September 2004
September 2004
September 2004
24 September 9, 2004
TO:
Business Administrators Los Angeles County School Districts, Regional Occupational Centers/Programs (ROC/Ps), and Joint Powers Agencies (JPAs) Emmanuel Ogunji, Assistant Director Financial Management Services Division of Business Advisory Services Josie Lomack, Assistant Director Accounting, Disbursements, and Financial Systems Division of School Financial Services
FROM:
SUBJECT:
The Los Angeles County Office of Educations (County Office) budget revision process, as described in this bulletin, is intended to expedite the processing of budget revisions by school districts and the County Office, provide accurate budget and financial information, and facilitate the posting of unaudited actual and audit adjustments. Also as part of this process, this bulletin describes an optional procedure that local educational agencies (LEAs) may choose to follow. This procedure allows governing boards to delegate administrative authority to district staff in certain circumstances. Please see Optional Processing by Board Resolution Delegating Administrative Authority on page 4 for further details. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS Budget adjustment and budget transfer conditions are addressed in Education Code (EC) Sections 42600, 42601, 42602, 42603, and 42610. According to EC Section 42600, The total amount budgeted as the proposed expenditure of the school district for each major classification of school district expenditures listed in the school district budget formsshall be the maximum amount which may be expended for that classification of expenditures for the school year.
In addition, EC Section 42600 also specifies that: Transfers may be made from the designated fund balance or the unappropriated fund balance to any expenditure classification or between expenditure classifications at any time by written resolution of the board of education of any school district governed by a board of education, when filed with the county superintendent of schools and the county auditor, or by written resolution of the board of trustees of any school district not governed by a board of education, when approved by the county superintendent of schools and filed with the county auditor. A resolution providing for the transfers specified in this section shall be approved by a majority vote of the members of the governing board. Generally speaking, this provision has been interpreted to mean that all budget adjustments and budget transfers should be approved at official meetings of the districts Board of Education/Board of Trustees prior to submission to the County Superintendent of Schools. In addition to the budget adjustment and budget transfer procedures of EC Section 42600, EC Section 42601 provides a process for districts which permits the county superintendent, at the close of any school year, to: make the transfers between the designated fund balance or the unappropriated fund balance and any expenditure classification or classifications, or balance any expenditure classifications of the budgetas necessary to permit the payment of obligations of the district incurred during that school year. While this provision may assist districts in expediting certain year-end adjustments and transfers, including revising the budget to generate estimated actual or unaudited actual data, we remind districts that, pursuant to EC Section 42601, any such actions require the approval of the districts governing board. Therefore, prior to requesting that the county superintendent process any year-end adjustments or transfers, a district should submit a copy of its governing boards resolution authorizing this procedure to the County Office. BUDGET REVISIONS Standard Processing Using Form Nos. 503-056-A and 503-057-T There are two distinct types of budget revisions that require districts to use different manually prepared forms. Both of these types of revisions require districts to enter the related transactions into the PeopleSoft Financial System (PSFS), and obtain approval from the Divisions of Business Advisory Services and/or School Financial Services. The budget revision forms and basic transactions are summarized below.
Budget Adjustment Summary Form No. 503-056-A (Enclosure No. 1) Use this form to: change the overall total of estimated income resulting from increases or decreases identify and make adjustments between revenue objects or between different resource codes within revenue objects, including adjustments that result in no change in the fund balance change the overall total of estimated appropriations for a fund resulting from increases or decreases identify and make changes, i.e., increases or decreases, in the fund balance increase, decrease, or change the components of the ending fund balance designate portions of the fund balance transfer resources between different funds (a transfer-out from one or more funds must have a corresponding transfer-in to one or more funds, and be reflected on separate 503-056-A forms)
Submit Form No. 503-056-A directly to the Division of Business Advisory Services for review and approval. Districts must enter the Journal Entry Budget Revision into the PSFS for further processing by the Division of School Financial Services upon approval. Budget Transfer Summary Form No. 503-057-T (Enclosure No. 2) Use this form only to redistribute appropriations between objects or between different resource codes within objects where the total changes in revenues, expenditures, transfers, and other financing uses must always net to zero and will result in no change in the fund balance. Submit the 503-057-T form directly to the Division of School Financial Services for review and approval and further processing. Districts must enter the Journal Entry Budget Revision into the PSFS.
