Budget Office
Guidelines for Reviewing Transfers of Funds - *DEFINE, VTM
E&G Funds
- Special equipment funds are designated for instructional equipment
needs, as well as start up funds and equipment for new faculty. These
equipment accounts do not lapse at year-end to permit the optimal use
of the funds. As a result, transfers to departmental 14 and 20 account
special equipment funds from regular departmental operating accounts
(i.e. wages, M&O, etc.) are not permitted as these operating funds are
subject to lapsing at year-end. Routine equipment purchases, such as
computer equipment, to be made from available funds in departmental
operating accounts may be purchased from the departmental M&O account.
- Faculty salaries are to be expended on instructional activities and
are budgeted for instructional personnel. Transfers between faculty
salaries (i.e. faculty allocations, teaching assistant allocations,
and faculty salary reserves) and non-faculty budget categories, such
as M&O, are not allowed, with the exception of transfers to faculty
salary accounts from Dean's Tuition Differential funds and Dean's Excellence
funds. Funds may be transferred between and within budget groups within
the funding source (i.e. various accounts within faculty salaries).
Although transfers of faculty salary funds to non-faculty budget accounts
are not allowed during the budget year, 50% of the available funds remaining
in faculty salaries at year-end are returned as Dean's Excellence funds
in the next year's budget. The Dean's Excellence funds may be used for
any purpose.
- Tenure/tenure-track faculty reserves and FTE allocations represent
the resources available to a college or school for recruiting permanent
tenured or tenure-track faculty. The tenure/tenure track faculty reserve
may be used to 1) recruit permanent, tenured or tenure-track faculty;
or 2) fund one-year only appointments. Non-tenure faculty reserves may
be used for one-year only appointments. Transfers between tenure/tenure-track
faculty reserve funds and non-tenure faculty reserves are not allowed.
- Indirect cost funds are indexed to the amount of overhead earned by
a college or school. The amount of overhead can increase or decrease
from year to year affecting the funding allocation made to the colleges
and schools. Adjustments are made to the allocations during the annual
operating budget preparation. Therefore, indirect cost funds are not
transferable except between and within budget groups within the funding
source. ICR accounts are identified on the CA3 screen in *DEFINE by
a report code, either "ICR or ICR-RES".
- There must be sufficient funds available in the appropriate account to process a transfer of funds.
Non-E&G Funds
- University-wide Information Technology funds (19-97xx-xxxx accounts)
are collected to enhance the academic information technology activities
of the colleges and schools. An annual report is submitted to the Information
Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) reflecting how the fee income has
been expended. Therefore, these funds may not be transferred to other
sources of funding; i.e., funds may not be transferred to Instructional
Technology accounts, or any other fee accounts. Funds may be transferred
between and within budget groups within the source of funding.
- College-wide Instructional Technology funds, course related fees,
and non-course related fee income must be expended for the purpose stated
in the fee request and subsequent approval. Therefore, transfers between
fees are not permitted. Funds may be transferred between and within
budget groups within the source of funding.
- Budgeted non-E&G accounts are automatically established in the accounting
system based on departmental income estimates and budgeted expenditures.
Budget adjustments that are needed between budget categories during
the year are to be made by a transfer of funds between the appropriate
expense accounts. Transfers from the income account of a budget group
are only allowed if (a) there is income exceeding the original estimated
budgeted income and the department is requesting an increase to the
budget, or (b) the budget group had a balance forward from prior year
income. The justification on the transfer document must clearly state
the purpose of the transfer.
- Transfers of income to expenditure accounts of non-budgeted non-E&G
budget groups are permitted so long as the transfer amount is within
the expected income for the fiscal year.
- As a general rule, non-E&G funds are collected for a specific purpose,
and are to be expended accordingly. Thus, transfers between fund groups,
as well as between fee types, are not permitted. There are occasionally
exceptions. The Office of Accounting and the Office of the Executive
Vice President and Provost will review these exceptions on a case by
case basis.
- There must be sufficient funds available in the appropriate budget group to process a transfer of funds.
CONTROL ACCOUNT TRANSFERS
The unallocated control accounts are 14-9851-9098 and 20-9851-9098. Transfers between 14 and 20 accounts are processed through these control accounts. When the control account is credited, upon approval, the VT1 will route through the normal approval chain. When a control account is debited, the transfer must be FYA'd by the document approver through the approval chain; otherwise, the transfer will route to the Budget Office without the proper approvals. If the transfer routes to the Budget Office without the necessary approvals, it will be returned to the creator. Transfers will not be approved until both sides of the transfer (i.e., both VT documents) are in the Budget Office. Control account transfers follow this routing path:
CREDIT 14-9851-9098 or 20-9851-9098
- Creator approval
- Department approval
- Dean's approval
- Budget Office approval (final approval)
DEBIT 14-9851-9098 or 20-9851-9098
(Must be FYA'd through approval chain!)
Creator approval
- Department approval
- Dean's approval
- Budget Office approval (final approval)
Information Resources
Accounting Support by Account Type
If the accountant for your fund group cannot be reached, please call:
Twiggy Aguilera512-471-3727
Kathy Foster 512-232-3316