Top-down budgeting is listed in Toward a Metatheory of Budgeting as a normative theory of budgeting. Normative theories are defined as comprehensive theories of budgeting that integrate budgeting, appropriations, preparation, and decision events. Prescriptive theories are not intended to describe what happens in the budgeting process, but to prescribe considerations for future implementation as best practice (Williams & Calabrese, 2011). However, with the evolution of organizational complexity, top-down budgeting has become a positive theory. Positive theories explain an observation of the budgeting process and attempt to analyze why this behavior exists as an aspect of organizational culture (Williams & Calabrese, 2011). Top-down budgeting is not a desired good practice and is therefore not a normative theory because the methodology does not include key stakeholders in decision making. Top-down budgeting is used to save time, centralize decision-making, and limit the amount of control given to lower levels of the organization. As organizations become flatter and remove excessive layers of management to become more agile, the centralization of budgetary decisions has evolved (George, 2012). The traditional top-down budgeting approach is outdated. Within the category of positive theories, top-down budgeting is a descriptive theory that explains one aspect of the budgeting process. This is an observation of practice. In an evolved definition, leaders' decisions do not constitute the end of a process. Instead, they are a factor considered in decisions regarding the final budget and departmental goals. Top-down budgeting is also explanatory, because it describes how and why budgetary behavior exists. According to Business Knowledge Source, ...... middle of document ......g - An instrument to strengthen budgetary management* | ASIP Asociación Internacional de Presupuesto Público. Accessed January 19, 2014, from http://www.asip.org.ar/en/content/top-down-budgeting-instrument-strengthen-budget-managementNational Priorities Project. (nd). National Priorities Project. Retrieved February 27, 2014 from http://nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/federal-budget-process/ Ryan, P. (December 7, 2011). A brief history of budgeting in the nation's capital. The federal budget process. Retrieved February 25, 2014 from http://budget.house.gov/uploaded files/bphrKavanagh, SC (2011). Modern zero-based budgeting experiences and current perspectives. Chicago, IL: Government Finance Officers Association. Williams, D. and Calabrese, T. (2013). Towards a metatheory of budgeting. EconomistsInternational , 1, 178-207.