Interview - Article Example

How Budgeting is done in s Program Introduction To understand the budgeting process in s of higher learning, an interview was conducted with the finance manager at (please fix a name college. The significance of this interview is to obtain in-depth information on how the budgeting process is done. In addition, the interview will focus on the challenges encountered during budgeting especially when there is an existence conflicting interest among the budgetary stakeholders. Listed below are some of the questions discussed in the interview:
1. What is the significance of budgeting in institutions?
2. What are the external factors that influence the budgeting process?
3. What are the difficulties when filling staff positions?
4. What does history explains about financial management in institutions?
5. Who is a unit manager or unit budget manager?
6. What is the meaning of the unfunded mandate and what is your role in these unfunded mandates?
7. What are your responsibilities when it comes to upgrading of computers and budgeting software?
Discussion
Budgeting is an important tool in institutions as it provides in-depth analysis on how the institution expects to raise and spend its income. In the budget, the expected needs of each department in the institution are outlined and matched with the existing resources. In addition, budgeting makes the decision-making process expeditious as all capital structure decisions are always made during budgeting. It is paramount to note that the budget instrument is the only recognized tool for communicating financial requirements to the funders of public institutions.
Apart from internal organizations that influence the budgeting process, there exist external forces that determine the allotment in each department. In this case, these forces usually influence the budgeting process by making recommendations and distributing circulars that dictate on various items in the budget statement. It should be noted that public institutions are mainly funded from the public coffer and hence the entire budgeting process is often subjected too much oversight and supervision. Apart from the oversight practices, the board of directors managing a given institution seeks to their interests in the budget. Their main interest is to influence and to have control over the fee pooled from the learner. In this case, the independence of the budgeting officers is not guaranteed.
When filling vacant positions in the budgeting offices, all interested parties in a given institution often feel comfortable when their choices are picked. In this case, there exist situations where some candidates with good credentials miss these vacancies. For the obvious reason, every interested party seeks to have people they are comfortable with on budgeting table.
History always exonerates diligent officials who occupy budgeting offices at any given time. In most case, the end products justify the process used. In this case, when an institution is hard hit by bad economic time, the budgeting office carries all the blame. Going with the history, many budgets fail to work when there is significant external influence. In this case, the budget committee or department takes much consideration of recommendations from external force and hence disregarding justifiable needs on the ground. In this case, the entire process will degenerate and will not stand the test of time.
A unit budget manager is an officer with administrative duties and in charge of a number of financial accounts for the institution. In this case, the unit budget manager is equated to a departmental chairperson that manages accounts of a particular academic department. For the purpose of this interview, an academic unit is referred to as a distinct administrative entity that is able to operate independent from other functional entities. In this case, the unit will have its own budgetary functions and a unit manager is always in charge of its functions.
Most of the functions in public institutions such as colleges and universities are government funded. In this case, it is the mandate of the federal or state government to avail resources for running these institutions. In this case, if the funding is not sufficient, some of institutional functions will not be financed and hence they will be considered as unfunded mandate. The officer in charge of budgeting has the role of setting aside a contingent allotment for unfunded mandates especially if their functions are vital for the running of the institution.
In most cases, budgeting officers are not involved in the purchasing of budgeting equipments, computers and software. This is normally left in the hands of procurement department. Principally, this is done to ensure that integrity is upheld. However, recommendations from the budgeting office are highly regarded.
Reference
Barr, M. (2002). Jossey-Bass academic administrators guide to budgets and financial management. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Read More