College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
CALS Year-End Carryover Procedure

Prepared by CALS Administrative Services (rev. 05/07)

CALS CARRYOVER PROCEDURES FOR UNITS THAT WILL NOT SPEND ALL THEIR BUDGETED FUNDS BY JUNE 30:

Contact CALS Administrative Services before May 15, for assistance in working out a plan to manage remaining budgeted funds. If it is determined that funds cannot be expended within the unit, CALS may be able to take back whatever budgeted monies will not be expended, and use those monies at the college level to meet our commitments in the current fiscal year. Then, in the next fiscal year, we would provide an equal amount of temporary monies. Dollars might not be returned in the same object code category. CALS Administrative Services will work with the unit to develop a strategy, but preparing the Request for Budget Change to return the money to the college is the unit's responsibility, and all funds must be returned prior to June 1. The June 1 deadline allows time for CALS Administrative Services to use the monies for other purposes before the close of the fiscal year.

Purchases late in the fiscal year must be carefully monitored to avoid problems with carryover, especially where funds are encumbered for a time prior to delivery, invoicing, and payment. Once funds are encumbered, they cannot be returned to the college for use elsewhere, so last minute problems with delivery can leave you with monies that won't be expended, but which are freed up too late to be used by the college for other purposes. Because arrangements for carryover need to be made with CALS Administrative Services by May15, units are encouraged to avoid last-minute purchases using budgeted funds where the posting of the expenditure in FRS may be delayed (for example, items not in stock or requiring fabrication or customization). Where monies are encumbered in FRS by May 15 for purchases that should be expended in FRS by June 30, CALS will work with units to insure carryover of those funds if there are unexpected problems with delivery by year-end; but for purchases initiated later in the fiscal year, units should understand there is some risk to encumbering budgeted funds.

Another area for caution involves Budget Changes submitted at year end. It sometimes happens that multiple transactions get processed in a different sequence than they were submitted, or that monies are being spent as Budget Changes are being prepared, and by the time the paperwork is processed by CALS or FSO, the dollars referenced on the Budget Change are not available in the referenced account(s). When this occurs, the Budget Change is processed with whatever dollars are available, if any. Units should be aware that if a budget balance materializes at some later date when it is too late for the unit to spend it, the funds will be swept by the college at year-end.

One other caution: Federal financial reports are submitted to cover the period of the federal fiscal year which runs from October 1 through September 30. Therefore, by the time units start to address carryover issues, we have already reported expenditures covering the portion of our fiscal year from July 1 through September 30 to the federal government. Please be sure that any expense transfers you initiate involving research and/or extension budgeted funds are for expenditures of the current federal fiscal year (October 1 through June 30) only.

And, since CALS has two line items in the state budget (Extension and Non-Extension), you must do two sets of carryover plans if you have both Extension and Non-Extension funds in your unit.

Please do not hesitate to call CALS Administrative Services if you have questions or concerns.

Important Dates for Carryover:
Sept 30 End of the federal fiscal year
May 15 Deadline for FRS encumbrances that may qualify for carryover
May 15 Deadline to contact CALS Admin Services to work out a carryover plan, if necessary
June 1 Deadline to submit RBCs to CALS Admin Services related to carryover plan
June 30 End of the university fiscal year

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Go to the CALS Home Page: http://ag.arizona.edu or

Go to the CALS Administrative Services Home Page: http://ag.arizona.edu/aas/home/