A one page reference guide (Enclosure No. 3) is provided with this bulletin as a reminder of the various possible budget revision scenarios and the proper revision form to be used in each situation. Regardless of the type of budget adjustment or which budget revision form is used, budget adjustments or transfers cannot be approved by the County Office until the districts budget is frozen. Budget adjustments and transfers should be entered in PSFS before submitting the appropriate form to the County Office. These transactions are held in suspense in PSFS until they are approved. Following review and approval by the County Office, the Division of School Financial Services will release the transactions held in suspense and post them to the districts PSFS financial records.
Optional Processing by Board Resolution Delegating Administrative Authority As noted in the Legal Requirements section of this bulletin, EC Section 42600 authorizes school districts to process budget adjustments and budget transfers subject to the written resolution of the governing board, when filed with the county superintendent of schools. This has routinely meant that budget adjustments and transfers are approved as they occur at formal meetings of the governing board and by official action of the board, and then approved by the County Office. Notwithstanding the traditional processing of budget revisions, the governing board of a district, by written resolution, may also take action that allows the administrative staff to directly process certain budget adjustments and transfers and submit them to the County Office prior to their individual approval by the board. This procedure may appeal to a district for reasons of expediency. However, any district that considers implementing this option should carefully weigh all of its fiscal implications, including setting well-defined guidelines and parameters on the amounts and kinds of adjustments and transfers that district staff may process. Such guidelines should include limiting this authority to the routine transfer of amounts between objects of expenditure within funds and between funds, as necessary, to facilitate the payment of district obligations and to effect technical adjustments related to the budget. Other non-routine adjustments and transfers, such as revenue increases or decreases and the related offsetting impact to expenditures and/or fund balance, transactions involving other sources and uses, interfund transfers, or transactions exceeding a prescribed dollar amount, should continue to be processed and approved directly by the governing board. In addition, to ensure that this practice does not become unmanageable, the County Office has established the following delegation of authority guidelines: Delegation of Budget Adjustment and Transfer Authority Guidelines In order for a district to utilize the delegation of authority option, the districts governing board must annually adopt and file with the County Office an original resolution delegating budget adjustment and transfer authority to the superintendent and staff of the district. The approval of this resolution by the County Office shall be required prior to any budget adjustments or transfers being processed by a district under the delegation of authority. The governing board resolution authorizing this delegation of authority to staff must define by kinds of budget adjustments and transfers, funds, and dollar limitations, if any, those adjustments and transfers that may not be directly processed by the districts staff. All budget adjustments and transfers processed by the districts staff must be entered into the PSFS and submitted to the County Office for approval on the appropriate budget revision summary form, e.g., Form Nos. 503-056-A or 503-057-T. The district should indicate on the revision form the date on which the governing board approved the written resolution establishing the delegation of authority to staff. This date should be used in the section of the form requesting the date of the revisions approval.
The governing board must ratify/approve, not less than three times annually (by October 31, January 31, and June 30) and at a formal meeting of the board, all budget adjustments and transfers not previously board-approved but processed by staff under the delegation of authority. A district using this delegation of authority shall submit to the County Office, Division of Business Advisory Services, within 30 days of the board meeting to ratify/approve budget adjustments and transfers processed by the districts staff, copies of the board meeting agenda, minutes, and resolutions documenting the ratification/approval by the governing board. The adjustments and transfers approved by the board should be identified by transaction numbers, dates, and amounts. Enclosed with this bulletin is a sample resolution (Enclosure No. 4) that districts may choose to use for the governing boards delegation of administrative authority to process budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers.
