27.5.10 Budget execution monitoring and adjustment

27.5.10.1 Monitoring of budget execution
The budget execution status of each Division is reviewed by the Vice President for Financial Management with the Budget Supervisors.
Budget execution status reports are generated to serve as a reference.
The budget execution monitoring report is structured according to Budgetary Unit levels.

27.5.10.2 Revision of Budget
The budget established at the beginning of the fiscal year serves as a reference and cannot be modified. However, circumstances may impose a revision of the budget projection during the fiscal year.  The Budget Section proceeds with an annual budget allocation re-estimate when it is necessary.
Decisions on these additional budget revisions are made by the Secretary General in consultation with the Vice President for Financial Management when it is apparent that one or more Divisions will overspend or underspend, thus requiring a revision of budget allocation and arbitration.

The revised budget and the redistributed budget (refer to Section 27.5.10.5) shall be registered in the ERP-Core system by the Budget Section and become the new reference against which the budget execution is monitored. The initial budget remains as a baseline reference.

27.5.10.3 Over spending in a section within a Division
When over spending is anticipated in one Budgetary Unit, the Budget Supervisor of the Division to which this Unit belongs should first compensate this overspending with savings made in other sections under his/her responsibility. 

In case the source of funding allows multi annual budget management the Budget Supervisor should take the necessary measures to correct the overspending in one year from savings made in the subsequent year(s).

27.5.10.4 Under spending
When a Budget Supervisor anticipates that his/her Division will not use its entire budget, he/she should notify the Vice President for Financial Management as soon as possible in order to enable a corporate-wide budget redistribution aimed at efficient use of budgeted amounts. Once this notification is accepted, the budget registered in the ERP system will be revised accordingly as soon as possible by Budget Section.

27.5.10.5 Redistribution of budget amount within and across main budget categories by Budget Supervisors   
Budget redistribution within budget categories is possible as an acceptable way of adjusting allocation of resources to the actual environment and evolution of priorities.
The redistribution across budget categories cannot take place indiscriminately because they create different liabilities and have different impacts on the University’s long-term use of its resources.

Redistribution across categories shall be adjusted and determined by the Vice President for Financial Management under the supervision of the Secretary General. For such purpose, the Budget Section must confirm that the aforementioned redistribution is compatible with the restrictions attached to sources of funding.

27.5.10.6 Use of contingency funds
In case of emergency or unforeseeable events, the President for Financial Management may, upon the instruction of the President and under the supervision of the Secretary General, decide to use the contingency funds under his/her custody, specifying the purpose thereof. The use of contingency funds must comply, in principle, with the rules applying to the source of funds from which they are allocated (e.g. subsidies from operations). However, in case of extreme urgency, the Secretary General may decide to use these funds with the explicit approval of the Vice President for Financial Management.
The Secretary General may delegate the responsibility for using specified amounts of the contingency funds to Budget Supervisors when it is necessary.
The contingency funds should not be held until the end of the fiscal year and must be allocated gradually to normal operational usage as the probability of their necessity decreases.

27.5.10.7 Budget carry-over
Carry-over of subsidy budgets to next fiscal year is allowed exceptionally and only in cases the following criteria are met.

  1. Carry-over is allowed in the laws and rules of the source of funding
  2. Approval of carry-over by the government or funding agency is obtained. (In case prior approval is required.)

A budget carry-over includes the expenditures and the resources corresponding to the expenditures being carried-over. It therefore neutral from a budget balance perspective.

27.5.10.8 Reporting to other funding organizations
Reporting to funding agencies is usually done according to specific rules and forms. Budget Supervisors need to be aware that missing deadline or improper documentation may result in penalty such as disqualification for applying other funding or order to return the funds.

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