Budget Uploads

The NCAR laboratories are provided with a preliminary NSF target budget from the NCAR Budget & Planning office upon completion of the NCAR Annual Review (ABR) process. Laboratories must submit detailed budget information in a B&P office required format (see upload template under forms) for uploading into the UCAR accounting system. Once final budget information is received from NSF, it may be necessary for the NCAR laboratory budgets to be adjusted and reloaded into the UCAR accounting system later in the fiscal year.

Indirect budgets for the NCAR laboratories are based on a methodology approved by the NCAR Executive Committee and calculated twice a year by the NCAR B&P office using a variable component of laboratory Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC) and a minimum fixed component of indirect staff costs. Once the NCAR laboratories receive their indirect budgets, they are required to submit detailed budget information in a B&P office required format (see upload template under forms) for uploading into the UCAR accounting system.

Prespend/Overspend

Forthcoming...

Fiscal Year-End Guidelines

The guidelines associated with the year end process address various issues related to the status of specific account types. The Indirect Cost Pool Guidelines section notes the process for monitoring and reviewing indirect cost pool accounts for year end and includes the complete Indirect Cost Guidelines document as revised January 2005. The Management Guidelines section covers the boundaries for account overspending and carryforward for the current fiscal year end. The Management Guidelines specifically identify the limits and roll-up criteria for accounts based upon entity and also note the general accounting requirements for all accounts.

If you have guideline questions that are not addressed in either the Indirect Cost Pool Guidelines section or the Management Guidelines sections, you may visit the Finance and Administration Guidelines page, or contact the NCAR Budget & Planning Office.

Contacts:

• Bob Tan (x1105); btan@ucar.edu for questions related to the Indirect Guidelines
• Caron Chambers (x1114); cchamber@ucar.edu for questions related to the Management Guidelines

Indirect Cost Pool Guidelines

Three areas related to monitoring and reviewing indirect cost pool accounts for year end are listed below. All indirect cost pool accounts should be reviewed by the lab/division/institute administrator following these points and the appropriate action taken in any instances where the costs or activity in the account(s) warrants action.

1. Indirect cost pool expenditures must be at or below a division's or program's approved budget. Prior approval to overspend an indirect cost budget must be obtained by Rena Brasher-Alleva, Director of NCAR Budget & Planning, through Caron Chambers (x1114 or cchamber@ucar.edu) or Bob Tan (x1105 or btan@ucar.edu).
2. Funds for indirect cost account keys associated with any encumbrances at year end will not be carried over into the new fiscal year. These encumbrances will have to be covered by the program's current year indirect cost pool budget.
3. Indirect cost pool expenditures should be reviewed for appropriateness per the Indirect Cost Guidelines. Some key points to notes are as follows:
   • Equipment purchases in indirect cost pools are unallowable expenses.
   • Costs associated with existing contracts or proposals should not be charged to bid and proposal account keys.
   • Time charged to bid and proposal should only be by persons who normally direct charge their time. Personnel who normally charge part or all of their time to a lab/division's indirect cost pool need not charge their time to bid and proposal.

Management Guidelines

The management guidelines for account overspending and balancing are established both at the entity level and at the corporate level. Accounts will be reviewed at year-end meetings and required actions noted.

The two main points that need to be followed for all laboratories are as follows:

1. Ensure that all contracts (or accounts) are in accordance with the Prespending Guidelines.
2. Ensure that all funds available are positive at the contract level, as defined on the Bi-Tech system.

The following are guidelines for NCAR programs only.

POLICY:

1. A zero-to-positive balance is required at the laboratory's bottom line of total target-related NSF Regular funds.
2. Within each laboratory, the general goal in budget development and management is to avoid recurring negative year-end balances for each basic program category, in other words, each USGCRP program and the Base Program.
3. To facilitate year-end closing with a minimum of budget and cost transfers requiring administrative time, the margin of flexibility for negative variances by basic program category within each division is 2% or $5,000, whichever is smaller. Interpretation of this guideline should consider:
   • NCAR-wide, negative variances by program category should not exceed $10,000.
   • The dollar and percentage limits for negative variances may be interpreted with some additional flexibility. For example, if a simplified solution justifies a variance that exceeds the margin by $100 or $200, it will be permitted.
   • The base for computing the 2% margin should be the division's program target.

OTHER NCAR GUIDELINES:

Total funds available in NSF Regular for a given laboratory must be at or below 3% of that laboratory's fiscal year NSF Regular Funds Target for New Funds and Transfers.

