HEI Financial Data Submissions

Budget Data (BD) File
Questions & Important Memos

Questions

Q: Are Restricted funds included in the definition of funds?

A: Restricted funds are not included in the BD submission. During the pilot period Regents received feedback from campuses that, as a normal course, Restricted funds are not budgeted. Therefore, data about budgeted Restricted funds are essentially meaningless in determining the fiscal responsibility of a campus because campuses do not have discretion over the use of those funds. It was decided that it would be better for both campuses and Regents if only data about budgeted Unrestricted funds were collected.

Q: Should we include the budget for allocated funds in Unrestricted Education and General (UE) funds? If we did this, it would result in a "loss" because of spending prior years' allocated fund balances.

A: The data submissions document states that both allocated and unallocated funds should be included in the BD file. The inclusion of both allocated and unallocated funds in the Financial files gives a better picture of the institution's financial situation. Regents is aware that in some instances schools may choose to either build up or spend down their allocated funds, and Regents does not want to penalize a school for doing so. If the school is anticipating such activity, it should communicate that in the letter of conveyance from the school's fiscal officer to the Vice Chancellor for Finance.

Q: The definition of Student Services is odd in regard to student activities. We include student activities and intercollegiate athletics as part of our general fund. There is no general fee allocated for these expenses. Should I move these expenses and transfer their operation to Unrestricted Auxiliary funds?

A: There was much discussion about this issue during the pilot process. Student Services expenditures comprise one part of Instructional and General (I&G) expenditures that are used in Resource Analysis (RA). In the past Regents had asked that intercollegiate athletics and student health centers supported by transfers from general funds be accounted as auxiliaries rather than as part of Education and General (E&G) expenditures. This would prevent Regents from inadvertently including costs in the RA that were not appropriate for that purpose. In the course of those discussions, it was discovered that the Uniform Manual of Accounts (UMA) directions for reporting these expenditures differed from the requirements of Regents. In determining how to proceed it was decided that in order to be consistent with Regents' purposes, it would be better to exclude from I&G those activities that are supported by the general fee and to also exclude intercollegiate athletics from Student Services expenditures.

In this instance, if student activities are supported by a transfer from the general fee they should be reported as an auxiliary. If they are supported by the instructional fee, they should be included as part of Student Services expenditures. Regardless of how it is supported, intercollegiate athletics should be accounted for as an auxiliary for Regents purposes. Previously, the UMA had stated that two year schools should report intercollegiate athletics as part of Student Services expenditures. Note that with HEI, Regents now asks that intercollegiate athletics be reported as an auxiliary by all schools.

Memos

There are no memos for this file.

If you require further assistance, please contact our Financial Team at hei-financial@regents.state.oh.us or (614) 644-6859.