This paper treats “line-item” as an important, albeit informal, invention in human history that paved the way for the development of accounting and budgeting which formed the foundation for modern business and public administration. Using the informatics perspective, the paper takes line-item as the basic unit in the writing system of accounting and in content (information) arrangement in accounts and budgets, with its status equal to what the decimal and binary systems are in numeracy. The modern budget movement that started in the United States at the turn of the 20th century advocated for the use of exhaustive lists of line-items by objects of expenditure in compiling the earliest executive budgets, which was a natural, logical, and correct step in the context of rampant deficiencies and overspending. Thus, the earliest budget format in the US was called “line-item budget,” a misnomer in hindsight. However, since its adoption as the easiest and most convenient format for budgets, the line-item format has been mostly blamed, even criticized among scarce and infrequent recognitions. This study examines the line-item format from the informatics perspective, offering a new light to dissipate misperceptions about the format. The paper defines LINE ITEM as AN INFORMATION UNIT that serves as the foundation for budgeting, which clarifies the fundamentals of this format about its advantages, convenience, and conciseness. The paper cites examples to highlight the deep roots and longevity of line item, from the earliest modern budgets in Britain, France, and Germany as well as century-long series of executive budgets of US federal, state, and local governments. The paper finally delves into the mechanisms of functionality to demystify the unfitness between this format and program budgeting, PPBS, and performance budgeting in the 20th century. The paper predicts that line-item will likely stay forever. Put together, the informatics fundamentals of lint-item explain why this basic unit and the budget format of its namesake has sturdily survived all criticisms through the 20th century and will likely stay forever
