Budget Oversight for Current Non-Sponsored Funds

Report Monitoring

A variety of reports are available in EFS, UM Analytics, and UM Reports to assist in monitoring the financial status of all organizational levels and in determining if deficits exist at the Fund-Z DeptID level. The Z DeptID is identified on the UM_DEPTID_BUDGET tree.  Reports can be accessed through the “Reporting Center” link from MyU.  Under the “Finance” heading, reports are organized in categories including Budget/Actual Management, Capital Asset Management, Endowments, Other Reports, and PI/Internet ID Mapped.

1. RRC chief financial managers and other fiscal monitors are responsible for reviewing financial reports on a regular basis to understand the financial status of their departments and to ensure that deficits do not develop or are addressed in a timely fashion.
2. The University Budget Office will periodically review current fund deficits at the Fund-RRC level and Fund-Z DeptID level.
3. The RRC chief financial manager and the University Budget Office should meet at least annually to review the overall finances of the RRC and address potential serious problems.

Budget Adjustments

Adjustments to approved budgets should not be made to reflect all changes in forecasted financial activity and should only occur on an exception basis.  Adjustments can be made to reflect significant unanticipated changes in revenues or expenditures that will negatively impact budget to actual variance reporting if not included. Reasonable budget variances are expected and are not an indication that budget adjustments should be made. Budget adjustments that simply match budgets to actual activity will NOT be allowed.

Evaluating Proposed Budget Adjustments

1. Departments will determine whether or not to request a budget adjustment. Adjustments should be material and represent a real variance from the original budget (e.g., there is new revenue or a new unplanned expense). Materiality is influenced by the actual activity to date and the anticipated activity through the end of the fiscal year. After midyear, budget adjustments should not be needed except in rare circumstances.
2. Departments who wish to move forward with a budget adjustment should then discuss the adjustment with their RRC chief financial manager to determine if the adjustment is warranted, prior to entry in the general ledger.
3. Once approval is given for the budget adjustment(s), a budget journal is entered in the University financial system.

RRC chief financial managers will be required to reverse budget journals that do not meet the above criteria.