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Budget Instructions

The following instructions are intended as general guidelines for budget preparation. Some organizations have established additional internal guidelines, and may have additional instructions and earlier budget submission deadlines. 'Step-by-step' instructions for using CPBS web may be found at Financial Planning, Workforce Planning, and entering SIP. Guidelines for SIP may be found in SIP Instructions.

1.0 Budget Process Overview

The budget process begins with the development of planning assumptions and ends with the load of final budget information into other university systems (e.g., General Ledger) for the new fiscal year. The steps in the process are as follows:

  1. The Board of Trustees approves the planning assumptions.
  2. The Budget Office distributes Planning Assumptions handbooks to units.
  3. Using CPBS, units prepare workforce plans for all positions and financial plans for all accounts.
  4. Units review their Trustee Budget numbers using Brio-Hyperion reports.
  5. The units complete their Trustee Budget Narrative and send it to the Budget Office along with notification that their Trustee Budget is completed.
  6. The Budget Office staff prepares consolidated budget summaries to develop the University Financial Plan that is submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval. This document is sometimes called the 'May Book' or the Fiscal Year Financial Plan (FY 08-09 Financial Plan (pdf).
  7. When the Salary Improvement Plan (SIP) process starts, units submit salary improvement awards for eligible individuals using CPBS.
  8. CPBS is opened again for units to make changes to labor distributions. Distribution changes will be passed to the Payroll Office to enter into PeopleSoft to be effective on July 1.
  9. Once the Board of Trustees approves the University Financial Plan, individuals are notified of their new salary amounts and the Office of Human Resources updates the HR/Payroll files.
  10. CPBS workforce records are updated with the salary improvement awards from the SIP process. This is an automated process that distributes the SIP pool amount to individual records.
  11. The final budget information is loaded into other university systems (e.g., General Ledger) for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st. Budgets for fund codes 43x, 44x, 46x, and 472 are loaded into the original budget field in the accounting system. These are the amounts displayed on the monthly accounting statements. Position commitments and FTEs from the final budget are loaded in the HR PeopleSoft system.

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2.0 What You Need to Get Started

Your budget development may go more smoothly if you gather a few materials before starting. For example, you may wish to have:

  • Current Effort Distribution Report: BRIO Budget HR Reports.
  • Budget Planning Effort Report: W010 Effort Distribution (Please note that the Budget Planning Effort Report will be available in BRIO Budget when CPBS is initialized at the beginning of the budget cycle).
  • Planning assumptions distributed by the Budget Office
  • Budget information from your college/divisional budget officers
  • Information on centrally provided fund allocations
  • Information on funding commitments from other sources
  • Investment income information
  • List of accounts within your unit that are pending deletion in the upcoming fiscal year.

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3.0 Completing Your Budget

A complete budget includes workforce, financial, and SIP planning. Workforce planning guidelines and financial planning guidelines are discussed below. For information on SIP planning, please see SIP instructions. For ease of use, it is recommended that you start with your workforce records, and then complete your financial records. As you update your workforce records, CPBS will automatically update your financial records including benefit calculations. SIP planning is the final step in the process. For 'step-by-step' instructions regarding CPBS web, please refer to entering Financial Planning Data, entering Workforce Planning Data, and entering SIP Awards.

3.1 Brio-Hyperion Reports

There are several standard reports from the budget data marts available using Brio-Hyperion. You may customize the reports by organization, department, fund, function, and source. Some reports are also available by account number. For information on standard reports, please see the summary listing of standard Budget Brio-Hyperion Reports or the reporting workforce, reporting financial budget or reporting SIP sections of this website.

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4.0 Workforce Planning

Using CPBS, review all of your workforce records. Within each record, check for the accuracy of the pre-SIP salary commitment, FTE, and account distribution. It is helpful to use the Budget workforce Brio-Hyperion reports to check the CPBS records.

4.1 PeopleSoft Records and Budget Planning Fields

In order to plan for a new position within CPBS, an active position must be created in PeopleSoft through the Office of Human Resources. Once the new position is active in PeopleSoft, the position may be budgeted in CPBS.

All filled and vacant active positions flagged as a 'Budgeted Position', are exported from PeopleSoft and loaded into CPBS nightly. A new report has been written and is accessible in HR-Online to help identify those records imported or excluded from this load. The HR-Online report is called called Active Position & Incumbent -Cur, PSN0004. For information on access to and use of HR-Online please contact Sara Sullivan (ses28@cornell.edu) in the Office of Human Resources.

