SECTION
700 - FINANCE AND BUSINESS
701 BUDGET DEVELOPMENT AND
ADMINISTRATION
POLICY
Georgia Perimeter
College is governed by both state and Regents policies with respect to budget
development and administration. The
Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative Affairs is
responsible to the President for coordinating budget development and
administration to ensure compliance with these policies.
Budget development
issues originate from the College's mission, its strategic plan, and campus and
functional area operational plans. All
campuses, functional areas, divisions, departments, and offices have a role in
the planning process, in setting the College's priorities, and, therefore, in
budget development. The Provosts are
responsible for collecting and recommending campus priorities, and the Vice
Presidents are responsible for collecting and recommending functional area
priorities. The President submits the
College's final budget to the Board of Regents.
Budget administration
incorporates principles of good stewardship, accountability, incentives, and
flexibility to handle emergencies and other dramatic changes in the College's
budget situation. The Provosts are
responsible for monitoring budget administration on their campuses; the Vice
Presidents are responsible for monitoring budget administration in their
functional areas; and the Assistant Director of Finance/Budgets is responsible
to the Director of Finance and the Executive Vice President for Financial and
Administrative Affairs for reviewing day-to-day budget administration
throughout the College and recommending adjustments as necessary. The President submits any necessary budget
changes to the Board of Regents.
PROCEDURE
A. Budget
Development
1. Budget
Request to the Board of Regents
Toward
the end of the calendar year, usually in December but sometimes in January,
often with little advance notice or turn-around time, the Regents Central
Office distributes guidelines to all System units regarding requests for new
funds for the ensuing fiscal year.
These guidelines specify the categories and initiatives to which all
funding requests must be addressed.
Therefore, it is necessary that the College be prepared to submit well
thought-out, realistic, substantiated requests at this time.
By
December 1st of each year, consistent with the College's mission and strategic
plan, each Provost, in consultation with campus administrators, and each Vice
President, in consultation with district administrators, shall submit a list of
their highest budget priorities for the coming year to the Assistant Director
of Finance/Budgets, who will compile them for the President and the Executive
Team. The College's response to the
Regents criteria will reflect these priorities. The President submits the formal request to the Board.
2. Budget
Worksheets
By
February 1st of each year, on forms distributed by the Budget Office, each
Provost, in consultation with campus administrators, and each Vice President,
in consultation with district administrators, shall submit proposed operating
budgets for the coming year to the Assistant Director of Finance/Budgets, who
will compile them for the President.
3. Quality
Improvement Funds
By
April 1st of each year, each Provost, in consultation with the Dean of Academic
Services and other campus academic staff, shall submit a proposal for Quality
Improvement Funds for the coming fiscal year to the Vice President for Academic
Affairs. The Vice President for
Academic Affairs shall meet with each Provost to review their proposals. Within the final budget allocation of
Quality Improvement Funds, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall
distribute these funds in response to the campus proposals. This distribution shall be reflected in the
initial budget, except for a contingency amount held back for emergency
requests later in the year.
4. Science
Equipment Funds
By
April 1st of each year, consistent with the long-term College plan for science
equipment replacement, each Provost, in consultation with the Dean of Academic
Services and other campus academic staff, shall submit a proposal for Science
Equipment Funds for the coming fiscal year to the Science Discipline Dean, who
will meet with the Provosts to review their proposals and who makes a
recommendation to the Vice President for Academic
Affairs. Within the final budget
allocation of Science Equipment Funds, the Vice President for Academic Affairs
shall distribute these funds in response to the campus proposals. This distribution shall be reflected in the initial
budget, except for a contingency amount held back for emergency requests later
in the year.
5. Technology
Improvement Funds
By
April 1st of each year, consistent with the College's EDP plan, each Provost,
in consultation with the Dean of Academic Services and other campus academic
staff, shall submit a proposal for Academic Computing Funds for the coming
fiscal year to the Assistant Vice President for Information Technology, who
meets with the Provosts to review their proposals and who makes a recommendation
to the Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative Affairs. Within the final budget allocation of
Academic Computing Funds, the Executive Vice President for Financial and
Administrative Affairs shall distribute these funds in response to the campus
proposals. This distribution shall be
reflected in the initial budget, except for a contingency amount held back for
emergency requests later in the year.
By
April 1st of each year, consistent with the College's EDP plan, each Provost,
in consultation with other campus staff, and each Vice President, in
consultation with other district staff, shall submit a proposal for
Administrative and Network Computing Funds for the coming fiscal year to the
Assistant Vice President for Information Technology, who meets with the
Provosts and Vice Presidents to review their proposals and who makes a
recommendation to the Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative
Affairs. Within the final budget
allocation of Administrative and Network Computing Funds, the Executive Vice
President for Financial and Administrative Affairs shall distribute these funds
in response to the campus and district
proposals. This distribution shall be
reflected in the initial budget, except for a contingency amount held back for
emergency requests later in the year.
6. Facilities
Improvement Funds
By
April 1st of each year, consistent with the College's facilities master plan,
each Provost, in consultation with other campus staff, and each Vice President,
in consultation with other district staff, shall submit a proposal for
Facilities Improvement Funds for the coming fiscal year to the Director of
Plant Operations, who meets with the Provosts and Vice Presidents to review
their proposals and who makes a recommendation to the Executive Vice President
for Financial and Administrative Affairs.
