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Minimum Levels of Budgeting

SJSU is committed to budget transparency. All departments are asked to present their expenditure budgets in some minimum level of detail. Please refer to the Minimum Levels of Budgeting (.pdf) for more information.

Every line item of the Minimum Levels of Budgeting (.pdf) does not necessarily apply to every budget unit on campus. This list is provided only as a guide to building a base budget. It also provides a common format in which all University budgets can be presented, facilitating budget consolidations and allowing for a more meaningful budget comparison.

  • Some budget units will have a limited number of line items by virtue of their smaller size or the nature of their operations.
  • Other budget units will have additional line items even to those listed here, due to their larger size and complexity

When building a budget, resources should be identified for every line item that represents a significant portion of the budget unit's overall expenditure plan.

All expenditure items other than Salary & Wages and staff benefits are collectively referred to as Operating Expenses and Equipment, or, OE&E for short. The detail needed for an OE&E budget depends upon the size of the operating unit’s budget and the nature of its operation. However, all departments are asked to present their OE&E budgets as detailed as possible, at least by categories.

You may decide to use PeopleSoft Class, Program, or Project codes if you have a need to segregate a unique activity. Please note that if you use a Class, Program, or Project code to identify a particular budget, you must use that same Class, Program, or Project code for your Labor Cost Distribution (LCD) setup. The LCD setup determines where payroll expenses are posted for individuals. Class, Program, or Project codes can also be used on requisitions and direct pays in order to have these expenditures recorded against that same activity.

There are two budget Ledgers; Standard Budget Group which is the Operating Budget for the current
fiscal year and Future Budget which is for the following fiscal year. The Future Budget will include the
current year base and any base adjustments. There should be no one time budget in the Future Budget
ledger.

Budget Scenarios is a PeopleSoft chartfield. Scenarios are used to help our campus identify whether the budget is one time or base. We currently have five active scenarios.

  1. BASE: Original Base Budget – used by University Budget Office.
  2. BASEADJ: Any Base Adjustments during the current fiscal year – used by University Budget Office.
  3. CAMPUSADJ: Any One Time/Base Budget Transfer by Department and also the scenario used when department does their budget transfer in FTS (Financial Transaction Services system). 2012-13 scenario can be used for any base budget transfer.
  4. DBASEADJ: Beginning with fiscal year 2013-14, any department/division base adjustments that impacts current fiscal year and future fiscal year. Department/division will enter their budget changes into the budget template provided by the University Budget Office and the University Budget Office will upload the transactions into the system.
  5. ONETIME: Any budget adjustments that impacts current fiscal year – used by University Budget Office.