Budget and Analytic Business Services shall provide budgetary accounting and reporting, and general management services to support the planning and administration of University budgets. This unit shall also provide analytical business services to support the planning and administration of both standard and ad hoc University agreements with auxiliary organizations and/or with external business entities.
311 University Operating Budgets
In accordance with CSU policy, the main operating fund for the University shall be the CSU Operating Fund. The CSU Operating Fund shall be used to record revenues, expenses, and net assets related to state supported instruction and related programs and operations. The CSU Operating Fund shall also be used to record approved budgets. All Proprietary Fund activities that are not recordable in other Enterprise or Internal Service Funds shall be recorded in the CSU Operating Fund.
Accounting, control, and other fiscal aspects of operating budgets for the University are the functional responsibility of the University chief financial officer, the Vice President for Administration and Finance.
311.1 State Lottery Revenues
The appropriation of State Lottery revenues do not require an act of the state legislature and are, thus, allocated by resolutions of the CSU Board of Trustees. Article I of the Lottery Act of 1984 (Proposition 37) contains the following two guiding statements of intent:
“The People of the State of California further declare that the net revenues of the California State Lottery shall not be used as substitute funds but rather shall supplement the total amount of money allocated for public education in California.”
“It is the intent of this Chapter that all funds allocated from the California State Lottery Education Fund shall be used exclusively for the education of pupils and students and no funds shall be spent for acquisition of real property, construction of facilities, financing of research or any other non-instructional purpose.”
Therefore, lottery revenues shall be allocated and utilized as supplemental operating budgets.
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311.2 University Delegations of Budget Authority
Delegations of fiscal authority to the President and to the University chief financial officer are made by executive order issued by the CSU Chancellor and by other directives issued by the Office of the Chancellor. Budget authority is a subset of fiscal authority. Budget authority refers to the authority to designate and approve the utilization of allocated funds for a particular purpose. Budget authority is not the same as, and shall not to be confused with, the authority to approve procurements and contracts, the authority to receive or disburse cash, the authority to acquire or dispose of any property, or any other fiscal authority delegated to and reserved by the University central administration.
The President’s delegations of budget authority to University administrators shall be implicit in the University administrative organization structure, except where the President expressly approves deviations from this rule. The authority, accountability, and responsibility for their respective budgets shall rest with the program administrators who report directly to the President. Program administrators may approve sub-delegations of budget authority within their respective areas of responsibility in conformance with state rules and internal control processes.
The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall establish budgetary controls and accounting structures that conform to the President’s delegations of budget authority.
Operating budgets are allocated each fiscal year to program administrators in order to support programs and related operations.
Where it is infeasible or undesirable to allocate certain types of budgets to program administrators, such budgets will be administered in central University accounts. The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall be responsible for these centrally administered budgets. The Vice President for Administration and Finance provides periodic reports to the President on the status or utilization of these budgets.
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311.3 Planning and Development of the CSU Operating Fund Budget
The projected prior-year fund balances, projected sources of revenues, and proposed uses of those revenues and fund balances shall be reviewed by the President (or designees) each year prior to the President’s approval of the budget for the CSU Operating Fund. This annual budget review shall be conducted in accordance with rules, procedures, and calendars reviewed by the Vice President for Administration and Finance and approved by the President.
The President shall approve methods to inform, and to receive the advice of, appropriate University constituencies during the planning and development of the annual operating budget.
The major objectives of the planning and development stages of the budget process are:
- To obtain a balanced budget such that planned uses of funds do not exceed revenues and any undesignated or unreserved fund balances.
- To ensure a sustainable budget such that the duration and the amount of the proposed commitment of revenues are consistent with the duration and the amount of the revenue sources.
- To allocate fund balances and revenues in concert with both the long term and short term objectives, needs, and priorities of the University.
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311.4 Presentation Format for the Development of the CSU Operating Fund Budget
The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall adopt a presentation format for the CSU Operating Fund budget that provides a reasonable disclosure of projected sources of funds and proposed uses of those funds. The presentation shall facilitate a comparison of the prior approved base budget to either the proposed or approved budget, as appropriate. The presentation format shall differentiate between short-term revenue sources and on-going “base budget” revenue sources.
