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Budget Process

Budget Build Process

Budgetary Authority & Responsibility

Clayton State University’s budget reflects the funded programs and strategic plans of the University for the Budget Year including the identification of revenue sources necessary to finance those programs and plans. The CSU budget authorizes expenditures for the purposes of achieving the goals established in the university’s strategic plan for the year.

The President of the university is held responsible by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia for planning and administering all programs and related budgets for the university. Administrative and planning responsibility for budgetary units within Clayton State is delegated by the President to the Vice Presidents. Further delegation of budget management is authorized by the Vice Presidents to the Deans and Directors.

The Vice President of Business & Operations/Budget Office is responsible for the overall preparation, administration, and reporting of college budgets. This office is required to follow an established set of guidelines and policies set forth by the State of Georgia, the Board of Regents and Clayton State.

The Board of Regents requires each institution to prepare an operating budget for the fiscal year for ‘Education and General (E&G) activities’, for ‘Auxiliary Enterprises’, for ‘Student Activities’, and for ‘Capital Outlay’. The E&G activities budget is limited to the funds allocated (State Appropriation, Tuition, and Other General).

The Board of Regents requires that a quarterly budget be prepared and submitted as well as requiring the submission of periodic budget revisions or amendments to the Regents Budget Office. Amendment changes in excess of one million dollars must be submitted to the Board for approval.

By legislative definition, no part of the State Appropriation or institutional internal revenue (such as student fees, gifts, sales) shall be available for expenditure until made available by written order of the State of Georgia Budget Authorities. Board of Regents policy states that “all expenditures of institutions must be approved by the Board of Regents before they are made.” This statement has been interpreted to require budgetary approval by the Board of Regents before the university may incur obligations or make expenditure against any budgeted item.

The laws of the State of Georgia require that funds appropriated for a specific fiscal year must be expended or obligated in that fiscal year, or they will lapse and be returned to the state treasury.

Budget Management

Any Vice President or Cabinet Member may request the establishment of a new departmental budget through the Office of Budget & Finance. When notified of the request, it is the ultimate responsibility of the Office of Budget & Finance to determine the final placement of the budget based upon functional classifications and class codes which are dictated and maintained by the University System of Georgia. A departmental budget manager must be selected for each new budget; this departmental budget manager is critical to the internal budgeting processes of the department and to the University as a whole. It is his or her signature which will be required to manipulate funds within the departmental budget or to authorize expenditures from its accounts, and it is this manager who will be expected to regularly review the departmental budgets and keep members of the department informed.

Beginning in FY 2008, each Vice President must confirm department budget managers within their division annually with the Office of Budget & Finance. Budget & Finance will then communicate budget manager responsibilities to each individual. This communication must be acknowledged either in writing or via email.

The responsibility of Departmental Budget Managers includes a regular budget review.

Suggested Actions/Components of Regular Budget Review:

  • Estimate budget needed for the entire fiscal year
  • Review reports monthly, report discrepancies, make amendments
  • Communicate with department members
  • Meet year-end deadlines for purchases, etc.

Budget Governance

  1. Spending authorization to expend funds comes solely from an expenditure budget. Ex: Graduate tuition revenue must be associated with an expenditure budget in order to expend those funds.
  2. All expenses should be charged to appropriate/cost responsible departments. Ex: Costs for an instructional unit should not be charged to the Dean’s department, but instead a budget amendment should be done to move funds to the instructional unit to cover the cost.
  3. Department expenditure budgets and actuals should be maintained as accurately as is reasonable based on cost/benefit. Direct costs including instruction must be charged to the appropriate account.
  4. Expense requests that exceed budget levels will fail the budget checking process and will not be processed by Accounting until sufficient budget funding is available. This availability of funding may be accomplished through budget transfers.
  5. When hiring on a Personal Services line for more than is in the budget, you need to provide the Budget Office with a budget amendment detailing where the extra funding will be taken. See Budget Amending Tips
  6. Fee owners and department managers who generate revenue and look to this revenue as a source for spending must have a corresponding expenditure budget.
  7. Expenditure budgets with corresponding revenue accounts will be reviewed on a quarterly basis for appropriate adjustment.
  8. Tuition revenue projected will be reviewed during the semester and budgets adjusted accordingly.

Definitions

Budget: A budget is defined as a systematic plan for meeting expenditures in a given period or the total sum of money allocated for a particular purpose or time period.

Fiscal Year: the University’s fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30.

Education & General Activities: Resident Instruction – the academic core of the university, executive management, and all institutional support activities such as the library, business and operations, information technology and plant operations.

Auxiliary Enterprises: activities that exist to provide a service to students, faculty, or staff and for which a fee is charged that is related to the cost of the service.

Student Activities: student clubs and organizations that operate totally based on a fee that is charged to each registered student.

Capital Outlay: funds from either internal or external sources used for construction, maintenance, and/or acquisition of Capital Assets for future use.