FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
Introduction and Overview
The objective of the forecast is to help plan the actual revenue and expenses for the fiscal year and to be able to identify any financial issues regarding funding and errors to the fund centre.
An Excel template has been provided and is required to be used to complete the forecast. As the forecast template is periodically updated it is always best to download the most recent template from the Business Services website for each forecast.
NOTE: It is discouraged to use a previous forecast worksheet because any errors that might be reported previously may be carried forward to the current forecast.
You can find the Forecast Template at: http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/business-services/sites/files/businessservices/public/users/pontedea/Forecast%20Template%20-%202015.xlsx
There are five distinct sections in the forecasting exercise:
1. BUDGET (includes Original Plan, Transfers Received, Revised Plan, and Transfers worksheet)
2. ACTUALS (includes Actuals May – xxx 20xx, Commitments and Total to Date)
3. FORECAST (includes Forecast xxx – April 20xx and Total Fiscal Year)
4. EXPECTED TRANSFERS (includes Expected Transfers worksheet)
5. VARIANCE
6. NOTES (includes Notes worksheet)
An “ Appendix” is available to help familiarize you with the different report selection screens.
Please contact your Financial Officer if you have any questions.
Dates
Figures used should be as at your forecast date (July 31, October 31 or January 31).
FIS reports required
Only six FIS reports need to be run to complete the forecast. Some reports are used in more than one field in the forecast template. These instructions describe what reports need to be run at each step. For more information on what reports to run and what they are for, please refer to
Appendix A .
Please contact your Financial Officer if you need assistance.
Monthly Reconciliations
It is strongly recommended that all monthly reconciliations are completed prior to the end of next month. This will reduce discrepancies between Cost Center and Funds Center and make the forecast a lot easier.
Link to the Monthly Reconciliation reference: http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/Assets/Finance+Digital+Assets/course/rpt/reconcilemonthend.pdf
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
Completion of the Forecasting Workbook
1.
Budget Worksheet template structure
GL Number &
Name
(column A)
Original Plan
(column B)
(a) Original Plan
Transfers Received
(column C)
Revised Plan
(column D) i. Run the FIS report
“ZSO1: CC with IO: Plan & Actual” (for departments that have IO’s)
OR
“ZSO3
CC w/o IO: Plan & Actual” (for departments that DO NOT have IO’s)
For detailed instructions, please refer to Appendix B-(a).1
ii. Copy and paste the Cost elements/cost center” and “Plan Costs” or “Total Plan” on the report and paste onto the “Cost elements/cost center” (column A) and “Original Plan”
(column B) on the Forecast worksheet.
EXAMPLE
FIS report
HINT: When copying and pasting FIS report to the Forecast Template, you will need to copy and paste the format from a different row that has not been changed. This will remove all the odd highlighting and different formats of the font.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
(b) Budget Transfers i. Run the CC Plans with Long Text report (transaction code ZFIR071) and record transfers (i.e. who transferred to your department, how much, the date it was made and the description).
For detailed instructions, please refer to Plans_with_Long_Texts
ii. Enter the transfers from CC plans with Long Text report into the Transfers worksheet.
HINT: You can download the CC Plans with Long Text report into a excel worksheet and then copy and paste into the Transfers worksheet
Contact your Financial Officer if you need assistance.
iii. GL 899041: This is where the carryforward from last fiscal year is updated in CC plan. iv. If you have budgeted IOs, you should also request the FIS report: “KPF7 IO Planning
Cost and Activity Inputs Display ”.
For detailed instruction, please refer to Appendix_B
v. Link the Transfers worksheet to the Forecast worksheet
See example on next page.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
Example of Forecast Template – Transfers worksheet
Examples of Forecast Template – Forecast worksheet
NOTE: New rows to include additional GL Numbers & Names needed to be manually inserted in
