No formal deadline has been set in the talks with Westminster, but Number 10 is due to publish its budget on 28 October so there is an expectation from some Stormont sources that any financial settlement should be agreed before then.
Alliance assembly member (MLA) Kate Nicholl said her party had urged the government to make reform of the Stormont institutions a condition, as part of any overall deal on the budget.
Ulster Unionist leader Jon Burrows said the executive was discussing “significant” sums of money, but also refused to be drawn on an exact figure.
He said there was an aspiration to agree a budget soon, but it needed to be done properly.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole, Stormont’s leader of the Opposition, said with every day that passes without a budget, public services are suffering in Northern Ireland.