Cautionary Reminder In no event does the implementation of this optional procedure imply or indicate that this procedure is a means of bypassing Education Code requirements or County Office procedures for school districts obtaining governing board and County Office approvals of budget revisions. In addition, this procedure does not relieve school districts from the timely submission of the standard budget revision documents and forms, or initiating the necessary data input to the PSFS in support of the budget revisions submitted under the provisions of the governing boards written resolution. New Option for Correcting Budget Coding Errors The County Office also recognizes that corrections of budget resource coding errors are sometimes necessary in order to accurately reflect program classifications. In response, the County Office has developed the enclosed Budget Coding Error and Correction Summary (Form 503-024-BCE) (Enclosure No. 5) for use by districts exclusively for the purpose of correcting, approving, and processing budget resource coding errors within the same object code that do not require governing board resolutions. Districts should use this form to record and process corrections of coding errors posted to the PSFS, upon the approval of the districts superintendent, assistant superintendent of business (Chief Business Official), and director of fiscal services. Districts should enter the Journal Entry Budget Coding Error Correction into the PSFS, and then submit the completed Form 503-024-BCE to the Division of School Financial Services for review, approval, and further processing. Please note that the process outlined in this section does not relieve districts from the timely submission of the standard budget revision documents and forms, or from initiating the necessary data input into the PSFS in support of the budget revisions submitted under governing board resolutions.
TIMELINES It is the responsibility of the district to identify and process transfers between classifications, adjustments in revenues and/or expenditures, and budget coding and error corrections in a timely manner. The County Office recommends that each district establish a process for approval of budget adjustments/transfers as well as budget coding and error corrections through their governing board on a regular basis and in a timely manner so that all suspense items in PSFS can be cleared within a 30-day period. These procedures are intended to facilitate the production of timely and accurate interim financial and unaudited actuals reports for your governing board, the County Office, and the California Department of Education (CDE). In addition to the overall importance of timeliness in the processing of budget revisions are the following specific timing concerns: Year-End Budget Revisions The districts Board of Education/Board of Trustees must approve budget adjustments and budget transfers for 2004-05 during the fiscal year, by June 30, 2005, but no later than the date by which the governing board approves the 2004-05 unaudited actuals. Estimated Actual Adjustments Subsequent to the adoption of the annual budget, the Education Code requires governing boards to periodically review their budgets during the fiscal year and to approve corresponding financial reports, including the estimated actuals developed in conjunction with the adopted budget, the year-end unaudited actual report, and the First and Second Interim Reports. The CDEs financial reporting software is able to record (upload) a districts budget in respective columns reflecting these various reporting periods. Districts that regularly review their budget to ensure that it is in technical agreement with the requirements of the Standardized Account Code Structure (SACS) will help facilitate the speed and accuracy of the automatic upload process. With this in mind, the Division of School Financial Services issued Informational Bulletin No. 511, dated June 17, 2003, titled Budget Revision Upload. This bulletin outlines a process that streamlines the budget adjustment upload into PSFS. Periodic budget revisions are essential for the monitoring of a districts financial condition and to ensure that the budget accurately reflects the estimated revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year.
Unaudited Actual Adjustments For single budget adoption districts, variances usually exist each year between the estimated fund balances submitted with the July 1 adopted budget and the fund balances submitted with the unaudited actual reports. These fund balance adjustments must be resolved annually by districts in the form of board-approved budget revisions, using Form 503-056-A. Districts will be notified of these differences by the Division of Business Advisory Services in an Informational Bulletin planned for November 2004. At that time, each district will be asked to verify these differences and make all budget adjustments necessary to reflect the increases/decreases in fund balances. We request that these adjustments be included in the First Interim Report, even if the budget adjustment forms and data input were not prepared and recorded until after October 31, 2004. Annual Audit Adjustments When districts annual independent audits are completed in December, differences may exist between fund balances submitted with the Unaudited Actual Report and those determined to be correct by the districts independent auditor. In December 2004, the Division of School Financial Services will issue its annual bulletin requesting that districts enter all 2003-04 audit adjustments in PSFS by January 31, 2005. This deadline is necessary to allow for the inclusion of these adjustments in the Second Interim or PSFS Reports. If you have questions regarding this bulletin, please call Emmanuel Ogunji at (562) 922-6132, or Josie Lomack at (562) 922-6416. If you have any questions regarding how to complete the enclosed forms, please call the Business Services Consultant assigned to your district (Enclosure No. 6). If you have questions regarding entries to the PSFS, please call the General Accounting Officer, Joyce Yeh, at (562) 922-6880, or the accounting technician assigned to your district (Enclosure No. 7).