Term appointments may be budgeted in CPBS. If a person is re-appointed to a term position for the upcoming budget year, please complete the HR process necessary for reappointment as soon as possible to avoid payroll delays in the new fiscal year.

Some fields in CPBS must tie to the active payroll file, including position number, employee ID, name, job code, and salary. Changes required in these fields must be made with the Office of Human Resources, and once completed, will appear in CPBS after a nightly refresh from the PeopleSoft system.

When records are changed in PeopleSoft, a flag will be displayed on the workforce record and on the employee pick list (see pick list for CBPS information). There are three flags that may be displayed:

  • (M) Missing – indicates that the record is no longer found in PeopleSoft.
  • (N) New – indicates that the record has been added in PeopleSoft and CPBS.
  • (C) Changed – indicates that an employee's compensation, standard hours or FTE has been changed on the payroll record and thus in CPBS.

Budget planning fields may be changed, including job commitment, job planned FTE, job planned standard hours, job and position comments, and account distribution. The nightly refresh from PeopleSoft will not change these planning fields. Changes that you make within the workforce planning module will automatically update the financial planning module when you save your work.

4.2 Job Commitment and Salary

The job commitment field in the workforce planning module is calculated by CPBS at the time of the initial budget load and is usually equal to the PeopleSoft annual salary amount for all jobs associated with a given position. This field should be used to plan funds for salary expenses for the upcoming fiscal year. The amount of the commitment should not include the planned SIP award. The full salary should be committed for an individual unless there is an anticipated change of status/salary.

Sometimes a job commitment may be different than actual salary paid, such as sabbatical or unpaid leaves of absence. There is an Excel template available to assist in the calculation of common commitment adjustments (xls). This template is also available as a link from CPBS Web. When the commitment differs from the actual salary paid, please enter a comment in CPBS in the calculation note field. The annual salary and comp rate fields are used by Payroll to generate paychecks. The comp rate field always reflects the actual current comp rate in dollars and cents for hourly employees and annual salary for salaried employees. For anticipated personnel actions, the commitment is used to reflect the plan. The salary/comp rate fields reflect the information that currently exists in the payroll file.

4.3 AIR (Actual Inflated Rate) Flag

The compensation rate field is populated with the actual compensation rate for those employees who have an AIR flag (i.e., their annualized salaries and current comp rates differ, due to circumstances such as sabbatical or unpaid leaves of absence). The annual salary field will reflect the inflated or annualized rate. For more information, see AIR Flag on 'step-by-step' instructions.

4.4 Sabbaticals

For information pertaining to sabbaticals, see How to Budget Sabbaticals (xls).

4.5 Positions Shared Between Departments

For positions shared by two or more departments (referred to as joint or split appointments), a position record exists in each department. The position-job record in each department requires a commitment and job planned FTE to indicate its share of the funding required. The salary amount and accounting distribution will also represent the funding required for each department. The position FTE will be the percent of effort authorized for the position.

4.6 Position and Job Comments

Position and job comments are used to provide an explanation for various actions that may affect the commitment or planned FTE associated with a budget workforce record. Job comments are specific to a person in a job, and position comments are specific to a position independent of the incumbent. Below are situations where a job comment should be used during the budget planning process:

 

  • Miscellaneous department information.
  • Sabbatical leave - budget request/development only.
  • Sabbatical leave - form processed (currently on sabbatical leave)
  • Budget plan turnover w/ refill - change commitment to reflect new person in position.
  • Budget plan turnover w/out refill - generally zero out commitment and Planned FTE
  • Request to inactivate a position - zero commitment and zero planned FTE.

 

Position comments describe a condition of the position independent of the individual filling the position. Generally only one type of comment would be entered in the position comment field. Below is a list of situations that would warrant a position comment:

 

Position comments describe a condition of the position independent of the individual filling the position. Generally only one type of comment would be entered in the position comment field. Below is a list of situations that would warrant a position comment:

  • 1 - Salary supported by another unit
  • 2 - Extra effort/supplement; director, chairman, associate dean
  • 3 - Less than 12 month appointment (non-academic)
  • 4 - More than 9 month appointment (academic)
  • 5 - Endowed professorship holder
  • 6 - Salary includes perquisites
  • 7 - Permanent budget information (Budget Office use only)
  • 9 - Position split with another department
  • 0 - Faculty position ID (Budget Office use only)

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5.0 Labor Distribution

The account distribution consists of account (department and subledger), object, project, and duo codes that serve as the funding source(s) for each job record. An individual's salary may be funded from more than one account or source but the total effort percentage must equal 1.0000. Vacant lines with a planned salary commitment must include account distribution. For 'step-by-step' instructions, see distribution flag.