Please notify the NCAR B&P Office as soon as possible if there is any indication that your laboratory will exceed the 3% threshold, or if you anticipate having negative funds available outside the thresholds described in item 3 above. After each year-end close, Budget & Panning will prepare a report that tracks the 3% threshold.

GENERAL CARRYOVER GUIDELINES:

As part of NSF Regular Funds committed carryover, the labs/divisions may submit a Scientific Project Encumbrance Request (SPER) through Peter Wise (x1106 or pwise@ucar.edu) in the NCAR Budget & Planning Office for multi-year projects that require an on-going level of support.

Scientific Project Encumbrance Requests (SPER)

A SPER is a request to encumber funds for multi-year projects that cannot be funded at the on-going level of support within a division's budget and for which special justification is provided. SPERs have been established to allow the encumbrance of funds for an intended scientific objective, and to provide a means to verify that encumbrances are expended as originally intended. SPERs are applicable to the following types of multi-year project planning:

1. Major, multi-year scientific projects, e.g., major community models.
2. Division scientific computing development and upgrades.
3. Instrumentation development, including development of observing facilities.
4. Field program preparation and participation, including deployment requirements and participation by NCAR scientists.
5. A periodic maintenance for scientific facilities, including reserves for aircraft inspections and maintenance of shops or systems supporting facilities.
6. Major scientific workshops, e.g., those undertaken through longer-range inter-agency planning.
7. Targeted funding received late in the fiscal year that support on-going NSF programs - For use by Budget & Planning only.

Salary and Benefits for term appointments only can be budgeted in a SPER. Regular employees should be funded from that division's current year operating budget. Visitor Authorization Forms for visitors budgeted in a SPER should follow the SPER processing guidelines and not the year end Visitor Authorization procedures. In some cases, a SPER may include an estimate of associated machine shop charges to be incurred. Additionally, a SPER cannot be used for general contingencies such as Division Director's Reserve for unknown allocations in future years.

Current proposed rates should be used in completing the SPER Form.

The procedure for establishing a SPER is:

Submit a SPER Budget Transfer Form (in the forms appendix), and an Account Key Set Up Form to the entity's Budget and Planning Office. Include a detailed description for the purpose of the SPER, an estimated SPER end date referring by NUMBER to one of the six applicable criteria as show on the form and explained in these guidelines. By submitting these forms, all internal tracking and authorization requirements will be met. B&P will review the submission and work with the requester on any necessary changes. The information will then be forwarded to the Finance Office for entry into the system.

The Finance Office steps taken to set up the SPER:

On the system, the SPER account is set up as a new account key and includes in the Billable org part field the code SPER. This allows reports for all SPER accounts to be run based on one selection criteria (Select Code = SPER). Additionally, it is recommended that a one-to-one relationship between account key and SPER exist for processing purposes.

After the account key is established, an encumbrance batch is entered for the value of the SPER. A SPER appears in the system in a fashion similar to a purchase order, but exists only in the encumbrance data base. The following values and characteristics will be apparent on the encumbered SPER:

• Vendor ID: VSPER
• Reference (or PO) Number: P06SPXXX (where the first X represents the second digit of the division code for the division submitting the request and the last two X's represent a sequential numbering sequence of the division's SPERs, i.e., 203 would represent the third request from HAO (division 12).
• Account Key/Object Code: The SPER will be encumbered in one account key as specified on the Form and at the special expense code of 5600 as specified on the SPER Budget Transfer Form.

The budget will be established in the SPER account based on the SPER Budget Transfer Form. At this time, the funds available in the SPER account will be zero in total and at the expense class level.

With each close, any adjustments to the SPER encumbrance and budget will be made as requested by the administrator. A new SPER Budget Transfer Form marked "Change Order" should be used for any adjustments. Increases to existing SPER's can be sent directly to the Finance Office with a SPER Budget Transfer Form. However, decreases or closures of an existing SPER must be routed through the NCAR B&P Office just for review and authorization. The B&P Office will forward the information to Finance for entry into the system. A change order should be initiated when the division provides additional funding via uncommitted carryover or new funds upload.

On-going automatic adjustment of SPERs:

Once a SPER account is established, on-going expenditures and encumbrances may be processed in the account. The purpose of the SPER is to allow the encumbrance of the funds available in the account so that the ultimate balance in the account is zero. To accomplish this, a Finance Office procedure will take place with the August month-end close and each year-end close that reviews the balance in the account and reduces the SPER encumbrance to effectively bring the funds available in the account to zero. Note that the SPER will only be reduced in the amount of the original encumbrance (the encumbrance will not go negative).