In the private sector, if a person ran a million-dollar business, they would probably need to have a master's degree in accounting or business. What kind of background do most police chiefs have to run a multimillion-dollar business. There are no state or national standards for police chiefs regarding their business background.
Many chiefs have college degrees, but few are in business management.
In many states, chiefs have to pass various tests to get the position, but most of the exams are geared toward their ability to be a chief executive, not a chief financial officer. The chief then submits his annual budget, which is reviewed and approved by the politicians. Some municipalities are set up so that the elected officials have a line item veto, so they can cross out a particular expenditure that the police chief might want to make without affecting the entire budget. Once the politicians approve the budget, then most police departments are set up so that any new major expenditures have to be approved by the politicians at monthly board meetings. That means that the chief has only about 25 percent of his budget to run the department.