Forecast worksheet.
(c) Revised Budget
Revised Budget = Original Budget + Budget Transfers. Ensure that the total Revised Budget matches the total on the Statement of Accounts.
2.
Please include Internal Orders with the main Actuals in the worksheet.
Actuals Worksheet template structure
GL May – End Commitments
Number & of Forecast (column F)
Total to date
(column G)
Name
(column A) month
(column E)
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
(a) May – the end of forecasting month Actual i. Run the FIS report:
“ZSO1: CC with IO: Plan & Actual” (for departments that have IO’s)
For detailed instructions, please refer to Appendix_B
OR
“ZSO3: CC w/o IO: Plan & Actual” (for departments that DO NOT have IO’s) ii. Copy actual costs from CC with IO or CC without IO report and paste into the Actual May
– the end of forecasting month column of the worksheet. When including IO’s please separate costs using a header of each IO. GL 899041 is your carry forward amount and should be reported as the line just above the Total Funds Centre Budget line iii. Run the FIS report: “ZFTR106:Statement of Accounts
For detailed instructions, please refer to Statement_of_Accounts
iv. Compare the YTD Actuals on the first page of the “Statement of Accounts” to the “CC with (or w/o) IO:Plan & Actual”. Explain the difference and when the difference is going to be corrected.
(b) Commitments (column G) i. Find the Outstanding Commitment report by clicking on the “Outstanding commit-s” button at top of the Month-end Statement of Account screen.
The report can be sorted and totaled by CC/IO & GL. Enter the committed amounts by
GL number into the Commitments column F. ii. Compare the Salary & Benefit Commitment amounts to the Payroll Distribution Report
“Funds Centre/Fund Total by GL” section. If the amounts by GL and CC do not agree, you need to investigate and confirm the reason for the difference.
TIP: A difference in the actual commitment amount in Statement of Account report and the commitment amount on Payroll Distribution report can occur because there are insufficient funds in the Funds Centre for a complete commitment at the time payroll was run. If this is the case, the department needs to forecast the balance of the funds that were not included in the commitment
TIP: In the Month-end Statement of Account screen scroll down until you find the Payroll
Distribution report iii. Compare your total to the Outstanding Commitments on the first page of the Statement of
Accounts. If they do not balance out, the difference should be explained.
(c) Total to Date (column H)
Total to Date = May to Forecasting month Actuals plus Commitments. Compare the Total Funds
Centre Budget row with the Statement of Accounts, there should not be a difference other than reconciling items identified in column F.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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Example:
FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
This information is not yet in the FIS system. Enter all amounts that you plan to/expect to spend
(or receive credit for) for all GL accounts such as:
 if telephone charges have been posted for any given month, you need to enter an amount expected for the remaining months
 credit for any employees who will be on leave
 under-reserved amounts due to lack of funds (see 2(b) above)
 other purchases anticipated
 receipt of budgeted salary recoveries
 future revenue receipts
DO NOT: Add amounts anticipated for any ATB or academic PTR – These amounts will be funded as the salary increases occur
DO: Include amounts expected for USWA step increases not yet realized (i.e. Step date has not yet occurred for the fiscal year). These amounts can be found in the original budget package sent to your department in May.
Please contact your Financial Officer if you need help
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
In the Expected Transfers worksheet – i. Check that the Department name and as at date has been changed (they are linked to the Forecast worksheet) ii. List the expected transfers that you are expecting to receive and include the GL that the amount should be transferred to as well as the amount (rounded to dollars) in column I.
Note: If funds are expected to be sent to your department via journal entry this should be recorded in Forecast worksheet in column H
Examples of Expected Budget Transfers are (see below)

