Yesterday, March 18, FGV Projetos held in Brasília the seminar ?50 Anos da Lei Geral dos Orçamentos? (50 Years of the General Law on Budgets), with the presence of Gilmar Mendes, Minister of the Supreme Court; Renan Calheiros, President of the Senate; Henrique Alves, President of the Chamber of Deputies; Cesar Cunha Campos, Director of FGV Projetos; Weder de Oliveira, Minister of TCU; Vicente Cândido, Congressman and President of the CCJ (House of Representatives); José Roberto Fernandes, Secretary of Federal Budget; Clara Bugarin, former president of the Federal Accounting Council; Helio Tollini, advisor to the House of Representatives; among other speakers.Best known as General of Budgets, Law 4,320 turns 50 this month. The event focused on recovering that history and discussing the situation of public budget management in the country, its regulation and possible reforms.According to Cesar Cunha Campos, the seminar helped drawing the attention of society to Law 4,320. In his presentation, the Director of FGV Projetos stated that the budget is critical and Brazil needs to modernize it, so people will at least understand where resources are allocated.The seminar was held in partnership with Instituto Brasiliense de Direito Público (IDP).Law 4,320           Approved in 1964 - right before the military dictatorship and after more than a decade of processing - Law 4,320 was an important milestone in the measures adopted to organize public finances and modernize procedures applied to the preparation and execution of budgets in all federal entities, standardizing budgeting, accounting and financial and asset management processes.Innovative, the law has not undergone many upgrades since it was launched. Even so, it remained current and effective and can be considered one of the most advanced in the world.Need for modernizationAccording to the participants of the event held in Brasília, despite the effectiveness of the General Law on Budgets, reforms today seem necessary. Henrique Eduardo Alves and Renan Calheiros, for example, reaffirmed the need for amendments. In Calheiros' opinion, the law today may allow distortions, such as the issue of outstanding accounts payable - which leaves a very large share of expenses to the following year. Book release and distributionOn the occasion, the recent publication of FGV Projetos was also distributed - ?O Orçamento dos brasileiros: por que ele não desperta maior interesse?? (The Brazilian Budget: why does it arouse greater interest?), written by FGV professors Fernando Rezende and Armando Cunha and organized by Cesar Cunha Campos.The publication is available for download at FGV Projetos' website.  (available in Portuguese)