All CSU Operating Fund sources of funds shall be pooled as a common source of support for the main operating budget and all proposed uses shall be evaluated within an institutional context that considers mission, policy, and priorities. The President may approve exceptions to this rule with the designation of specific revenue sources for specific uses. The state legislature or Board of Trustees may also approve the designation of CSU Operating Fund revenues for specific uses.
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311.5 Approval and Administration of the CSU Operating Fund Budget
The President shall approve the annual CSU Operating Fund budget and any associated rules and provisions prior to recording and implementation. It shall be the responsibility of the Vice President for Administration and Finance to ensure that adjustments to revenue schedules and changes to expenditure budgets approved by the President are recorded in the official financial accounting records of the University.
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311.6 Presentation Format for Operating Budgets Other Than the CSU Operating Fund
The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall adopt presentation formats for any budgets approved in CSU Proprietary or Fiduciary Funds other than the CSU Operating Fund and for any budgets related to revenues accounted for by the Office of the State Controller. The presentation formats shall conform to CSU rules and or laws relative to those fund entities or revenue sources. The presentation shall provide a reasonable disclosure of projected sources of revenues, projected expenses, projected transfers, and changes in the fund equity. For funds not accounted for by the Office of the State Controller, the presentation shall also provide a reasonable assurance as to the financial liquidity of the activity or project.
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311.7 Approval and Administration of Operating Budgets Other Than the CSU Operating Fund
Each non-CSU Operating Fund program budget requires the preparation and submittal of a budget proposal by the respective University program administrator(s) to the University chief financial officer, the Vice President for Administration and Finance. The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall be responsible for review, revision, and approval of all annual non-CSU Operating Fund budgets. The Vice President for Administration and Finance shall ensure that: fund revenues are sufficient to sustain program expenses, the fund entity is sufficiently liquid, and sufficient and appropriate reserves have been established.
Budgets approved by the Vice President for Administration and Finance shall be recorded in the official financial accounting records of the University. Any subsequent adjustments to revenue schedules and changes to budgets shall be approved by the Vice President for Administration and Finance, or a duly authorized administrator, and these adjustments shall be recorded in the official financial accounting records of the University.
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312 University Capital Outlay Budgets
The following definitions and terminology shall be utilized in the development and administration of all University capital outlay budgets.
Capital outlay, as the terminology is used in California state government, refers to expenditures of state funds for construction projects to add space or to substantially modify existing facilities, as distinguished from non-capital outlay expenditures which are for ongoing, annual maintenance of facilities and grounds. Repairs, renovation, and maintenance of state facilities would normally not be considered capital outlay irrespective of cost.
The costs of a capital outlay project include acquisition of land or other real property, major construction, improvements, equipment, designs, working plans, specifications, repairs, and equipment necessary in connection with the construction or improvement project.
University capital outlay budgets fall into three broad categories: 1) projects funded by appropriations approved by the state legislature in the Budget Act, 2) projects financed with the CSU Systemwide Revenue Bond Program (Education Code: State University Revenue Bond Act of 1947), and 3) projects financed with other funds where the funds are in the possession or control of the University. Projects funded by the Budget Act and the CSU Systemwide Revenue Bond Program are accounted for by the Office of the State Controller and financed by the Office of the State Treasurer. All other projects are under the exclusive fiscal control of the CSU with fiscal and administrative delegations to the Vice President for Administration and Finance.
All Major Capital Outlay projects, as defined by the CSU and irrespective of funding source, require review by the Office of the Chancellor and review and or action by the CSU Board of Trustees.
Accounting, control, and other fiscal aspects of capital outlay budgets are the functional responsibility of the University chief financial officer, the Vice President for Administration and Finance. This responsibility shall be carried out to conform to the following hierarchy of state rules and laws, from highest to lowest: State Constitution, acts of the state legislature and voter statute initiatives, resolutions and rules of the Board of Trustees, orders of the Chancellor, and orders of the campus President, directives of the University chief financial officer.
