FY 2015 OPERATING BUDGET SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
FOR
GENERAL FUNDS (11)
The General Fund 11 supports the University’s day to day operations which includes paying for administrative
and general operating expenses. Each School or Department with a Fund 11 program is responsible for
submitting an operating budget to the University Budget Office that reflects the proposed financial plan for the
upcoming fiscal year.
The Salary Budget Spreadsheets and Division Summary Reports are included in the budget preparation
materials sent to the area Vice Presidents and Provost. The BudMemo report is generated from the PeopleSoft
financial system. Therefore, the general fund budget targets are captured using the following templates:


Salary Budget Spreadsheets; and
Division Summary Report (provides the proposed FY 2015 budget increases, adjustments and division
target).
Please ensure that the information returned to the Budget Office reconciles to the FY 2015 budget totals
provided.
These guidelines provide instructions for submitting Fiscal Year 2015 Operating Budgets for the General (Fund
11) budgets. The University Budget Committee has approved the attached budgets and the final approval comes
from the Board of Trustees. Once the Board of Trustees approves the FY 2015 Operating and Capital Plan, the
budgets are entered into PeopleSoft financial system in Cardinal Financials and spending can begin on May 1,
2014.
For FY 2015 budget planning, all Fund 11 budgets are due to the University Budget Office on or before
April 4. It is very important to meet the April 4 deadline as this impacts the ability of the Budget Office staff to
review all budgets and prepare them for uploading into the financial system by the start of new fiscal year.
I. DIVISION SUMMARY FOR FY 2014/ FY 2015 BUDGET TARGETS
The purpose of this summary is to provide the Vice President/Provost with a summary of salaries, benefits and
other general and administrative expenses for each ORG arriving at a total for the entire division. Additionally,
it provides the area Vice President/ Provost with the proposed FY 2015 increases, budget reductions and final
Budget targets.
The Division Summary presents the following in a rollforward format:
 Current year (FY 2014) budget for each category of expenses by ORG code for each Vice
President/Provost division;
 The FY15 budget changes recommended by the University Budget Committee - These changes include
FY 2015 budget increases and any other FY2015 adjustments.
 The proposed FY15 Budget Targets - Budgeted expenses for FY 2015 are pending final approval by the
Board of Trustees. The Vice President/Provost has the discretion to re-allocate the budgets for each
ORG, provided the total budget for the area remains the same.
Directions for Submitting FY 2015 Budgets:

You do not need to adjust the Division Summary if you do not move funds from one category to
another or from one ORG to another. If you do make changes, return the summary clearly noting
and highlighting the changes. It is highly recommended that you submit the Salary Budget
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Spreadsheets and the Division Summaries together. This will enable you and the Budget Office
team to confirm that the budgets submitted by your departments are in balance with the overall area
budget provided to you. Budget revisions can be made during the fiscal year using the budget
revision form; however, they must be balanced and submitted to the Budget Office for processing.
Email the completed attachments to your respective budget analyst (see page six) on or before April
4, 2014 COB. Late submittals will impede the department’s ability to spend its FY 2015 budget
starting May 1, 2014. Spending (other than salaries, fringe benefits and scholarships) cannot occur
until the Budget Office has reviewed, uploaded and reconciled the budget in the financial system.

The budgets will be entered into the PeopleSoft budget module based on the information provided
on the BUDMEMO report submitted by the departments (see instructions below).
Other Items – Five Percent Budget Reductions
Please note the FY 2015 budget includes the carryover of budget reductions from FY 2014. You may recall,
several unique cost reduction accounts were set up in 2009 to keep track of the budget reductions and these
accounts will continue to be used in FY 2015. These account codes are for budget use only and should not be
modified. The account codes are as follows:
0499
0899
8999
Salary Reduction – Budget Use
Fringe Benefit – Budget Use
Other Expense Reduction – Budget Use
If you need to make changes to the original reduction submission, please send an email to the Budget Office
detailing the substitution. The reduction amounts for each division should remain the same, but you can
move between categories of expenses.
II. INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTAL SALARY BUDGET SPREADSHEETS
For most departments, salaries and wages are the largest component of the budget; therefore, it is critical for
each department to reconcile the salary spreadsheet to the approved staffing level for your program area. By
doing so, this will ensure the compensation budget for your department is sufficient to cover the annual salary
expenditures that will be charged to each individual ORG within a program area.
Directions for reconciling the Salary Budget Spreadsheets:

The individual department salary budgets have been prepared for you based on your current
employees and salaries.

