Budget Amendment Request Form  may be filled in on-line and printed, or printed and filled in by hand. Once it is filled out for your transactions, it will need to be signed by all management levels responsible for the budgets changed by the amendment. There are some brief instructions on the form, in addition to the more detailed instructions below. You may also find the “Tips for Amending” webpage useful in completing the form. The program Valdosta State University uses to manage their budgets is a University System of Georgia version of PeopleSoft. In addition to Revenues, it establishes expense budgets for Personal Services, Travel, Operating and Equipment. The Personal Services budgets are broken out into lower level budgets for full-time and part- time employees and related benefits. Examples of typical amendments to or from these various budgets are provided below.  The instructions below correspond to the blanks on the Budget Amendment Request Form. The amounts shaded in light gray on the form will be filled in by Budget Services when your amendment is entered in the PeopleSoft Financials system. You do not need to fill out any blanks in those areas.

BUDGET AMENDMENT EXAMPLES

Budget Amendment Request Form

 

Beginning on the upper left-hand side of the form

Enter To or From: On these lines you will indicate whether you want to add “To” a budget or subtract “From” a budget. Typically, an amendment will move funding from one line in a department’s budget to another line because some activity has changed. That amendment requires a change in two lines at least. For example, if the department wishes to amend additional funding for Travel, they would indicate the amendment should be “To” the Travel budget line. On a second and separate line the department would indicate that the funding was coming “From” their Operating budget line.

Account Description: This is a brief description of the department and budget line the transaction will impact. Continuing the example above, it would say “ABC Dept – Travel” or “ABC Dept – Operating” where “ABC Dept” is the departmental budget the amendment is being submitted to change.

The next six columns, titled Fund through Account Code, describe “chartfield” in PeopleSoft Financials. These elements can be found on the Original budget printout or the Budget Progress Report for the department. Taken together they will uniquely describe the budget line you want to amend. These six elements are:

Fund: This is a five-digit number that describes in accounting terms the general mission and funding of this area. Most departments in the university are part of Fund 10000, the Educational and General Fund. The fund designation is one way the university accounts for funding that requires different types of reporting to the agency that supplies those funds. Below are the most commonly used funds: 10000 – Educational and General

12000 – Auxiliary Operations, including Athletics

13000 – Student Activities

14000 – Continuing Education & Departmental Sates

15000 – Indirect Cost Recoveries

16000 – Student Technology Fund

20000 – Sponsored Activities


Dept ID: This will be a seven-digit number that describes the department in the accounting system. It describes more specifically the activities of the entity than the fund above. There are many departments within each fund. If you do not know your department id number, please contact your Budget Analyst

Program: This five-digit number helps Valdosta State and the university system group expenses and revenues for reporting purposes. It is provided on the original budget printout as well as the Budget Progress Report. If you do not see this number on your print out, please contact your Budget Analyst.

Class: This five-digit number identifies the source of money. It is also shown on the original budget printout or the Budget Progress Report. If you do not see it on your print out, please contact your Budget Analyst

Proj/Grant: This may be a three or a four-digit number that identifies the specific grant award that funds an activity. Generally, the project/grant id is furnished to the Project Investigator and other parties needing that information once a budget is provided to Financial Services for the grant. If you need a Proj/Grant number, please contact the Grants Accountant in Financial Services at ext. 5708.

Account Code: This is a six-digit number that identifies the type of expense or revenue. For the budgets in PeopleSoft, these numbers actually refer to groups of transactions that are similar. This grouping allows the budgets to be managed and accurate without necessitating an amendment between transaction or detail level lines. Below are listed the most frequently used budget account codes. If you are not sure which one would apply to your situation, please call or email Budget Services at ext. 5708. 500000 – Personal Services expense budgets (requires the use of a second, lower level account code also as listed below: 511000 – Regular Faculty

521000 – Professional & Administrative

522000 – Staff

524000 – Student Assistants

551000 – FICA/FICA Medicare Benefits PLEASE NOTE: Departments may routinely amend temporary/casual labor and student assistant budgets. However, departments are not allowed to amend full-time employees’ salaries, wages or benefits to other lines even within the same department’s budget. These are established and approved through the original budget process. An exception to this policy would be made in the event of a vacancy where it might be necessary to fund a temporary employee or interim manager.

600000 – All Travel expense budgets

700000 – All Operating expense budgets

800000 – All equipment expense budgets

The next four columns will provide the dollar amount information about this transaction that is necessary to enter your amendment into the system. 

Remaining Balance as of __________ : This should be the amount in the “Remaining” column of your most recent Budget Progress Report. The blank is so you can enter the date of the report you were looking at when you filled out the form. If there is a question about the availability of funds to be moved, it will help to know “when” you viewed the accounts. 

Dollar Change Requested: This is the amount you want added or subtracted for the budget line you have identified with the chartfield and description. Reflecting this dollar change is probably the reason you want an amendment done in the system. 

Amended Remaining Balance: This would be a calculation by you of the amount of funds remaining available on the line AFTER the amendment has been entered. If you are subtracting funds from this line, then you would expect the remaining to show a decrease. If you are adding funds to a line, then you would expect the remaining to show an increase. 

Amended Budget: This number is also a calculation done by the requestor. It would be the sum/difference depending on whether you are “adding” funds or “subtracting” funds on this budget line. You will need to use the Budgeted amount shown on the Budget Progress Report or Original Budget printout and add/subtract the change requested to that amount. For instance, if this is a budget you are adding to, then the calculation would be the “Budgeted” APPROP or ORG amount on the Budget Progress Report plus the change requested. Alternatively, if this is a line you are reducing in order to move funds somewhere else in your budget, the calculation would be the Budgeted APPROP or ORG amount shown on your Budget Progress Report minus the change requested. This calculated “Amended Budget” is the amount you would expect to appear as “Budgeted” on the next Budget Progress Report you receive after the amendment has been entered in the PeopleSoft Financials system.

Journal ID No.: The information in this column has been grayed out because the requestor does not provide this information. It will be completed by Budget Services when they enter the amendment in the PeopleSoft Financials system.

Looking at the boxes at the bottom of the form:

Reason for Budget Amendment: In this box, provide a brief summary of why the amendment is being requested. You may want to include specifics about the transaction, such as a Purchase Order number, the vendor name, an employee’s name or dates of service to distinguish the reason for this amendment from other similar amendments for your area.

Total Increase/Decrease: If you are transferring budget within your own department, this amount would be zero. You will only enter a dollar amount if you are adjusting a revenue account as well as an expense account.

Authorization: The amendment request should be signed and dated by all managers’ with responsibility for the budgets listed on the form. In the case of an academic department, this might include the Department Head, the Dean and the Vice President. For some areas, it might only need the signature of the Vice President. If you have questions about additional signatures, please call Budget Services at ext 5710.

Entered In PS Financials: The requestor will not need to fill in information in this shaded area. This information will be entered by Budget Services when the amendment is entered in the PeopleSoft Financials system. The “Effective Date:” is only used if the effective date needs to be different than the current date.