The Catholic University of America

completing and submitting the fy2018

BUDZERO/BUDPBBfor operating FUnds 11 & 15

OVERVIEW

Fund 11 supports the University’s day-to-day operations that include administrative and general operating expenses. Each unit with Fund 11 programs is responsible for submitting an operating budget to the University Budget Office that reflects the proposed financial plan for the upcoming fiscal year. For the FY2018 budget cycle, all non-academic areas will be presenting and requesting budgeted funds based upon a zero-based budget approach. As opposed to years when only incremental requests for new or expanded funds were needed, this approach requires each division to present a justification for their total annual budget.

To aid in the preparation of your FY2018 zero budget proposal, you will receive updated salary sheets and will run two reports, the BUDZERO (or BUDPBB for Academic units – in this document, they will be used interchangeably) and the Division Budget Summary. Instructions on how to run both reports are provided here: Budget Office.The BUDZERO will be used to determine and submit a Fund 11 operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year for each org. The Division Budget Summary will be used by each Vice President to consolidate the BUDZERO, or individual budget request for each org, into a total budget for their area. The Division Budget Summary will also be used to present the Vice President’s total budget request to the Budget Committee.

BUDZERO OVERVIEW

The BUDZERO utilizes the zero-based budget methodology where all departments need to justify their expenses and the budget as if they are starting with a budget of $0. The BUDZERO provides current and historical expenses to assist in determining the budget, and it should be run for every Fund 11 org.

The BUDZERO provides the following information to assist in determining the upcoming fiscal year budget:

  • 3 Years of Historical Expenses
  • Current Budget
  • Current Expended
  • Projected Year-End Expended
  • New Budget Expenses (Continuing)
  • New Budget Expenses (DECISION PACKAGE)
  • Projected Total Budget (Continuing + DECISION PACKAGE)
  • Dollar Budget Change
  • Percentage Budget Change
  • Notes

DIVISION BUDGET SUMMARY OVERVIEW

The Division Budget Summaryprovides the Vice Presidents an overall view of historical and current expenses for each of their respective departments. The summary also provides proposed budget changes, populated by the BUDZEROs for the upcoming fiscal year in order to meet the final budget targets. Each Vice President will present their Division Budget Summary to the Budget Committee.

I. Salary BUDGET SPREADSHEETS

Before determining the budget for the upcoming fiscal, it is critical for each department to reconcile the salary spreadsheet to the approved staffing level for your program area. By doing so, this will ensure the compensation budget for your department is sufficient to cover the annual salary expenditures that will be charged to each individual ORG within a program area. Please ensure the salary budget spreadsheets reconcile back to the BUDZERO.

Directions for reconciling the Salary Budget Spreadsheets:

  • The individual department salary budgetscan be prepared based on your current employees and your recommended increasesas per merit spreadsheets distributed in earlyDecember 2016.
  • Managers should review and reconcile each ORG to ensure there is a budget for each employee, which in most cases is the annual salary. Please contact your Budget Office representative if you have any questions or issues with your salary budgets.
  • You will need to add any expected faculty and staff merit increase to your FY2018 salary budgets so that the full, annual salary is presented.
  • An employee identification number or EMPLID is listed for each employee. If this is a new position, there is a column for you to input this information on this attachment.
  • You will also need to budget necessary amounts for account codes not broken out in detail for merit purposes such as student (0220), adjunct faculty (0270) and overtime (0500).
  • If an employee is split funded (charged to more than one ORG), the salary must be allocated according to the approved distribution for each ORG to which his or her salary is charged. If you need assistance with adding newly, split funded employees or with completing the information for current split funded employees, please contact the Budget Office for assistance.

II. DETERMinING THE BUDGET

To submit the BUDZERO to the Budget Office, the yellow highlighted columns and “Notes” tab must be completed. Incomplete submissions will be returned back to the respectiveVP division. Please keep in mind that the change in budget process is due to the need to reallocate expenses strategically, reducing expenses in some areas so that we can provide additional resources in others to move the University forward. Therefore, historical spending should be the primary source for completing the FY2018 budget request.

The following sections must be completed:

  1. Projected Year-End (YE) Expense
  2. New Budget Expenses (CONTINUING)
  3. New Budget Expenses (DECISION PACKAGE)
  4. Notes
  1. PROJECTED YEAR-END EXPENSE

Please enter the projected year-end expense thatwill be spent for each account. This includes expenses not reflected in the current expenses due to the product or service being spent at a future date within the fiscal year. This does not mean the projected year amount equals the account’s budget. The projected year-end expense can be greater or lesser than the budgeted amount but will always be greater than the current expense total. The purpose of the projection is to determine the actual amount being spent in each account so funding can be reallocated to support greater spending accounts. This will also assist to properly determine funding for future fiscal years.

For example:

The department’s manager is attending a conference in March. The conference registration and

airfare have been paid and reflected in the respective accounts. However, hotel accommodation

expenses are notreflected until the trip is complete which will show up as an expense in April.

The department must determine the projected cost and reflect it as an expense. This will also assist

in identifying unused funding that can be reallocated to other accounts.

