Budget FAQ
General Questions:
- How much do I have in my budget? / How do I keep track of my accounts/spending?
On the 1st of every month, budget managers should receive a summary of their budget from Skyward, via email. Budget managers should review their budget at least once per month. Budget Managers/Secretaries can also print their budget at any time via Skyward/Budgetary Data Mining. Please refer to the “How to print budget report” document under the “Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to print your budget.
- How much do I have left in my budget?
You can view your list of accounts and their balances via Skyward/Chart of Account or you can print your budget report via Skyward/Budgetary Data Mining. Please refer to the “Budget Look Up Instructions” document under the “Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to look up your accounts and their balances.
- How much did I spend from one of my accounts/the total of my budget last month?
You will need to do two steps to find out this information. The first step would be print or export to excel your budget for current month and your budget from last month via Skyward/Budgetary Data Mining. After printing out your reports, you can subtract the available balance from this month to last month to find out how much you spent in the course of last month regarding each of your accounts/total budget.
- How do I know that I’m on track with my spending?
Please attempt to submit requisitions for all annual expenses in the beginning of the year. After that, you should make it your target to spend 50 percent of your budget by the end of the first semester and close to 100 percent of your budget by the end of the second semester.
- Could you please help me understand TEA Budget account Code structure and what it means?
Please refer to the “Introduction to Budget Account Codes” under the” Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to interpret the sequence and the meaning of your budget codes.
- Where do I go to find the “Resources and Training Manuals” page?
The “Resources and Training Manuals” page is located on Midland ISD’s website. Under Departments/Financial Services/Budget.
“Skyward-Chart of Accounts” Questions:
- How do I look up my available balance?
Please refer to the “Budget Look Up Instructions” document under the “Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to look up your accounts and their balances. Please make sure to select correct fiscal year (school year) before you start looking up an account.
- Could you please let me know what all of the headers mean?
Selected Year Revised Budget: This column shows your original budget +/- all transfers/revisions that you or the Finance department made to your account.
Selected Year FY Activity (Fiscal Year Activity): This column shows the $ amount of the total expenses (invoices, direct pay, journal entry, etc…) that the Finance department already paid and recorded.
Selected Year Encumbered: This column shows the $ amount of all approved requisition(s) but the Finance department doesn’t receive/pay for the item(s) in the requisition(s) yet.
Selected Year Available Funds: This column shows your current available balance for the selected account.
Selected Year Batch Activity: This column shows the $ amount that you submitted in a budget transfer(s)/requisition(s) but the transfer(s)/requisition(s) is not yet approved. Worth noting, this $ amount reduces your available balance
Please note that all information in the “chart of accounts” is live.
- How do you calculate my account’s available balance?
The formula that Skyward uses to calculate your available balance is presented as below:
Original Budget +/- Transfer/Revision = Revised Budget
Revised Budget – FY Activity-Encumbered Amount – Batch Activity = Available Balance (Fund)
- I saw one of my accounts has a negative balance/ The FY Activity doesn’t match the total $ amount of requisitions that I submitted. What happened?
There are a few scenarios where your account(s) shows a negative balance:
- If the invoice(s) is more than your submitted PO(s)
- If the Finance department directly pays an invoice(s) that you didn’t budget for
- If the Finance department reclassifies an expense that you didn’t budget for from another account
- What does direct pay from an account mean?
“Direct Pay” means that the Finance department has to pay an invoice(s) using fund directly from your account(s) without referring that invoice(s) to a PO(s). Most of the time, it means that you didn’t submit a requisition for the invoice(s) that the Finance department received.
- A Journal Entry has been posted to my account, what does that mean?
A Journal Entry is made when the Finance department needs to reclassify an expense from one account to another account.
- I don’t see the account that I’m looking for, how do I fix it?
Please make sure to choose the correct fiscal year and clear out your filter/fill out correct information in the filter. If you still can’t see the account that you are looking for, please contact the Finance department.
- How do I look up my account details?
Please click on the icon in front of your account code to view your budget details.
- Why does my account have a PO # 0000000 in its invoices details?
PO#00000 means that Finance department direct paid that invoices
- I only want to see a certain group of accounts. How do I filter my accounts?
Please refer to the “Budget Look Up Instructions” document under the “Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to look up your accounts and their balances. Please make sure to select correct fiscal year (school year) before you start looking up an account.
Budget Transfer Questions:
- How do I do a budget transfer?
Please refer to the “Budget Transfer Instructions” under the” Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to submit a budget transfer
- After I click on add, I get an error message. How do I fix it?
Please contact the Finance department regarding your access and account clearance.
- I tried to transfer from 199 to 211 but the system doesn’t let me submit it. Could you let me know why?
We cannot transfer from one fund to another fund. Please contact the Budget department if you want to transfer from one local fund to another local fund.
- I tried to transfer from 61xx to 62xx account but when I type the 61xx account, it doesn’t show up. Could you let me know why?
61xx represents payroll accounts. Only budget managers have access to the payroll accounts. Please ask your budget manager to submit the transfer for you.
- Why did my transfer(s) get denied?
You may have submitted your budget transfer under the wrong fiscal year, transferred to the wrong code or submitted a cross function transfer too early or too late.
- What does cross function transfer mean?
Cross function transfer means that you transfer fund from one function to another function. This type of transfer requires board approval. The board only approves cross function transfers once per quarter.
- How do I look up the approval status of my budget transfer/ Who is my transfer waiting on?
Please click on the in front of your budget transfer. After that, please click on “Approval” to see the budget transfer’s approval status.
- My transfer(s) got approved but the money is not in my account yet. Could you please let me know why?
Please wait until you receive the email from Skyward to let you know that your transfer is complete. It may take a couple hours to update your account.
- When is the best time to submit a cross function transfer(s)?
Please submit your cross function transfer(s) in September, January, or March before the board meeting of that month.
- Why sometimes my transfer needs more than 2 approvers to approve it?
Federal Funds and Activity Funds all have their own rules and regulations. For that reason, 2xx fund and activity funds will need more than 2 approvers.
Requisition related Questions:
- Why does the budget department have to look at requisitions?
The Budget department has to look at requisitions to make sure you selected the correct code(s) for the expense that you intend to purchase.
- Why did my requisition get denied?
The Budget Department denies requisitions because the expense in your requisition doesn’t match the budget code that you are supposed to use for that expense.
- Budget Department approved my requisition but the purchasing department denied it? Does Budget Department have to approve it again?
Yes. All approvers have to approve it again.
- What does it mean when the system said that my account is over budget?
Your account is over budget when you don’t have enough available funds to cover the expense in your requisition.
- Can I use more than 1 account for one requisition?
Yes. When you select the budget code for your requisition, you can select more than one budget code. Please make sure you assign an amount to each account, either by the dollar amount or by the percentage.
- How do I look up the approval status of my requisition/ Who is my requisition waiting on?
Please refer to the “Requisition Status Instructions” under the” Resources & Training Manuals” page to learn how to look up the approval status of your requisition.
- Why did the budget department approve the same item last time but deny it this time?
Please make sure your description is clear when you submit requisition(s) to avoid this problem from happening in the future.
- What can I do to avoid denial?
Please submit your requisition with a clear description, attach all required documents, and research your budget code(s) for the item(s) that you want to include in the requisition before submitting the requisition.
- What are my responsibilities as a level 1 approver?
Please check your requisitions for budget codes, attachments, and approve them in a timely manner.