University of Puget Sound
Guidance & Tips for Developing Detail Budgets
Published by: Accounting & Budget Services
Guidance and Tips for Developing Detail Budgets
Budget Year 2009-10
Detailed budget creation overview & time line:
After the Board of Trustees approves the university’s high-level operating budget, Accounting & Budget Services distributes Excel workbooks to each division. Each Excel workbook contains two worksheets: (1) a reconciliation showing the changes to the division/department budget from the prior year and includes additions and/or reductions approved by the Board of Trustees and (2) a second worksheet showing the organization(s) and accounts used when the prior year detail budget was created.
Each division is asked to complete the detail budget worksheets and return the Excel workbook via e-mail attachment to Stefanie Lund () in Accounting & Budget Services by Friday, April 3, 2009. This due date is needed to ensure the university’s 2009-10 operating budget is accurately loaded into the Banner/Budget Administration Web system and is made ready for budget managers to view and use by the start of the new budget year on July 1, 2009.
The following guidance and tips are provided to assist budget managers with creating detail budgets.
Budget coding (FOAPAL) review:
The university uses FOAPAL to track budget and actual activity. FOAPAL stands for Fund, Organization, Account, Program, Activity, and Location Codes[1]. Organization and account codes are used to create detail budgets (the “O” and “A” in FOAPAL)[2]. Organization codes are four-digit numbers: account codes are six-digit numbers.
Examples of organization codes:
4000 – Classics / 4217 – Track / 4401 – Building Maintenance4011 – Biology / 4285 – Student Services / 4710 – Dining Services
4064 – Community Music / 4395 – Security / 5045 – Development Office
Examples of account codes:
58030 – Misc. Retail Sales Revenue / 70101 – Printing and Publication Expense58040 – Misc. Service Revenue / 70141 – Postage and Mailing Expense
For a complete list of FOAPAL codes, including organization and account codes, please log on to your Cascade Web menu at https://cascade.ups.edu/cascade/cascade.menu, select Banner Tools, and select FOAPAL Search. Refer to the Help link on the FOAPAL Search screen for additional guidance on using the FOAPAL Search tool.
Adding new organization codes to your detail budget:
If you have added a new organization since last year, please insert a new column in the detail budget Excel worksheet and label it with the four-digit organization code and name. If you wish to establish a new organization, please contact Stefanie Lund ( or x8619).
Adding additional account codes to your detail budget:
If you wish to budget amounts in additional account codes (revenue, operating or capital expense, or transfer accounts) insert a new line into the detail budget Excel worksheet for each additional account code. For a complete list of account codes log on to your Cascade Web menu at https://cascade.ups.edu/cascade/cascade.menu, select Banner Tools, FOAPAL Search, and then Account Search. In the Account Search screen, there are three search options. The third search option is “List of Account Codes.” Use the drop down menu to select the type of account codes you wish to list. “Operating and Capital Expense” codes are the most commonly used for creating detail budgets, but you may also need to use “Revenue” or “Transfer” accounts.
Please remember to budget mileage reimbursement in the appropriate mileage reimbursement expense account. These accounts are used to isolate and track the amount spent for mileage reimbursement. This makes it easier for the Budget Task Force to estimate the impact of proposed mileage reimbursement rate changes on the university’s overall budget. The mileage reimbursement expense accounts are:
70217 - Mileage – Seminar & Prof. Mtgs. / 70257 - Mileage – Student Co-curricular70227 - Mileage – Student Recruitment / 70267 - Mileage – Alumni/Development
70237 - Mileage – Faculty Recruitment / 70277 - Mileage – Academic Program
70247 - Mileage – Staff Recruitment / 70299 - Mileage – Local University Business
Please Note! For the 2009-10 budget year the approved mileage reimbursement rate for which individuals will reimbursed when they use their personal vehicles for approved university business is $.55 per mile. This is the 2009 business mileage reimbursement rate set by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS).
Using budget only accounts to take advantage of the “rollup” display feature on Budget Administration Web:
When you use the Account Search feature of the FOAPAL Search tool to list all “Operating and Capital Expense” accounts, notice that some account codes and descriptions are displayed in green print. These accounts are “budget only” accounts as indicated in the data entry column with a B. The benefit of using budget only accounts to enter your budget is the rollup feature that appears on Budget Administration Web. The following is an example of the rollup feature and how it appears on Budget Administration Web:
Budget / Actual70210 / Seminars & Professional Meetings / 5,000.00 / 2,500.00 / Ü subtotal
70212 / Ground Trans.-Seminar & Prof. Mtgs / 1,000.00
70214 / Meals-Seminar & Prof. Mtgs / 750.00
70215 / Registration-Seminar & Prof. Mtgs / 250.00
70219 / Travel-Other-Seminar & Prof. Mtgs / 500.00
In the example above, the entire budget for “Seminars & Professional Meetings” is entered in the budget only account number 70210. Actual expenditures are coded to detail accounts and a sub-total of actual expenditures appears on the budget only account line. The subtotal feature makes it easy for a budget manager to determine quickly if a particular subcategory is within budget. Accounting & Budget Services recommends that if budget only accounts are used that no additional budget amounts be entered to the detailed accounts within the subcategory group. If funds are budgeted to both the budget only and detail accounts the rollup feature does not properly subtotal expenses and the amounts displayed appear to be incorrect.
Below are some other budget only accounts that may be used:
70010 / Services & Fees70050 / Supplies & Software
70100 / Printed Material
70110 / Repairs & Maintenance
70210 / Seminars & Professional Meetings
70220 / Travel - Student Recruitment
70230 / Travel - Faculty Recruitment
70240 / Travel - Staff Recruitment
70250 / Travel - Stu. Co-Curricular
70260 / Alumni/Development Travel
70270 / Travel-Academic Program
70300 / Campus & Public Relations
Using Budget Administration Web as a tool for creating detail budgets:
Another tool to consider when preparing your detail budget is the Budget Administration Web application which provides current and prior year budget and actual information for each of your indexes (organization codes and designated and restricted carryover funds). You may wish to analyze the trends in current and prior year actual to help determine the amount to be allocated to each organization code under your budget authority, and to the account codes within each organization.
Using activity codes to budget individual programs, events, or projects within a particular organization:
A six-digit “activity” code can be added to the organization and account codes to provide budget and actual tracking at the program, event, or project level. This is the second “A” in FOAPAL. If there are multiple programs, events, or projects occurring within a single organization or index budget, it may prove helpful to track them using activity codes. The following are some examples illustrating the use of activity codes:
· Each theatrical performance staged by the Theatre department could have its own budget using activity codes so that revenues and costs for each production can be separately tracked and reported.
· Maintenance and other building related projects managed by Facilities Services can be assigned unique activity codes so budget and actual costs for each project can be separately tracked and reported.
· Events sponsored by Alumni Programs could be assigned a unique activity code to track the revenues and expenses associated with each event.
If you believe it would be helpful to allocate your budget at the activity code level please contact Stefanie Lund at or x8619.
Questions?
If you have questions about using any of the tools or features described in this document, please contact Stefanie Lund at or x8619.
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[1] For a more detailed explanation of FOAPAL, please refer to the Budget Organization and Coding section of the Budget Manager Resource Guide published by Accounting & Budget Services.
[2] Detail budgets may also be created for some designated and restricted carryover funds (funds/indexes that begin with “15XXXX” or “2XXXXX”).