Managers should review and reconcile the salary spreadsheet for each ORG to ensure there is a
budget for each employee, which in most cases is the annual salary. If staffing changes occur (i.e.
new hires, staff resignations, etc.), those changes should be reflected in the salary spreadsheet
submitted to the Budget Office by April 4, 2014, as part of your budget request package, as well as
submitting an Employee Data Form (EDF) to the Office of Human Resources. Failure to submit an
EDF may cause a delay in loading your FY 2015 budget request.

An employee identification number or EMPLID is listed for each employee. If this is a new
position, there is a column for you to input this information on this attachment.

The Salary Budget Spreadsheets were prepared using the current FY 2015 salary budgets, as well as
the salary amounts for account codes such as student (0220) and overtime (0500). This will enable
you to easily reconcile the total salary budget for the ORG.
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
If an employee is split funded (charged to more than one ORG), the salary should be allocated
according to the approved distribution for each ORG to which his or her salary is charged.
Additionally, the Salary Budget Spreadsheets to which she or he is charged should indicate the
details of the split. Current employees who are split funded have been prepared for you. If you need
assistance with adding newly, split funded employees or with completing the information for
current split funded employees, please contact the Budget Office for assistance. Only temporary
employees with a specified end date can be funded through a Reserve Fund (18 or 19).

If you have any individuals working for you who are charged partially or 100% to a Fund 26 or 27
(grants), then salary spreadsheets are not required. For Funds 12 budgets were due to the Budget
Office on January 31, 2014.; Funds 31 and 51 budgets are due April 4, 2014
III. ACCESSING AND RUNNING NVISION BUDMEMO REPORT
Use the specially designed NVision report to complete your ORG budgets for FY 2015. The BudMemo
report has columns showing the FY13 Actuals, the current FY 2014 year to date expenditures and the
FY 2014 annual budget, as well as a column for you to enter the upcoming FY 2015 budget. This
report is used to submit the FY 2015 budget request.
Training sessions will be offered for those employees needing a refresher on running reports and
entering data into the BudMemo report, or those employees new to the process. The Budget Office
recommends that you designate at least two employees (a primary and alternate) who are able to enter
the budgets for your area. If additional training is needed, the Budget Office staff will assist, on an
individual basis. Please contact Fred Blair at X6355 to arrange for this training.
Instructions for Running PeopleSoft NVision Reports
1. In PeopleSoft, log in to Cardinal Financials
2. Proceed with the following navigation on the left side menu:
- Reporting Tools
- PS/NVision
-Define Scope
3. Under Scope Definition, Find an Existing Value:
a. Set ID = Defaults to “CUA”
b. Report Scope = enter “BudMemo”
c. Click on ‘Search’
d. Once the new screen Scope Definition opens:
i. Select Value = enter six digit ORG or DeptID number
ii. If you want to run the report for multiple orgs, click the “+” button to add more rows
and enter the ORG numbers
iii. Click “SAVE”
iv. On the same screen, Click on “Report Request” button
e. Once the new screen ‘NVision Report Request’ opens:
i. Under the section ‘Report Date Selection’ specify date = click on “today’s date”
ii. Click on “SAVE” button
iii. Click on “run report” button that appears right above the ‘Save’ button
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4. New screen opens up under the ‘Administration’ tab
a. Click “refresh” button to update the screen until report runs and the status is ‘Posted’
b. Tab down to appropriate report title and click on title
c. The report will open up in Excel
d. At this point you can save or print out the report
1. In the BudMemo the FY 2015 revenue and expense amounts are already populated with the FY 2014
amounts. Enter any FY 2015 budget changes (found on your Division Summary Report) under the FY
2015 twelve-month budget column on the line with the corresponding account code. You do not need to
re-enter the fringe benefit rate changes. Example: If you have a FY 2015 budget increase for a supplies
contract, you will increase the FY 2015 amount in account 2000. The BUDMEMO must equal the FY
2015 ending budget shown on the Division Summary.
Directions for Completing the BUDMEMO
Qualitative descriptions should accompany the expense projections for your FY 2015 department budget
on the BudMemo, or on the Division Summary attachment. Outlined below are guidelines for program
managers to use in developing your expense estimates:

Compensation Account Codes
Compensation is budgeted at the detailed account level: 0100, 0110, 0120, 0170, 0200, 0220,
0500, etc. New position titles should be clearly indicated in the line item description.

Calculating Benefits
Fringe benefits are budgeted under account code 0900 rather than at the detail level.
In FY 2015, the applied benefit rates by employee classification are noted below:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
0100, 0101 and 0121 for faculty salaries
0110 and 0113 for Grad RA & TA stipends
0170 and 0171 for staff salaries
0200 for part-time staff
0220 for part-time students
0230 for work-study students
0240 for part-time summer maintenance
0250 for private music instructors
0270 for part-time lecturers
0300 and 0301 for union
0330 and 0331 for public safety
0500, 0510 and 0520 for overtime
23% = .23
1% = .01
23% = .23
10% = .10
1% = .01
0%
10% = .10
10% = .10
10% = .10
23% = .23
23% = .23
10% = .10
Ex.If your budget is for $50,000 in staff salaries (0170)) and $20,000 in part-time students (0220), then your
benefits would be ($50,000 x .23) + ($20,000 x .01) = $11,700.

Other Direct Expenses
o
Other direct expenses are budgeted at the detailed account code level. The Budget Office
recommends a review of actual expenses for both the current fiscal year (FY 2014) and
prior fiscal year (FY 2013) as a guideline.
o
The appropriation code “Z004” includes all other direct expenses. Money within the
appropriation code cannot be moved to other appropriation codes.
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Email the completed attachments to the appropriate Budget Office staff member (see “Assignments”
on page 5) no later than April 4, 2014. Print out the spreadsheets and have the Provost/Vice President
sign the hard copies. Deliver the signed spreadsheets to the Budget Office located at 230 Leahy Hall
no later than April 4, 2014 COB.
BUDGET STAFF AND DEPARTMENT ASSIGNMENTS
During this annual process, the Budget Office is available to answer questions or provide informal training to
new employees. If you have any questions, below is the contact information for the Budget Office:
Rita Kovach, Associate Director – kovachr@law.edu; extension 6300
President’s Office (includes General Counsel, Office of Compliance, University Relations, and
Public Affairs)
Finance (includes HR, Technology Services, and Facilities)
Institutional Advancement (includes Alumni Relations)
Fred Blair, Senior Financial Analyst – blairf@cua.edu; extension 6355
Enrollment Management
Student Life
Athletics
Auxiliary Services
Tom Peters, Senior Budget Analyst – peterst@cua.edu; extension 6356
Provost and Academic Departments (includes Columbus School of Law)
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
 March 21, 2014
o Last day to contact Fred Blair if an employee requires budget training or refresher on running
reports.
 April 4, 2014 (COB)
o Operating Budgets are due to the Budget Department. The following submission documents are
required:
 Signed copies of the Salary Budget Spreadsheets by area Vice
President/Provost;
 BudMemo report showing the FY 2015 annual budget request by ORG with
detailed qualitative comments and descriptions;
 If reallocating funding, return the Division Summary (reallocating new funding
for FY 2015 requires approval by VP of Finance).
 April 30, 2014
o Department budgets reviewed, reconciled, and loaded into PeopleSoft financial system (if
received by April 4, 2014).
o
 May 1, 2014
o Start of Fiscal Year 2015
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