Chapter 4: Financial and Facility Management

Section 4A: Your role in financial management

Managing the departmental budget

Once you've been appointed chair, you will oversee the departmental budget. The outgoing chair should review the budget and explain the basics to the incoming chair. You, as department chair, have signatory authority over all expenditures in all accounts.

Every department has at least one budget (the basic departmental budget) and may have more (e.g., endowed funds). At the beginning of each academic year, you will receive information about the budget, including account numbers over which you have purview.

Responsibility for some accounts may be shared in the department. For example, a designated account may be delegated to another member of the department who coordinates a lecture series, or one who manages lab space. However, as the person who sees the big picture, you will need to be generally aware of expenditures and be available if department members need assistance.

A miscellany of things to know about the budget:

    • It is important that the department stay within its annual budget.
    • Departmental funds unspent in one fiscal year may or may not rollover into the next; always check with your College Business Manager to be sure.
    • Check the budget every month or two to see how you're doing.
    • If you find yourself consistently overspending in a particular category, talk to the Dean about reallocation within the budget, or possibly increasing the amount in that category.
    • The fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.
    • Mistakes happen. If you see a line that looks odd (e.g., a large amount spent where you think it unlikely), go into the transactions to see where the money was spent. It is not uncommon for a charge to be debited to the wrong account number. If you have any question at all about this, ask the College Business Manager for help. If needed, the Office of Budget and Planning can trace the transaction back to the original paperwork.