Approved: Deborah L. Simons, Director Division of Business Advisory Services Approved: Betty T. Ng, Director Division of School Financial Services EO/JL:kw/wn/lc Enclosures Informational Bulletin No. 24 BAS-14-2004-05
LOS ANGELES COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION DIVISION OF BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES POSSIBLE BUDGET REVISION SCENARIOS REFERENCE GUIDE Budget Adjustment Summary Form 503-A - submit to Division of Business Advisory Services ADJUSTMENT TYPE 1. Unaudited Actuals ADJUSTMENT RESULTS IN Increases or decreases to the beginning fund balance Increases or decreases to the beginning fund balance Increase Equal Increase Decrease Equal Increase Increase Smaller increase, no net change, or decrease Decrease Smaller decrease, no net change, or increase Smaller increase, no net change, or decrease Increase Smaller decrease, no net change, or increase Decrease No net change No net change No net change IMPACT OF ADJUSTMENT ON FUND BALANCE/SOLVENCY ISSUES These adjustments need to be done separately from adjustments that allocate any resulting increase/decrease in ending fund balance to/from expenditures. These adjustments need to be done separately from adjustments that allocate any resulting increase/decrease in ending fund balance to/from expenditures. No change in fund balance. However, fund balance could decrease if revenue budget increases are not valid and related expenditures are still incurred. No change in fund balance. However, fund balance could decrease if expenditure budget decreases are not valid but related revenues still decrease.
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Expenditure Revenue
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Expenditure Revenue
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Expenditure Revenue
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Revenue Expenditure Components of ending balance Designation of ending balance Revenue only
Increase in fund balance. No change in fund balance. No change in fund balance. No change in fund balance.
Budget Transfer Summary Form 503-T - submit to Division of School Financial Services ADJUSTMENT TYPE Expenditure only ADJUSTMENT RESULTS IN No net change IMPACT OF ADJUSTMENT ON FUND BALANCE/SOLVENCY ISSUES No change in fund balance.
1.
ANNUAL DELEGATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY TO PROCESS ROUTINE BUDGET REVISIONS, ADJUSTMENTS, AND TRANSFERS
__________________________________________ School District GOVERNING BOARD RESOLUTION NUMBER: ___________________ BOARD ADOPTION DATE: _____________________________________
The Governing Board of the ___________________________________ School District authorizes, __________________________, Superintendent, to make such routine budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers as necessary for the payment of District obligations and to effect technical adjustments of the board-adopted budget during the _________________fiscal year, in accordance with the provisions of this resolution. This resolution is adopted for the purpose of expediting the processing of routine budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers, and shall remain in effect for a period of one year, from July 1, _________, to June 30, ________, and is subject to annual review and renewal by duly adopted resolution of the Governing Board of ________________________District. The amount of any individual routine budget revision, adjustment, or transfer shall not exceed $ ______________________. The total amount of routine budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers at any one time may not exceed $________________________. This resolution shall be limited to the administrative approval and processing of routine budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers, within or between account objects of expenditures and within or between resources and funds, including the following __________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ This resolution shall not permit the administrative processing of non-routine budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers which increase or decrease revenues and other financing sources and uses, along with the corresponding revisions in expenditures; or budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers which reduce or increase the fund balance of any related fund; or transfers between funds; or transactions exceeding $ ____________________________. Such non-routine budget revisions, adjustments and transfers must continue to be presented to the Governing Board for approval prior to processing and submission to the Los Angeles County Office of Education for further review, approval and processing.
