Budget and Finance
Who we are
Budget, Finance, Planning and Analysis – We process transactions related to budget and transaction management on behalf of our client departments. We provide financial analysis and recommendations to assist client departments with efficient and strategic utilization of the University’s financial resources.
List of Services
Data entry of proposed budget
The budget is a financial plan that estimates how much money will be made and spent over a set period of time.
Process:
BFS Finance team provides an excel workbook to the unit. This workbook contains information regarding past expenditures, a list of staff and current compensation, and the current year’s budget.
Units work within their VP area to propose their budget for the upcoming year.
Completed and approved workbooks are sent back to the BFS Finance team for data entry into the budget system.
Once all budgets have been submitted to the central budget office, units will receive a report on their submitted budget for their records.
Submission of annual salary adjustments
Annually departments recommend salary adjustments for employees based on the annual salary policy as determined by the President of the University during the budget cycle.
Process:
BFS Finance team provides an excel workbook to the unit. This workbook contains a roster of filled positions, current compensation, and budget information.
Units work within their VP area to propose salary adjustments for the upcoming year.
Completed and approved workbooks are sent back to the BFS Finance team so they can be compiled and submitted to HRSS to upload into Workday.
Salary adjustments are effective on 9/1 and reflected in the October payroll check.
Process fund transfers
The BFS Finance team reviews balances throughout the year and will notify units in the event account deficits should be resolved. They may make proposals to transfer funds and obtain the unit’s approval.
Units may initiate a transfer request. This requires an authorized account signer’s approval via e-mail. The e-mail should contain the from and to account information, the dollar amount and the purpose of the request. Signers should follow transfer rules regarding fund types.
Submission of annual sub-certification forms
Sub-certification is part of the year end process. Business officers and unit heads will be required to certify reconciliations are complete. Reconciliation is a control activity to compare departmental records to The University of Texas at Austin’s official accounting records. The reconciliation process includes identifying and correcting/ reconciling items within thirty days of the prior month’s close.
Process:
BFS Finance team sends notification via email to business officers and unit heads approximately 30-45 days prior to launch of the sub-certification process. This notification will include a sample packet of forms and FAQ’s about the process.
Central Accounting and Financial Management office will notify BFS Finance team that the sub-certification process is due (sometime in October of each year).
BFS Finance team will launch the packet of documents for unit business officers and unit heads via Docusign. This process has a short and hard deadline so efforts to ensure prompt attention to complete the process is required.
Completed packets are collated by BFS Finance team and submitted to central Accounting and Financial Management who facilitates submission to UT System.
Financial review of WD pay actions/Process costing updates
This only applies to units where the BFS Finance team is the Cost Center manager for the unit.
All Workday pay actions will route to the BFS Finance team for approval of the costing. UBS Human Resources Support Services has a business process in which pay actions will route to the BFS Finance team for review of the funding. The unit is responsible for identifying a source of funds for salary actions. BFS Finance team may ask for clarification on Pay Action forms that do not include information about where new funding is coming from or Workday business processes where it is not clear where new funding is coming from.
If a unit wants to make costing updates to employees, they can send and e-mail to the BFS Finance team. Requests should contain PID, effective date, % time, and account number for each employee. If the request is for more than five employees an EXCEL worksheet is preferred.
Facilitate new account requests
Process:
To create a new account, unit heads or their financial contacts can send an email to the BFS Finance team. The request should include the following information:
Account type (first two digits of budget group, must match first two digits of fund source)
Unit:
Proposed Title:
Account Purpose:
Funding Source:
Sub accounts:
In WD for specific subs:
CBO for routing:
BFS Finance team will create the new account request and route to central office.
Unit head will be notified by the central office when the account is created.
BFS Finance team can assist with funding and budget set up for new account.
OPTIONAL: Facilitate signature desk requests
Signature desk requests are updates made in the DEFINE system to request new or make changes to financial account structure (unit, budget group, sub account) and signers. Requests are submitted and routed for approval in Docusign. BFS can facilitate these requests on behalf of the department. If a department routes the request directly to the signature desk, it is helpful to copy the BFS Budget team so they are aware of the changes.
Facilitate dis-encumbrances (PO's older than 2 yrs)
An encumbrance is a transaction in the unit’s general ledger that shows a commitment to spend money in the future. Encumbrances are created when a purchase order, travel authorization, or pre-encumbrance document is finalized.
Units should monitor their encumbrances and review old encumbrances several times a year. UBS Financials website has a dashboard to monitor purchase order encumbrances. Units that determine that the remaining amount on a purchase order greater than two years old should be disencumbered, the unit head or financial contact can send an e-mail to the BFS Finance team. The email should contain PO number, vendor name, account number, PO amount, and the remaining encumbrance amount.
Create and review five-year simulations
The Five-year Budget Simulation is a financial simulation that is used to portray and assess the overall fiscal health of a CSU. The Five-year Budget Simulation simulates the recurring health and anticipated cash balances of each unit over the next five years by leveraging common business rules and planning parameters. In many cases, the anticipated cash balances may be restricted, there are commitments against them, or they are intended to supplement the recurring budget.
Create project/new funding proposals
Our BFS Budget team can assist department clients in preparing formal requests for funds from either the CSU’s VP/Dean or the University’s budget council.
Manage electronic offices/routing/desk and signer assignments
OPTIONAL: Reconciliation of Accounts
Reconciliation is a control activity to compare departmental records to The University of Texas at Austin’s official accounting records. The reconciliation process includes identifying and correcting/ reconciling items within thirty days of the prior month’s close.
Process:
Unit heads are responsible to ensure the transactions that post to the general ledger are posted appropriate, allowable, and properly recorded for the period. BFS Finance team provides an EXCEL report monthly with year-to-date income and expense transactions. These reports are uploaded to a UT Box folder that the unit head and financial staff can access. These reports should be reviewed periodically. Any transactions that require correction between accounts should be submitted into UT Tracker.
For those units that opt in to this service, BFS Finance team staff hold the Ledger Sheet contact role in the Organizational Hierarchy System (OHS). They perform the reconciliation/certification of accounts monthly as required in the system confirming that the unit has performed the reconciliation/certification for the prior month.
For more information: Reconciliation of Accounts
Frequently Asked Questions
What is my budget?
Budget proposal amounts submitted in March – April will be effective on September 1st of each year. The UBS Financials website contains a link to the Budget Dashboard. You can view your department’s expense budgets for the current fiscal year and the three previous years. If you want details on how your department is funded, please contact your VP/Dean’s CBO.
You can make changes to your budget via a request to transfer funds as long as the funds are from the same source: Core, Self-Supporting, Service Center, Endowment, Gift, Grant, etc.
How do I find my account balances? What is a free balance?
Your account balance is:
Budget + Adjustments/Transfers + Funds Carried forward – Actual Expenses – Encumbrances/Commitments
The free balance is the same as your account balance. The UBS Financials website contains a link to the Free Balance Dashboards. The Free balance or account balance is the last column in the view.
How do I know how much money I have for a position?
Monthly recurring positions in your department are budgeted by each position ID. Positions that are term, temporary, hourly or funded with one time funds are typically not budgeted. If our BFS team acts as your Cost Center Manager we provide monthly reporting on the positions in your department. These monthly reports will show how much a position was budgeted for, whether or not the position is filled or vacant, if filled the compensation for the incumbent, the account number funding the position and the percentage.