Hall Council Budgets:Expectations and Procedures

Lauren Zack, Director of Business Administration

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY?What is the definition of

Fiscal Responsibility - Definition

Fiscal responsibility in RHA is not about saving money or cutting costs

It’s about utilizing every resident dollar to its greatest capacity!

Wikipedia’s definition: “A balanced budget is when there is neither a budget deficit or a

budget surplus – when revenues equal expenditure.”

Is this a fiscally responsible expenditure?

Some good questions to ask yourself when making a purchase: How many residents can I expect this

purchase to impact? What will be the lasting positive effects

of this purchase? Is there a way to spend less resident

money and accomplish the same goal?

Fiscal Responsibility – The Take-Home Message

Don’t be afraid to spend your budget – it’s there for a reason!

Be aware of the direct positive impact of every expenditure.

Hall Council Budgets

The Basics

Every fee-paying resident contributes $25 Campus-Wide: $18.50▪ Includes General Proposals Fund, NRHH Fund, Front

Desk Committee, and Tiki Luau Hall Council: $6.50

Your hall council fund total (Fee-paying residents in your residential hall) X

$6.50 Example: Barrett East, hypothetical Fall

2012 635 residents X $6.50= $4,127.50

The Breakdown: Hall Council Fund

Hall Council Fund contains three distinct budgets Programmer’s Fund: $4.00 per resident Proposal Fund:$2.00 per resident President’s Fund: $0.50 per resident

Example: Towers, hypothetical Fall 2012 Total Budget (307 residents): $1,995.50 Programmer’s Fund = 307 X $4.00= $1,228.00 Proposal Fund = 307 X $2.00 = $614.00 President’s Fund = 307 X $0.50= $153.50

Any questions so far?

Google Documents

Your Google Docs

P-Card Checkout Shared with: Me, you, your P, and the

other Ps who use the same purchasing card

Purpose: To avoid conflicting schedules and make check-out as easy as possible (for you and for Pam)

Hall Council Budget Tracking Sheet Shared with: Me, Mat, Grecia, Christian,

you and your P, your advisor, and your HC treasurer

Purpose: To keep track of all expenditures

P-Card Checkout

Expectations – Pcard Checkout

Please update the P-Card Checkout Google document within 24 hours of reserving the P-card with Pam. Ideally, put it on the checkout sheet as

soon as you have access to a computer / immediately after reserving the card. It takes one minute!

This is a small but critical courtesy for the other staff members who share your p-card.

Budget Tracking

Three budgets to track separately: Programmer, Proposal, President

You will input: date, vendor, expenditure, method of purchase, and cost

ASC Fee – 8.5% The total,

remaining balance, and percentage left will all calculate for you automatically

Expectations – Budget Tracking Please update the Budget Tracking

Google document within 24 hours of every purchase. This includes LVPOs, Internal POs, etc. – not

just P-card checkout purchases. Pro Tip: Immediately before returning the P-

card with all receipts, make copies of your receipts at the copy machine by Pam’s office. Use these receipts to update your budget, then keep them in a safe place for future reference in case of a discrepancy.

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR DOCUMENTS! YOU are responsible for tracking your

purchases in an ACCURATE and TIMELY manner.

I am instituting a strict 24-hour policy. Updating your budget should be an automatic final step for every expenditure.

I will need your budget tracking document to be a perfect reflection of your purchases so that I can reconcile the budget.

Accurate budget tracking is a critical aspect of fiscal responsibility.

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ME SEND YOU HATEFUL E-MAILS.

Questions?