A summary report of budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers approved and processed by the Superintendent in accordance with this resolution, listed by major objects and funds, transaction numbers, dates, and amounts shall be submitted to the Governing Board for adoption/ratification, not less than three times annually (by October 31, January 31, and June 30) with the Districts First Interim, Second Interim, and in conjunction with the annual close of the Districts financial records and Unaudited Actuals Reports. All budget adjustments and transfers must be made in accordance with the provisions of the Education Code Sections 42600, 42601, 42602, 42603, and 42610, and processed using the appropriate forms and documentation as provided by the County Office, and in compliance with applicable district guidelines. This resolution by the Governing Board and written authorization by the persons herein designated may be used by the Los Angeles County Office of Education to permit budget revisions, adjustments, and transfers in accordance with the foregoing guidelines. ADOPTED by the _________________________School District Governing Board on this ______ day of _______________, 20___. ______________________________ President, Governing Board ______________________________ Vice President, Governing Board ______________________________ Member, Governing Board ______________________________ Secretary, Governing Board ______________________________ Superintendent
LOS ANGELES COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION DIVISION OF BUSINESS ADVISORY SERVICES FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES BUSINESS SERVICES CONSULTANTS
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Mike Baker (562) 922-6226 ABC USD Azusa USD Baldwin Park USD Bassett USD Bonita USD Charter Oak USD Claremont USD Covina Valley USD Duarte USD Glendora USD Hacienda-La Puente USD Inglewood USD Pomona USD Rowland USD Walnut Valley USD West Covina USD
Mike Cirasole (562) 922-6802 Centinela Valley Union HSD East Whittier City SD El Rancho USD Hawthorne SD Lawndale SD Lennox SD Little Lake City SD Los Angeles USD Los Nietos SD Lowell Joint SD Montebello USD San Gabriel USD South Whittier City SD Whittier City SD Whittier Union HSD Wiseburn SD
Joan Concklin (562) 940-1705 Alhambra City & HSD Arcadia USD Burbank USD Compton USD Downey USD Garvey SD Glendale USD Lynwood USD Monrovia USD Norwalk-La Mirada USD Palos Verdes Peninsula USD Paramount USD Pasadena USD San Marino USD South Pasadena USD Temple City USD Mark Fazeli (562) 922-6743 Pupil Transportation Coop San Antonio ROP Cerritos CCD Compton CCD Glendale CCD Pasadena CCD San Gabriel Val. Liability Ins. San Gabriel Valley SIA So. Cal. Community College Self-Funded Ins. Agency Valley Insurance Program (VIP) Assoc. for Fair Annual Ins. (AFFAIR) Bellflower, Lynwood, Paramount Self Ins. Auth. (BLP)
Melvin Iizuka (562) 940-1704 Bellflower USD Culver City USD El Monte City SD El Monte Union HSD El Segundo USD Hermosa Beach City SD La Canada USD Las Virgenes USD Long Beach USD Manhattan Beach USD Mountain View SD Redondo Beach USD Rosemead SD Santa Monica-Malibu USD Torrance USD Valle Lindo SD
Teri Stockman (562) 922-6135 Acton-Agua Dulce USD Antelope Valley Union HSD Beverly Hills USD Castaic Union SD Eastside Union SD Gorman SD Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes SD Keppel SD Lancaster SD Newhall SD Palmdale SD Saugus Union SD Sulphur Springs SD Westside Union SD William S. Hart Union HSD Wilsona SD
Antelope Val. Transportation East San Gabriel Val. ROP Citrus CCD Mt. San Antonio CCD
La Puente Valley ROP PINCO Los Angeles CCD Rio Hondo CCD
Santa Clarita Valley Food Svcs SCROC Long Beach CCD Santa Monica CCD
Southeast ROP Tri-Cities ROP Antelope Valley Joint CCD Santa Clarita CCD
W. San Gabriel Val. Benefits JPA W. San Gabriel Val. Prop/ Liab.JPA W. San Gabriel Valley SIA/JPA
Alliance School Coop. Ins. Prog. (ASCIP) MERGE Risk Management JPA Whittier Area School Ins. Auth. Whittier Area Liab./Property Insurance
Assoc. of Schools for Health Related Svcs Centinela-South Bay School Ins. Long Beach District Workers Compensation L.A. Regionalized Ins. Services (LARISA)
School Links Ins. Mgmt. (SLIM) Self-Ins. Risk Mgmt. Auth. I Self-ins. Risk Mgmt. Auth. II Self-ins. Risk Mgmt. Auth. III
General Ledger Staff Gilbert Lopez Carolyn Dunn Bobbi Tanner Perla Nirza Bert Rodriguez Ming Chien