Phenomenological Study of Budget Management at the Jambi City Education Office

Minister of Home Affairs Regulation Number 13 of 2006 concerning Guidelines for Regional Financial Management states that every regional government agency must prepare and determine a cash budget useful for controlling cash inflows and outflows and functions as a target for budget absorption. This research attempts to describe the phenomenon of budget management at the Jambi City Education Office. The approach used in this research is qualitative, with data collection methods carried out through semi-structured interviews. Data validity is guaranteed through the reliability of the interview instrument and the triangulation process. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive critical analysis techniques. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that: (1) in the Jambi City Education Department, there has been a trend of decreasing percentage of budget absorption over the last three years since the 2020 budget year, 2021 budget year and 2022 budget year respectively at 93.37%, 91.19% and 87.79% of the budget target, (2) there is a trend of decreasing ideality in the comparison of the operational expenditure budget) OB and direct expenditure (DE) over the last three years. This research has implications for strengthening regulations and developing human resources at the Jambi City Education Office to support the optimization of education budget absorption.