Book excerpt: The OECD Budget Practices and Procedures Database provides detailed data on how budgets are made in OECD countries from formulation, to approval, execution and reporting based on surveys conducted every four to five years. This publication presents the results of the latest survey, conducted in 2012, and compares this with the previous survey, conducted in 2007. It finds that fiscal sustainability is a key issue for countries today. It also highlights the growing use of medium-term expenditure frameworks, capital budgeting and top-down budgeting, and it examines transparency of budgeting as well as budgeting flexibility.