The object code is linked to the position title. Project and DUO (department use only) codes are used at the unit’s discretion for further identification and information regarding the position.

5.1 Labor Distribution Flag

A labor distribution flag allows you to choose whether or not you would like the labor distribution uploaded to PeopleSoft at the end of the budget cycle. If you do not change the labor distribution, it will remain the same and will not reload into PeopleSoft. If you change labor distributions, you will receive a prompt asking you to select "yes" to upload or "no" to not upload. Please note that if you select "yes" but the employee is not being compensated currently (i.e. the comp rate is zero), the distribution change will not load to PeopleSoft. Load parameters:

  • New distributions for semimonthly paid employees will pass to PeopleSoft with a 7/1 effective date.
  • Biweekly employees with restricted funds or split between restricted and unrestricted funds pass with the 7/1 effective date (restricted funds include state and federal funds – fund groups 44X, 45X, 470-474).
  • Biweekly employees on unrestricted funds and not split with restricted funds will have an effective date equal to the 1st day of the 1st pay period ending in July. Fund groups include 332–432 & 461-463.

 

5.2 Deleted Accounts

Accounts pending deletion in the year that you are budgeting should not have labor distribution or financial items budgeted on them. You may find it helpful to have a list of your accounts pending deletion for the upcoming fiscal year, and during your budget process make sure that these accounts do not have workforce records or financial items budgeted on them. There is a Budget Account Delete report in Brio-Hyperion that will help you identify these accounts.

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6.0 Financial Planning - Resources

Once your workforce records are complete and accurate, review and update the funding available for each of your accounts in CPBS. Funding resources may include general purpose allocations, other centrally provided fund allocations, state appropriations, income from sales and services, gifts, indirect cost recovery income, investment income, grant and contract funds, and transfers in from unit reserves, funds functioning as endowment or plant funds. All accounts in the following fund groups must be budgeted.

6.1 Fund Groups

For all units (endowed and contract college):

General purpose funds (fund group 431)
State appropriations (fund group 44x)
Designated funds (fund group 461, 463)
Enterprise funds (fund group 462)
Restricted gifts (fund group 472, 473)

For contract colleges only:

Federal appropriations (fund group 45x)
Grants/contracts (fund group 470, 471)
(please note that amounts budgeted for 45x, 470, and 471 fund groups will not be loaded into the general ledger)

6.2 Object Codes

Object codes used for prior year planning resources will automatically appear in CPBS. However, there may be times when you wish to add a new object code. To add a new object code in CPBS, go to “Tools” section on the option bar and select “Add Object.” A list of available object codes will appear on a scrollable window. Select an appropriate object code. A window will appear that allows you to enter the planned amount for next year, as well as a brief comment. Once you finish adding the object code, the code and amount will display on your account worksheet. For 'step-by-step' instructions, see adding object codes.

New this year (FY 2009), several object codes have been added or changed to more accurately capture the split between undergraduate, graduate and professional financial aid expenditures for budgeting, reporting and cost recovery purposes. See Financial Aid Object Code Changes (pdf) for details.

Object code mappings for use in preparing your Budget for Trustee approval are available here.

6.3 Creating Accounts

If you need to create a new account, please refer to the Division of Financial Affairs website for the appropriate form at: http://www.accounting.cornell.edu/Manage_Accounts.cfm

A new account cannot be budgeted in CBPS until it is created in accounting.

6.4 Allocations

Allocation code 33XX should be used in planning endowed general purpose accounts (fund group 431) or state appropriation accounts (fund group 44X). The sum of all appropriations or allocations entered on object codes 33XX in individual accounts must equal the total allocation as it appears on your unit's general purpose allocation sheet or state appropriation sheet.

Authorized budget units within an organization may plan and distribute a pooled fund within the unit's designated or enterprise accounts using object code 36XX. The unit-based allocation must be supported by planned revenue amounts in identified account(s). The use of the unit pooled allocation codes is limited to use within a single budget unit (for example, this code cannot be used to move funds from one organization to another organization). The 36XX object code may only be used for designated and enterprise accounts; it is not valid for accounts in other fund groups.

A college may wish to use object code 36xx to distribute an internal allocation to its departments based on funds that are pooled at the college level (for example, Cornell Fund gifts, designated college tuition, or indirect cost recovery on restricted gifts). The amount allocated must be less than or equal to the planned revenue, and the sum of all 36XX object codes within a unit must net to zero.

