DISCRETIONARY SPENDING Definition

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DISCRETIONARY SPENDING consists of US government expenditures that are set on an annual basis. It is a budget that members of Congress can adjust on a yearly basis. Examples of discretionary spending in the United States:

-defense budget
-education
-Environmental Protection Agency
-Department of Veterans Affairs

When looking to cut costs, lawmakers usually look to trimming discretionary spending. See MANDATORY SPENDING.

Learn new Accounting Terms

ARGUMENT IN ACCOUNTING usually revolves around the premise that characterizes fair values of assets as being more relevant but less reliable than their historical costs, with fair value being ultimately more informative only if its increased relevance outweighs its reduced reliability.

COST-TO-COST METHOD, in construction contracts, is an estimate of completion in which the state of completion is the ratio of costs incurred as of a given date divided by the estimated total project cost. See also PERCENTAGE OF COMPLETION METHOD OF ACCOUNTING.

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