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University faculty and staff budget managers fulfill their fiscal responsibilities in part, by reporting budget variance projections to the President and Board of Trustees twice a year (fall and spring), and reporting actual budget variances to the President and Board of Trustees after the end of the fiscal year. Budget variances are only needed for operational budgets (Fund codes 10 & 13).

The Office of Finance office coordinates budget variance reporting activities, which may vary by university division. The schedule for reporting budget variance projections and actual for a given fiscal year is as follows:

(1) In October and February, the Senior Budget Analyst will send an e-mail to budget managers and their administrative support staff to:

  • Notify you of the upcoming budget variance report schedule,
  • Request that you take time to review the status of your budget and make sure that all expected transactions are entered,
  • Request that you report to Office of Finance any corrections that are needed, and
  • Request that you begin to work on your budget variance projection. A budget variance projection is your estimate of whether the budget you manage will be on budget, under budget, or over budget, and by how much, by the end the fiscal year.

(2) Please review your budget at the end of each month and report missed transactions, unusual items, or corrections to Office of Finance before the third business day of each month, so they can be corrected in a timely manner.

(3) Because of the budget variance report schedule, it is especially important that you report all known additions, changes, or corrections to Office of Finance by the fifth business day of November and March, and again at fiscal year end, according to the fiscal year close schedule. The Fiscal Year-End Task List is typically published by April 15th each year.

(4) A few members of the Office of Finance team are involved in collecting budget variance projections from budget managers:

Submit your budget variance projection to:

(5) During the first or second week of November and March, the designated member of the Office of Finance team will contact her/his assigned division or departments within a division to request their budget variance projections. A requested due date will be provided and we ask that you respond with your projections by that date.

(6) At the end of the fiscal year, budget managers may be asked to report on any significant variances from their spring budget variance projection.

(7) The Office of Finance team member assigned to your division will also work out with the Division Vice President (or her/his designee) the preferred method of submitting budget variance projections. In some divisions, the Division VP or a designee coordinates the process for the entire division and communicates directly with Office of Finance. In other divisions, departments submit their projections via e-mail to Office of Finance, with a copy to the Division VP.

(8) The following is an example of a fall or spring budget variance projection that you might submit:

“For department SpeedChart # and name (provide appropriate SpeedChart # and name), I am estimating that we will end the year on budget; or over/under budget by $xxx, for the following reason(s)…. ”

Please be sure to provide the key reasons for under or over budget situations so Office of Finance can in turn provide the President and Board of Trustees with meaningful explanations.

Please note that if unexpected budget pressures arise that may cause you to exceed your approved budget, you should inform your Division VP or her/his designee as soon as possible:

Division - Contact for unexpected budget pressures:

Your care in overseeing your budget and assistance with budget variance projections is much appreciated.

For more information please contact Office of Finance.