Skip to main content

Guidelines for Expenditure Budgets

Expenditure budgets should represent the level of expenditures anticipated to be incurred over the course of the new fiscal year.  In the case of dollars allocated to your unit on an Allocation Letter, you must establish expenditure budgets that match the amounts listed on the Allocation Letter.  The third page of the Allocation Letter contains a fund grid that displays the amount of budget allocated by each fund within each spending category.  These are the amounts to be established as expense budgets on the specified funds and spending categories.

In the case of Non-centrally Controlled Funds, the expenditure budget for a specific fund should not exceed the sum of the fund’s revenue budget and anticipated Beginning Balance.  Spending needs can only drive expenditure budget levels to the extent that resources are available.  Of course, expenditure budgets should reflect the programmatic priorities of your unit.  Below are guidelines for specific types of expense budget categories.