Budget FAQ's

  • What are departmental charge backs?

    Many departments provide specialized support services to other departments. For example, the University's Print Shop provides services for on-campus printing. Generally, the department that provides the service pays for the initial expenditures associated with the service. After the service has been provided, its cost is charged back to the department that has received the service. Charge backs are posted to departmental operating budgets by the Budget Office and are backdated to be posted into the appropriate month. For example, March charges would be posted in April, but would show in SAP/BI with a posting date of March 31.

  • What effect do open commitments (encumbrances) have on my budget balance?

    Open commitments include all open purchase requisitions and purchase orders. As soon as a purchase requisition is created, it immediately decreases the available budget balance in the cost center being used.

  • What G/L account should I use?

    See a complete listing of available G/L accounts.

  • What happens to old commitments?

    Commitments remain in the system until full payment is made or the purchase order is closed by the Regional Procurement Office at the department's request. At year-end, all open commitments are carried forward to the new fiscal year, along with the equivalent budget, and are added to the new fiscal year's base budget.

    Please contact Angela Jackson from the Regional Procurement Office to review or close old purchase orders.

  • What should I do if the student wages budget line is negative?

    Please contact the Budget Office to request a budget transfer to cover any negative student wages.  Insufficient budget funds will not prevent students from being paid, but all student wages will need to be funded before the fiscal year ends on June 30th.

  • Where can I view/print a list of open commitments?

    Business Intelligence (BI) reports include a tab for commitments.  Choosing the "Sort by Oldest" view, which can be found at the top left of the report, allows the user to see all the currently open commitments. The easiest way to print is by exporting the information to a pdf format. See the BI Training Manual for further instructions.

  • Where can I view/print budget reports?

    Business Intelligence (BI) has many easy-to-use reporting options for viewing and printing budget information. The easiest way to print is by exporting the information to a pdf format. See the BI Training Manual for further instructions.