The pursuit of quality service delivery in the public sector management in Cameroon necessitated the decentralisation of public sector management by transferring more power and resources to the local councils. This is in a bid to make them more self-governing. These councils are expected to meet the aspirations of their municipalities by carrying out approved projects efficiently and effectively. In this regard, this paper sets out to investigate the relationship between budgetary control and performance of local councils in Mezam and Momo Divisions of the North West Region of Cameroon, and the challenges these councils encounter in the process of budgetary control. Data was collected through a survey and analysed using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation technique to regress the relationship between the budgetary control variables and council performance. The empirical results showed that the key budgetary control variables (planning, participation, monitoring and control, motivation, communication, and responsibility) have a positively and statistically significant effect on performance of the councils. Effective performance of local councils in Mezam and Momo Divisions of the North West Region of Cameroon could then be attributed to effective presence of budgetary control requiring the availability of financial resources rationally allocated, qualified and experienced personnel, participation of all responsibility centre managers in the planning and control processes, and regular communication and motivation of the council staff.

Keywords: Budget, Control, Performance, Council