As a part of the RAPID decision-making process, the FST project team and Governance groups are considering the following question:
Should UVA move away from the use of budgetary spending authority and instead base spending authority at the major business unit level on fund balance?
There are many benefits to making this move:
- Expendable fund balance reporting enabled – Units would have the ability to accurately report on funds available without needing to wait for yearend settlement and carryforward calculations. In combination with the FDM, anyone could run a trial balance on any combination of FDM worktags at any time.
- Clear ownership of funds – Consistent transfer of funds would make it clear “who owns the fund balance” and the "owner" of the fund will be able to see where the funds have been transferred and how much has been spent.
- Elimination of significant amounts of tracking outside of systems of record – Units could eliminate and/or streamline current tracking mechanisms (i.e. manual Excel spreadsheets).
- Reduction in risks of errors – Through the elimination of the manual calculation of balances and the addition of robust real-time variance analysis capabilities. •
- Increased staff capacity – This would allow more staff time to be devoted to analytical work rather than manual, tracking work.
In short, making this change would allow us to utilize Workday Financials to its fullest extent, reducing outside-of-the-system reporting and granting clear visibility into your funds.
Certainly, this change would require significant training: the meaning of "budget" would be changed for many users, representing the unit's plans for the year instead of spending authority or funds available. This would be a big adjustment for units that operate exclusively or nearly exclusively with spending authority. It would reduce manual work done in shadow or supplemental systems but would require the movement of funds within the system.
Contact Katie Walker at budget@virginia.edu with any thoughts/concerns you have about this decision, and watch for updates soon!
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