Budget Formats Considerations/Suggestions Budget Format Setup
Generic
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Columns for quantity/price/budget or simply description and amount? Are any adjustment columns needed?
Payroll
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Annual vs. Monthly formats
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Are there GL accounts assigned explicitly to employees with exempt salaries?
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If so, an annual format can be used for salaried employees.
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A monthly format is needed if both salary and hourly employees exist in the same GL account. The monthly format can have columns for hourly employees and a column for entering the amount. Then, alternatively, it is set to calculate strictly based on hourly rate x number of hours, etc.
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Is the payroll biweekly, semi-monthly, etc.?
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The format needs to be set to default the appropriate # pays (or # pay weeks) in each month)
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Monthly format: the default is set on the column
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Annual format: the default for distribution is set under Settings.
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Payroll hours columns can be per pay, per week, per day, or whatever is needed for the payroll accounts in this specific format. For example, childcare salaries might have different columns than general staff salaries.
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Text column/s can be added to display the pay period date range.
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Is a merit increase to be auto-calculated on the budget-entry screen?
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Monthly format: the default is set on the column
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Annual format: the default is set under Settings
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Warning: If a merit increase is set on the budget entry screen and the merit percentage changes later, it cannot be changed globally after budgets are entered. Changes to employee rates or merit percentages must be re-entered after a GL account’s budget has been saved.
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Use the repeat formula Rx in the hourly rate column. This is a nice feature: The user enters the hourly rate once in the first month of the year. The system repeats the rate each month and auto-calculates any merit increase.
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This eliminates the risk factor so the user cannot overlay the new rate (with merit) when copying the first month rows to other months.
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If wages apply only to summer months, the user must enter the rate in the first month and then either clear # of employees or # of hours in the other months, so the budget is only calculated in summer months.
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Are there employees whose salaries are split between departments, programs, etc.? An allocation percentage can be entered in a column on the budget-entry screen. The format can be set to calculate the monthly salary, adjusted by the allocation percentage. This allocation percentage can also be included in the allocation formula, so medical/dental benefits are split between departments or programs.
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Payroll format setup: Is a higher browse level required to access component details? This is so general users can see the monthly budget amounts but not component details for salaries.
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If multiple budget formats are used for payroll, columns used in an allocation formula must be assigned the same data slot. (Example: number of employees column is assigned Data Slot x on all payroll formats; allocation percentage is assigned Data Slot y on all payroll formats.)
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Which benefits can be auto-calculated with an allocation? These can be either a checkbox or a dropdown selection. Examples:
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Health Insurance
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Dental Insurance
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Life Insurance
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Disability Insurance
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Retirement
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Workers Comp
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Unemployment
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Any others?
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It is recommended on payroll formats (Settings button) to Force component entry if benefits are to be calculated via allocations.
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1st year, enter all details. 2nd year, the format can be set to copy budget figures from last year.
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Each format row can be set to copy to the next year (or not). For example, you might not want to copy the pay rate for each employee from last year, forcing the budgeting user to enter the rate rather than simply copying it from last year.
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Allocations
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FICA allocation for all employees
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Payroll benefit allocations as needed
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Enter the employer's monthly expense amount when setting up an allocation with a flat amount (usually health/dental insurance). Add a formula to each allocation row to calculate the amount x the number of employees x the allocation percentage (if used).
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The allocation setup allows the rate to be assigned for a range of months, accommodating the need to change the rate mid-year.
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Some Y’s use allocations for instances other than payroll benefits, such as calculating a percentage of all revenues and updating the national dues expense account.
Membership
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How do you want to calculate and budget membership?
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Are there multiple types of membership in a G/L account? If so, a suitable format to start with is SGA 1 – Membership – Types and then customize.
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How are fees and/or financial aid calculated?
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Column/s can be added for sign-up fees, etc., reducing the membership budget.
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Column/s can be added to enter a financial aid amount, but instead of reducing the budget of this G/L account, use this amount in an allocation to update a financial aid G/L account.
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Program Income
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Format SGA 1 – Program Income is usually a suitable format to begin with and customize.
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Pre-loading component descriptions: You can pre-load one or more fields (such as multiple rows of descriptions of classes/programs, rates for each, etc.) To do so, add what you want to pre-load on one G/L account’s budget components. Then, use Global Copy to copy that one account to other selected program accounts.