6.5 Investment Income

Unless otherwise instructed, the Budget Office will load your forecasted Long Term Investment Pool income on an account-by-account basis. If you would like us to aggregate this income by department and fund, please alert us. It is your responsibility to enter the associated expenses for each account in the budget system in order to balance each account to zero. If you would like to load the income and expenses yourself, please let us know and we will exclude you from the investment income load process.

6.6 Gifts

Unrestricted and restricted gift income planned for current use should be planned using the appropriate object code (usually 180X - 189x). For all restricted gift accounts (fund groups 472 and 473), you should budget for the applicable 10% indirect cost charges, unless an individual account is exempt from the indirect cost charge (for example, financial-aid accounts). Include an amount equal to 10% of your gift account expenditures using object code 9810.

6.7 Interdepartmental Income

Planned income generated from the sale of non-enterprise services to other units within Cornell University should be recorded as interdepartmental income using object codes 113X or 129X. This revenue should be planned separately from other external income.

6.8 Transfers In

Transfers in for all accounts should be budgeted with other resources, using the appropriate transfer object codes from the Division of Financial Affairs that can be found at http://www.accounting.cornell.edu/transfer_codes.cfm. Transfer detail, including the account number that the transfer is coming from and a short description of the transaction, must be included for each transfer. Transfers may be planned from unit reserves, other unit accounts, central university accounts, funds functioning as endowment or plant funds. The transfer in amount should also be entered in the offset account as a transfer out.

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7.0 Financial Planning - Expenses

When you update and save your unit's workforce records, CPBS automatically updates your financial accounts with the salary commitments you have planned. Estimated salary improvement pools, benefit costs, and non-personnel expenses should be planned on an account-by-account basis within the financial planning module of CPBS.

7.1 Salary Pools

Estimate your unit's salary improvement pool amount according to guidelines provided by the Office of Human Resources or your individual unit. Salary pools should be budgeted using object code 4650. Pools can be planned in each account that has personnel budgeted or within a central departmental or unit account. For union or deferred pay increases, use object code 4669. The total amount budgeted should not exceed your unit's total salary improvement pool amount. For other pay awards and deferred awards, use object code 466x. Please note that until the SIP awards process occurs, the SIP amounts should remain on the appropriate object code and not distributed to individual workforce records. Contract colleges may elect to have pools created by automated process prior to CPBS opening.

7.2 Benefits

Employee benefits are automatically calculated on all committed salaries in endowed accounts (object codes 4100-4500, except 42XX) and all salary pools (object codes 465X & 466X), as applicable. Benefits are also calculated on temporary wages and some student wages. For contract college accounts, appropriate fringe benefit expenditures should be entered into accounts within the CPBS financial planning module. Benefits for salary expenditures planned on Sponsored Grant & Contract accounts (Fund Group 471) will be automatically calculated with the appropriate benefit rate. Benefit rates vary based on type of position. Applicable rates are outlined in the Planning Assumptions handbook distributed by the Budget Office.

7.3 Other Expenditures

For non-personnel expenditures, review and update the amounts from last year’s budget and actual amounts that you will see in CPBS. Be sure to use appropriate object codes within each account. Non-personnel expenditures may include financial aid, general expenses, capital expenses, and debt service costs.

7.4 Administrative Charges

Enterprises, service units, designated, and contract colleges are charged an administrative charge. Designated and contract colleges should record this item under object code 9640; contract colleges should record the pooled financial aid component under object code 9649; enterprise and service units should use object code 9652.

7.5 Transfers Out

Transfers out for all accounts should be budgeted with other expenses, using the appropriate transfer object codes. These can be found at http://www.accounting.cornell.edu/transfer_codes.cfm. Transfer detail, including the account number that the transfer is going to and a short description of the transaction, must be included for each transfer. The transfer amount should also be entered on the offset account as a transfer in.

7.6 Balancing Accounts

For each account, total expenditures must equal total resources. Accounts may show transfers in from known accounts, as long as there is a corresponding transfer out on the account the funds are coming from.

A change in fund balance should be planned if an account has a surplus or shortfall. Please note that endowed general purpose accounts (fund group 43x) cannot accept a change in fund balance. Planned shortfalls or surpluses in general purpose accounts may be covered using transfers to or from designated funds.

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8.0 The Final Step

Once you have reviewed all of your revenue sources, expenses, and transfers, confirm that the account balance is zero for each account. The Budget Current Balance report from the budget data mart may be a helpful tool for this process. When your accounts balance to zero and you are sure that your budget information is correct, please follow instructions for reporting your budget to the Budget Office.

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For More Information Contact:

Rose Wright
rfw1@cornell.edu
(607) 255-0890

 

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