Salary funding for a new approved position (if the position is filled and new position salary is included in forecast)

Approved OTO expense to be funded by the Dean of CAO (if expense has incurred or
PO has committed the funds or expense is forecasted)
 Salary funding due to a reevaluation of position (if position’s new salary is included in forecast) iii. Link the Expected Transfers worksheet to the Forecast worksheet in column J
(see example below)
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
i. Confirm that all cells with a GL number have the formula D + J – I for each row in column
K ii. Check your work
Total Variance = Total Budget - Revised Plan (column D) less Forecast –Total Fiscal
Year (column I) plus Total Transfers Expected (column J)
6. NOTES
NOTES worksheet
Any calculations for forecasts should be included in the NOTES worksheet and linked back to the Forecast worksheet – Example below
Examples of calculations

Monthly charges not already included in commitments i.e. phone

Expected search expenses

Salary changes due to leave/new hire

Step increases
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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Things to Remember
FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS

Use Payroll Distribution report to compare to the salaries in the Base Budget File (it will indicate if there is a variance or change in FTE and identify any new hires)

Find and report any discrepancies between CC actuals and CFC actuals

Use the Forecast Review Template as a check to make sure you have captured all of the information

Forecast monthly expenses. Such as monthly telephone expense, items that reoccur from month to month.

All salary savings should be noted.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
List of reports to run (from page 1)
The table below lists all the reports you need to run to complete the forecast package.
If you need assistance on how to run the reports, please refer to the links to the Financial
Services documentation.
FIS Report Name
1 CC with IOs
Code
ZSO1
Purpose
To get original budget for operating FC and IOs
CC without IOs ZSO3 To get original budget for operating FC http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast/qrg/rptmd/cca/ccplanactuals.htm
2 Funds Center Report ZFTR111 To view all/total transfers http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/Assets/Finance+Digital+Assets/qrg/reporting/financialsum/fcrpt.pdf?method=1
3 CC Plans with Long Text ZFIR071
4 IO Planning Cost and Activity KPF7
To confirm which GL the transfers pertain to
To confirm which GL and IO the transfers affect
5 Payroll Distribution Report ZHJR_ZHJR004 To see if payroll reserves are sufficient http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/Assets/Finance+Digital+Assets/qrg/reporting/monthend/payrolldistn.pdf?method=1
6 Statement of Accounts ZFTR106 To view up-to-date expenditure and commitment http://www.finance.utoronto.ca/fast/qrg/rptmd/me/stmtacctfc.htm
(a) Original Budget Plan & Actuals FIS report
Cases FIS report Name Code in FIS
I DO have IO(s) CC with IO: Plan & Actual
CC without IO: Plan & Actual
ZSO1
ZSO3
:
I do NOT have IO(s)
Field Name
Controlling Area
Fiscal Year
From Period
To period
Plan Version
Comments
UOFT
Forecasting fiscal year
1
12 (For Original budget column)
3 (For May – July Actuals )
6 (For May – Oct Actuals)
9 (For May – Jan Actuals)
1: Original (For Original budget)
0: Current (For Forecasting Actuals)
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
YTD Actuals - ZSO1 - CC with IO: Plan & Actuals
Periods are numbered May = 1, June =2,
July = 3…..April = 12.
Request reports From Period 1, To Period
3=July, 6=Oct, 9=Jan
See next page to find your Order group
How to find correct IO Group
Accounting>>Controlling>>Internal Orders>>Master Data>>Order Group>>Display
1) Under “Order Group”, put CC+ your Cost Center* (e.g. CC10228*) and enter
2) Out of all the IO groups displayed , choose the IO Group that doesn’t include conference IOs (4xxxxx).
If you are unsure which IO Group to use, please contact your Financial Officer at
Business Services for assistance.
Run the report by clicking (execute icon) on your FIS screen.
Change the report to Excel mode
Display the report by “CC with IO: Plan & Actuals – Columns”.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FIS Report Name
CC Plans with Long Text
FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
Code in FIS
ZFIR071
Notes
Plan version: 0 (current)
Beginning period: 1 Ending period: 12
To confirm which GL and IO the transfers affect IO Planning Cost and Activity Inputs
Display
Plans with Long Text report
KPF7
Complete the FIS screen as detailed below:
IO Planning Cost and Activity Inputs
Statement of Account report (transaction code ZFTR106)
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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FORECAST INSTRUCTIONS
Input required “Funds Center”
Double click “Fund” field to display the following selection
Double click “= Single Value” and leave blank to exclude all “Funds”.
This will ignore any “Fund Account” postings from the report that are connected to the selected
Funds Centre. i.e. Conference Accounts.
Manual prepared by: UTM Business Services
Revised: January 2015
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