The Executive Vice
President for Financial and Administrative Affairs shall recommend to the
President: (1) projects to be included
on the Major Capital Outlay request to the Regents (projects over $5 million);
(2) projects to be included on the Minor Capital Outlay request to the Regents
(projects between $1
million
and $5 million); (3) projects to be included on the Major Repair and Renovation
request to the Regents (projects less than $1 million involving infrastructure
or regulatory-related repairs); and (4) projects to be included in the
College's own budget (minor repairs and renovations). The President submits the various facilities-related requests to
the Board, which sometimes follow a slightly different timetable than the rest
of the budget process with respect to notification and award. Within the final budget allocation of
Facilities Improvement Funds, the Executive Vice President for Financial and
Administrative Affairs shall distribute these funds in response to the campus
and district proposals. This
distribution shall be reflected in the initial budget, whenever possible,
except for a contingency amount held back for emergency requests later in the
year.
7. Budget
Allocation
In
late Winter, following the legislative session, the Board notifies the College
of its budget allocation. At that time,
the President and the Executive Team reconcile the budget plans to actual funds
available. The President submits the
College's budget to the Regents for approval.
Upon its approval, the Budget Office will distribute the budget
documents to all budget managers.
B. Budget
Administration
1. Budget
Monitoring
The
role of the budget manager (Department Chairs, Coordinators, Assistant
Directors) is to maintain positive balances in departmental accounts and to
initiate transfers where appropriate and necessary (see below #2).
The
role of district Directors and campus Deans, Head Librarians, and Plant
Managers is to oversee the budget within their area of responsibility and
ensure that their budget managers are doing their jobs. Deans of Academic Services have particular
responsibility to monitor budgets for summer faculty, part-time faculty, and
faculty overloads.
The
role of the Vice President is to maintain the current functional budget,
oversee the budget within their area of responsibility, and ensure that their
district Directors are doing their jobs.
The
role of the Provost is to maintain the current functional budgets on campus,
oversee the budget within their area of responsibility, and to initiate any
necessary inter-campus transfers.
The
Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative Affairs shall inform
the President of any expenditure trends that may affect the College's ability
to live within its budget, any changes in revenue that were not anticipated in
the original budget, and any external conditions that may require adjusting
expenditures. The President will decide
if mid-year budget adjustments are necessary.
2. Budget
Transfers
The
department budget manager has the flexibility of transferring funds within
several expenditure categories:
a. Transfers
are permitted between Part-Time Faculty and Summer Faculty budget categories
within a department. These transfers
may also occur among instructional departments on a campus, with the approval
of the Dean. These transfers may also
occur among campuses within the instruction functional area, with the approval
of the Provost.
b. Transfers are
permitted among the Part-Time Staff, Part-Time Professional, Student Assistant,
and Overtime budget categories within a department. These transfers may also occur among departments on a campus
within the same functional area, with the approval of the Dean of Academic
Services, the Dean of Student Services, the Head Librarian, or the Plant
Manager; or among district departments within the same functional area, with
the approval of the district Director; or among campuses within the functional
area, with the approval of the Provost.
c. Transfers
are permitted between Travel and Local Travel budget categories within a
department. These transfers may also
occur among departments on a campus within the same functional area, with the
approval of the Dean of Academic Services, the Dean of Student Services, the
Head Librarian, or the Plant Manager; or among district departments within the
same functional area, with the approval of the district Director; or among
campuses within the functional area, with the approval of the Provost.
d. Transfers
are permitted among the Motor Vehicle Expense, Supplies and Materials, Repairs
and Maintenance, Rents Non-Real Estate, Other Operating Expense, Software,
Publications and Printing, Equipment Non-Inventory, Per Diem Fees, and Contract
budget categories within a department.
These transfers may also occur among departments on a campus within the
same functional area, with the approval of the Dean of Academic Services, the
Dean of Student Services, the Head Librarian, or the Plant Manager; or among
district departments within the same functional area, with the approval of the
district Director; or among campuses within the functional area, with the
approval of the Provost.
e. Telecommunications
expenses at the current time will continue to be managed by the College until
an accurate inventory is complete.
f. Each
Provost and Vice President is budgeted a small amount of Equipment-Inventory
funds for emergency requests. Provosts
and Vice Presidents may distribute to departments.
g. Transfers
may not be made out of budgeted full-time positions and fringe benefits. These budget categories will continue to be
managed by the Budget Office as institutional funds.
3. Personnel
Reclassifications
The
Regents discourage mid-year reclassifications of vacant positions. Personnel activity should occur during the
normal budget cycle. Occasionally,
however, unusual circumstances will cause a Provost or Vice President to
request the reclassification of a vacant position. Such requests should be forwarded by the Provost or Vice
President to the Human Resources Office for personnel evaluation and to the
Budget Office for budget-impact evaluation.
The Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative Affairs
makes a recommendation to the President.
The President decides whether to submit this request to the Board.
REFINEMENT OF THE PROCESS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998
During the current
fiscal year (FY97), the Assistant Director of Finance/Budgets, the Director of
Finance, and the Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative
Affairs will work with the Provosts, Vice Presidents, Deans, district
Directors, and other appropriate staff to implement a more refined budget
process that reflects revenue earned at the campus level, that
increases
accountability for expenditures, that provides incentives for good stewardship,
and that moves towards a results-oriented model. It is expected that initial implementation can occur next fiscal
year (FY98).
Adopted July 1, 1996
Revision: “DeKalb College” replaced with “Georgia
Perimeter College” (8/2001)