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The federal budget
 (cont.)
20 Federal Court of Auditors
32* Federal Debt
60* General Revenue
In turn, the departmental budgets are broken down into 
chapters,
which correspond to the
main programmatic areas and subordinate agencies of the line ministry; and these in turn are
divided into 
titles
or line items, which are sorted into the expenditure items and revenue
items relating to that specific area. The 
purpose
that is designated for each expenditure title
has legally binding effect. Some titles may be combined into 
title groups
where they relate to
a common purpose (e.g. IT expenditure), and they are tagged accordingly in the budget coding
system to facilitate the budget flexibility arrangements (see Section 1.5). The financial detail
is supplemented with budget 
notes,
some of which have binding effect in specifying or
restricting the uses of the funds. The departmental budgets are supplemented with
numerous 
budget summaries.
Finally, from the 2013 budget onwards, some departmental
budgets and chapters are accompanied by a one-page 
foreword
to provide the strategic
context for departmental activities and objectives (see Section 3.2).
The 2013 federal budget is 2 998 pages long and contains approximately 6 600 line items.
* Departments 32 and 60 come within the purview of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

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BUDGET REVIEW: GERMANY
OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING – VOLUME 2014/2 © OECD 2015
17
1.2.2. Three “arcs” of annual budgeting
The above overview condenses a myriad of inter-connected processes, involving a
range of themes and participants who contribute (directly and indirectly) to the
preparation and shaping of the annual budget. The complex sequence of processes can
Box 3.