the full budget is approved. Once the appropriation bill is approved, a general warrant, or a supplementary general warrant for any additional amounts approved later, takes over as the basis for further releases. A virement warrant authorises the transfer of funds from one approved budget head to another after the budget is already in force, and a reserved expenditure warrant relates to spending charged directly on the consolidated fund rather than to expenditure requiring prior appropriation approval; neither is specifically the warrant used before the appropriation bill itself is approved.

Because it specifically authorises spending during the gap before the appropriation bill is approved, the correct term is provisional general warrant.

Examination tip: link each warrant to its stage, provisional general warrant comes before appropriation is approved, and general or supplementary general warrants come after.