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Overview

Course Description: This informational class will teach participants the fundamental concepts of UNL's Budget Control

System (BCS). Training will include discussion of budget line details and budget concepts.

Class Goals:

o Explain and illustrate the fundamental concepts followed in the Budget system.

o Understand importance of the concepts and how they can aid in the Budget process.

How does the Budget at UNL work?

Budget is the structure and process used to plan and manage funds at the University to accomplish its

strategic mission. Each year the campus evaluates student enrollment, research activity, revenues

generated by athletics, housing, parking and capital projects to determine the revenue that will fund the

expense budgets. Budgets and the annual salary program are administered and formalized in the Budget

Prep process. Budget Prep is also where the revenue and expense budgets are reconciled to balance the

budget and set the budget for the coming year’s activity. While not as formal and structured, the rest of

the year is the most critical.

To see a broader discussion about the University of Nebraska’s Budget review the Budget Manual found

at http://budget.unl.edu. Click on section Training and Resources. Click on Documentation, then

Training Guides, then “An Introduction to Budget”.

To see a rolling calendar of tentative dates for the budget process go to Budget’s website at

http://budget.unl.edu. Click on section Budget Calendar.

BCS –Budget Basics Training

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Budget Line - Details

It is important to know what information is on a line item in budget. Below is a brief discussion of line

item details.

Budget is a Position Number based system Since approximately eighty-five percent of the State Aided budget is salary related, the budget system is

driven by numbers assigned to each position. These are referred to as position numbers. See below for

an example of a position number for salary versus non-salary budget lines.

Salary Related

Non-Salary Related

Budget Line - 5 Key Fields There are five key attributes to a budget line. The attributes are what create a unique line for each

budgeted item. They also dictate the type of revenue or expense and in which University unit the line

resides. The five key attribute fields (circled below) are:

Position number

Funds Center / WBS number

Commitment Item / G/L Account

Personnel Number

WT: Wage Type

Other fields (non-circled above) in a budget line include:

ES: Employee Subgroup

CL: Contract Length

FTE: Full Time Equivalent %

PT: Position Type

Hourly Rate and Hours

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RR: Reporting Relationship

Amounts – Beginning Balance, Permanent and Temporary

SALARY VS. HOURLY BUDGET LINES Salary and hourly budget lines look similar in BCS. However, there are some key attribute differences

which impact the manner in which budget transactions are posted to or from them.

On the below example, the first line is a salary budget line, while the second line is an hourly budget

line.

Attributes by Hourly vs. Salary

Attribute Hourly Salary

Commitment item

Academic/Faculty

Chair/Dean/Admin

Managerial/Professional

Office/Service

Other Academic, Grad

Asst., House Officer

Student

N/A

N/A

513000

514000

N/A

516000

511000

512000, 512100

513000

N/A

515000

516000

Employee Sub-Group (ES) *2, *6 *1

Wage Type (WT) 1001 1003, 1004, 1008, 1010, 1406

Hourly Rate1 Annual Pay / (FTE % X 2080) N/A

Hours1 FTE% X 2080 hours/year N/A 1Mandatory, *Wildcard

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Key Concepts and Terms

While it is important to know the information on a budget line (as described previously), the focus of

this training is to help gain a conceptual understanding of how a budget line affects budget and the

meaning and/or reason(s) for it. The following identifies and discusses those concepts. A clear

understanding of them will be of value as Personnel Action Forms (PAFs) are created and/or budget

lines are pre-posted to BCS.

BUDGET LINE - PERMANENT VS. TEMPORARY BUDGET

Each budget line amount can have some combination of: 1) 7/1-original or beginning, 2) permanent

and/or, 3) temporary amounts. The balances for each can be different.

The 7/1 amount represents the new fiscal year beginning balance. This amount never changes

during the fiscal year.

The Permanent amount represents an on-going funding commitment approved by the Board of

Regents and is carried over from year to year unless removed. This amount begins every fiscal

year equal to the 7/1 amount. During the year it can be changed by permanently transferring

funds into or out of a budget line. A change to a Permanent amount will yield a like change to

the Temporary amount.

The Temporary amount represents a funding commitment for the current fiscal year only. This

amount begins every fiscal year equal to the 7/1 and Permanent amounts unless there is carry

forward from the end of the prior fiscal year. It is also important to note that temporary budget

can exist without 7/1 or permanent amounts. In addition, it can be changed by transferring

funds into or out of a budget line. A change to Temporary does not change Permanent.

A permanent or temporary budget transfer can be done by completing a Budget Transfer Form (see

appendix).

Illustration of Permanent versus Temporary

The example below depicts a budget line item as of 7/1/YY. It has a beginning budget amount and both

permanent and temporary budget amounts.

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The example below depicts a budget line item after an increase was made to a budget line’s permanent

amount. Note that there is also a like increase to the temporary budget amount

The example below depicts a budget line after a mid-year hire of a new employee. An entry was made

to increase permanent budget for the total salary amount. In addition, an entry to decrease temporary

budget was made to pro-rate the salary needed for the current year.

Temporary budget can exist by itself. Below depicts a commitment funded for only the current year. It

has no 7/1 or Permanent budget. In addition, unless there is a permanent budget entry added by the

fiscal year end, this budget line will not exist in next year’s 7/1 budget.

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BUDGET LINE - COVERING PLANNED MINUSES Planned minuses are budget deficits permanently budgeted in lieu of eliminating specific budget lines to

balance the budget. These deficits are distributed to the campus units as directed by the Senior

Administration Team and the Academic Planning Committee. As an organization changes and planning

from year to year continues, prepare to reduce all deficits temporarily annually and permanently, when

able.

A planned minus budget line is shown below. Planned minuses are on commitment item 599950.

Planned minuses should have temporary funds committed to them every year. This reflects the

conscious effort to reallocate the deficit which will more accurately portray available budget.

Complete a temporary funding by:

Using operating or salary budget to temporarily offset the planned minuses.

o If operating budget is used, a direct transfer can be made by completing a Budget

Transfer Form (see appendix).

o If salary budget, the centrally pooled benefits budget can be used to supplement and save

more of the unit’s salary. Only the Budget office has security to post transactions

affecting the central benefits budget. Therefore, contact the Budget office for assistance.

This is an example of a planned minus budget line. A temporary transfer was made to remove the

deficit for the current fiscal year only.

Planned minuses can also be retired permanently. Complete a permanent funding by:

Making a permanent reduction of budget.

Earmarking any overall growth in revenue (appropriations or tuition) to retire the shortage.

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This is an example of a planned minus budget line. A permanent transfer was made. It removed the

deficit for the current fiscal year and the permanent budget.

Summary

The main concepts are summarized below. Work toward gaining an understanding of them. If

understood, the easier it will be to determine how changes to employee records, revenue or operating

expenses may affect your budget. Remember, a clear understanding of them will be of value as

Personnel Action Forms (PAFs) are created and/or budget lines are pre-posted to BCS.

There are five key attributes to a budget line making it unique

Budget Lines:

o Salary vs. Hourly - require different information

o Permanent vs. Temporary

o Planned Minuses – cover temporarily and/or permanently

Appendix

BUDGET RESOURCES ON SAPPHIRE

Business Forms [ Sapphire>Business Forms>UNL>Budget]

Budget Transfer form and instructions

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BUDGET ENTRY REFERENCE SHEET Key Codes

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