Account / Current Budget / Current Expended / Projected YE Expense
1901 - Airfare / $1,000 / $1,000 / $1,000
1902 - Accommodations / $1,500 / $ - / $1,350
1920 – Conference Fees / $800 / $800 / $800
Totals / $3,300 / $1,800 / $3,150
Unused Funds* / $150

* Calculation for Unused Funds

Current Budget – Projected YE Expense = Unused Funds

  1. NEW BUDGET EXPENSES (CONTINUING)

What is a CONTINUING expense?

CONTINUING expenses arecosts that are used to support existing programs and operations. They may or may not be contractually based. These expenses cannot be easily changed or adjusted, without affecting the current level of service provided by the department.

CONTINUING expenses must be budgeted for the entire fiscal year (May to April) in order to be properly funded. If expenses are paid on a monthly basis, the monthly costs must be multiplied by 12 months to equal one fiscal year.

For example:

Account # & Account Description / Budget
1511 – Telephone Expenses / $50/month per telephone line
Number of telephone lines / 10
Total Monthly Cost / $500
Fiscal Year / 12
Total Fiscal Year Cost / $6,000

To ensure telephones expenses are properly funded, the department will need to budget $6,000 for entire fiscal year.

Some CONTINUING costs are not paid on a monthly basis. There are some expenses that are paid once or twice during the fiscal year. These expenses will still need to be budgeted. For example, licenses (account 8231) can be considered CONTINUING and a one-time expense.

For example:

Account # & Account Description / Budget
8231 – Licenses / $200/license
Number of professional staff required to be licensed / 5
Total Budget / $1,000

To ensure licenses are fully paid for the fiscal year, the department will need to budget $1,000 for 5 professional staff members.

To obtain the amount of CONTINUING expenses, each department should carefully examine their drilldown of expenses for the past couple of years. They should also inventory current contracts for future year obligations. All CONTINUING expenses should be included in the New Budget Expenses (CONTINUING) column of the BUDZERO. The department must also include a note explaining and justifying each CONTINUING expense (see Section D).

  1. NEW BUDGET EXPENSES (DECISION PACKAGE)

What is a DECISION PACKAGE expense?

DECISION PACKAGE expenses include proposals for new programs, services, or other operational activity that would be added in a given fiscal year on top of a unit’s existing CONTINUING expense base.

DECISION PACKAGE expenses must be budgeted for the entire fiscal year (May to April) in order to be properly funded.

Any increase in an account must be justified in the Notes. (See section D.)

NOTES

The key point for zero-based budgeting is providing the best possible projection ofCONTINUING and DECISION PACKAGE costs necessary to maintain operations for the entire fiscal year, rather than relying on prior resource budgets. The notesprovide the Budget Committeea clear understanding regarding the expense request. Please provide a brief note describing and justifying the importance of each expense with particular emphasis on the following:

  • FY2018CONTINUING Expenses
  • Any account showing an increase in the Change column.

To provide a brief detail, enter a footnote starting with 1 and continue numbering for each account with a note. Then click over to the “NOTES” tab and enter the first footnote. Once the footnote # is entered, the associated account, account description, $ Change, and % Change will automatically populate. Enter the brief detail description and justification.

For example:

Footnote / Account / Account Descr / $ Change / % Change / Notes
1 / 0200 / Wages – Temp Staff No Benefits / 100 / 10.00% / Every year, the department hires 1 part-time staff member to cover the night shifts allowing students to use study space in Caldwell Hall until 11 PM. The department anticipates continuing the service for the students.
The staff member will be paid $10/hr for 27/hr per week for 56 weeks. The total fiscal year expense is $15,120. The remaining $428 is for unscheduled/overtime hours.

III. SAVE THE BUDZERO

Once the BUDZERO is completed, please save the file.

IV. prepare division budget summary (when all budmemos are complete)

Please see the instructions on how to run a Division Budget Summary, which will summarize the amounts entered for each BUDZERO, Budget Office.

IV. Budget Staff AND DEPARTMENT ASSIGNMENTS

During this annual process, the Budget Office is available to answer questions or provide informal training to new employees. If you have any questions, below is the contact information for the Budget Office:

CONTACT / DEPARTMENTS
Rita Kovach
Director
Email:
Phone: x6300 / Non-academic
President’s Office (includes General Counsel, Office of Compliance, University Relations, and Public Safety)
Finance (includes HR, Technology Services, and Facilities)
Institutional Advancement (includes Alumni Relations)
Student Life (includes Athletics and Auxiliary Services)
Enrollment Management (includes Public Affairs)
Tom Peters
Assistant Director, Financial Planning
Email:
Phone: x6356 / Performance-based budgeting
Zero-based budgeting
Income Cost Model
Provost and Academic Departments (includes Columbus School of Law)
Paula Blackwell,
Enterprise Budget Systems
Email:
Phone: x6283 / Non-academic
President’s Office (includes General Counsel, Office of Compliance, University Relations, and Public Safety)
Finance (includes HR, Technology Services, and Facilities)
Institutional Advancement (includes Alumni Relations)
Student Life (includes Athletics and Auxiliary Services)
Enrollment Management (includes Public Affairs)
Jonathan Aaron
Budget Analyst
Email:
Phone: x6355 / Provost and Academic Departments (includes Columbus School of Law)

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