Budgeting 101: What is an “item of appropriation”?

An item of appropriation refers to an amount appropriated in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for a program, activity or project.

In the case of programs with several activities, the item of appropriation shall refer to each of the activity.

Department of Budget and Management

Example of an “item of appropriation”

Below is a screenshot of the budget of the Office of the President of the Philippines and we use it as an example to illustrate an item of appropriation under a program.

In the above appropriation (i.e., budget of the Office of the President), the program is “Presidential Oversight Program” and the items under it (activities) are what we call items of appropriation, such as the following:

• Issuance of Presidential Directives, Special Powers and Authorities, and Clearances;
• Policy development and formulation on strategic Presidential interventions;
• Oversight management on national security concerns;
• and so on.

In practice, some Budget Officers and practitioners use the term “line item” to refer to an “item of appropriation”.

Are we clear on what an item of appropriation is?

Please let us know in the comments section below if you need some more explanation of this budgeting term. OR, suggest a topic that you would like us to discuss or better yet, help us explain this term further. Thank you.