Frequently Asked Questions About Budgets

1. Who is responsible in monitoring the organization's budgets, expenditures, encumbrances and available balances?
   • The fiscal officer is responsible for managing and monitoring his/her financial resources.
2. How do I monitor my organization's finances such as budgets, expenditures, encumbrances and available balances by account?
   • Request access to CSU X-press from Mary Long, Director of Business Systems under the Administration & Finance Division. Log-in to Cougar Connect, go to CSU X-press, then Finance and Budget Query.  Create Query by choosing Budget Status by Organizational Hierarchy. Next, check on Adopted Budget, Budget Adjustment, Adjusted Budget, Year-to-Date, Encumbrances, Commitments and Available Balance. Next, enter Fiscal Year, Fiscal Period, Organization Number and Account Type (type 70 to see all non-salary account balances). A copy for the Finance Systems Security Access Request Form can be found by clicking on this link http://www.csu.edu/financialaffairs/forms.htm
3. I am a fiscal officer of a non-appropriated organization.  Where do I see the revenues deposited into my non-appropriated organization?
   • Go to CSU X-press and follow #2 above.  Then, check the box stating "Include Revenue Accounts".
4. What is fiscal period for appropriated and non-appropriated unrestricted (non-grant) funds?
   • This refers to months, July being period 1, of the fiscal year which is from July 1 - June 30.
5. How do I get training to navigate the CSU X-press, i.e. Budget Query?
   • The Budget Office will provide the training through the Manager's Boot Camp.  Due to limited space, the Budget Office can only provide one-on-one training to fiscal officer by appointment. The training material can be found by clicking here CSU Express Budget Query Handout (pdf).
6. Where can I get budget change forms or exemptions from quarterly budgets?
   • Go to our CSU website, under Budget section on the left side stating Forms.  All budget forms are downloadable and fill-able.
7. How long does it normally take to process budget change forms and personnel transactions?
   • The normal processing time for budget changes and personnel transactions is 3-5 business days from the day it is received by the Budget Office, assuming that there are no issues on the transfer requests and funding for the personnel transactions.
8. When is the due date for submitting hiring authorization, hiring form and personnel change notice to the Budget Office?
   • All transactions related to personnel require review and approval of the Vice-President and Human Resources prior to submission to the Budget Office.  Deadlines for submission of personnel transactions, online or paper, to the Budget Office are listed on our webpage under "Schedules".  The link is found at CSU - Budget and Resource Planning - Schedules .
   • To view the calendar, Click here for Budget's Calendar personnel transaction due dates
9. How do I find out if my budget change form has been processed by the Budget Office?
   • Go to CSU X-press, refer to answer #2.  All budget changes are posted under the Budget Adjustment.
10. I want to transfer non-appropriated funds to my appropriated funds, is this acceptable?
    • The budget transfer cannot be processed because we cannot commingle unlike funds. 
11. I want to transfer non-appropriated funds to another non-appropriated fund, is this acceptable?
    • The Budget Office will transfer budgets from one non-appropriated organization to another non-appropriated organization when they have like funds such as Athletics, from one sport to another; or Student Activities to student organizations.
      The Budget Office cannot transfer budgets from one non-appropriated organization to another non-appropriated organization when they have unlike funds ( which means that the fund codes for these organizations are different).
12. Who obtains approval(s) on the budget change forms? What approvals are required?
    • It is the responsibility of the department to obtain approvals on the budget change forms before forwarding them to the Budget Office. All budget change requests require the approvals of the operating Vice-Presidents.
13. When is the last day to submit budget change form?
    • In order to facilitate year-end closing, approved budget change forms for the current fiscal year must be received by the Office of Budget no later than the last Friday of May of the following year.
14. What are the most important things to consider before submitting a Budget Change form?
    • Funding sources (or decreases on the budget change form) must have sufficient available balances to fund the increases on the budget change form.
      If an expenditure account type has a negative balance, the deficit must be covered or be included on the Budget Change form in order for the Budget Office to process the budget transfer request.  All deficits must be covered before incurring additional expenditures.
      All Budget Change Forms must be approved by the operating Vice President.
15. Where can I learn about the budgeting process at CSU?
    • The CSU Office of Budget and Resource Planning's mission statement, budget summaries for several fiscal years, policies and procedures, forms, schedules, other resources and contact information are found at CSU - Budget and Resource Planning - Contact Information If you have questions after reading the material online, please contact the Office of Budget.
16. When are the budgets loaded?
    • Budgets are loaded on July 1, which may be on a quarterly or an annual basis.
      Quarterly budgets are loaded in the following periods:
      

      First quarter - July - Sept.            Loaded on July 1, period 1

      Second quarter - Oct. - Dec.       Loaded on October 1, period 4

      Third quarter - Jan. - Mar.           Loaded on Jan. 1, period 7

      Fourth quarter - Apr. - June         Loaded on Mar. 1, period 9 (one 

                                                          month advance to facilitate

                                                          year-end closing)

17. As fiscal officer, what do I need to provide to the Budget Office when I have some personnel changes such as replacement, transfer, salary adjustments or new hires?
    • Always identify funding source(s) when there are personnel changes by submitting approved budget change forms to the Budget Office.  Permanent personnel changes such as new hires, transfers and salary adjustments for continuous employees require permanent funding source(s).
      When permanent personnel changes occur during the fiscal year, two (2) approved budget change forms must be submitted to the Budget Office.  One form is for temporary funding source which is for the current fiscal year, from effective date of change to June 30.  The second form is for permanent funding source (annualized), for the next fiscal year and beyond.
18. What are the account codes?
    • Refer to attached PDF file.
      Account Types and Codes (pdf)
19. How do I contact the Budget Office?
    • Refer to the attached link.
      CSU - Budget and Resource Planning - Contact Information