Contemporary theory-research-practice framework surrounding fiscal federalism practices claims that fiscal stress remains an unresolved condition in majority local governments across the globe. While some parties attribute the problem to renowned integrated financial management information system (IFMIS), others associate it with governing budget-management policy. Founded on budget theory in the public sector, this study investigated IFMIS-budget management policy-fiscal stress linkages in some of Uganda’s eastern-northern regional localities. As per structural-equation-modeling statistical results, IFMIS-basic constructs; composition, application and security, indeed predict entity fiscal stress direction. Moreover, budget management policy mediates the IFMIS-fiscal stress relationship. Related theory-literature-practice implications are discussed.