Frequently Asked Questions

The deadline for BJE submission is announced in a monthly e-mail sent out by the Finance Office. It is usually one to two business days prior to the end of each month.

Due to the complex regulations pertaining to entries on sponsored projects, any entries for Fund 30 or Fund 31 require approval by  Sponsored Program Accounting and are not handled through the Budget Office.

Fund, Organization, Program, Project, Sub-Classification.

A debit (+) increases expense budgets and decreases revenue budgets.
A credit (-) decreases expense budget and increases revenue budgets.

We are moving to an incentive-based budget model. This new approach aligns our investments and resources with our strategic priorities by incenting the types of activities that drive both student and financial success.  This includes generating funds, reallocating our resources toward our strategic priorities and better containing costs.  Along with the incentives built into the model, we are developing a planning and budgeting process that creates a forum for schools, colleges and the central support units to discuss strategies and work together to achieve our priorities.

Budget Model Redesign FAQ

University of Colorado: Budget Explained Video

As we adopt this model, it will allow departments and programs to function in a more entrepreneurial space – making it easier to identify and take advantage of new markets and new opportunities for growth. We hope that faculty and staff will see the value of the new model as they engage in strategic, data-driven discussions. This will help us all re-allocate our resources to support our strategic priorities. 

CU Denver has long used an incremental approach to resource allocation. This is a traditional, commonly used budget model in which budget proposals and allocations are based on the funding levels of the previous year. Under this model, new revenue results in equal percentage increases for all units; in hard times, budget cuts are typically across-the-board in reach.

This new approach allows schools and colleges that outperform their budget to retain those additional funds –which can become a virtuous cycle of increased one-time funds and ongoing funds.  It also ties the university together by linking the success of all of our schools, colleges and central support units. Coordinated goals and actions keep us all rowing in the same direction.

CU Denver has many high-cost programs that generally do not cover costs through student tuition, fees and state support.  Because we value our high-cost programs, we will continue to subsidize them with revenue from lower-cost programs.  Complex university campuses like ours have always provided this type of cross-subsidy to ensure the health of high-cost programs.  The new, incentive-based model makes those types of decisions transparent and reveals the internal economy of the campus.  This allows for a clear understanding of costs and strategic decisions to support programs that are important to the full programmatic needs of a university.

In Fall 2016, Chancellor Dorothy Horrell established five priorities to guide our ongoing success:     

- Student success
- Scholarly preeminence
- Community impact
- Inclusive excellence
- Long-term financial sustainability

The budget redesign clearly supports the fifth priority, as this new approach provides us with more control and transparency around our resources to plan for long-term success. However, financial stability is the foundation for all our other efforts. Without a strong financial core, we cannot meet the needs of our students, support our faculty and staff or create a vibrant campus community. Our new incentive-based budget model is being designed to align our goals and actions with our strategic vision. 

Entries recorded on Current Temporary ledger (B_CUR_TEMP) will change the budget ONLY for the current fiscal year.
The Initial Continuing and Temporary ledgers are only used by the Budget Office to record initial budgets, almost exclusively used during July (Period 1).

Video Guide on How to Create a Budget Journal Entry

No. The budget ledger only uses whole dollar amounts; please round all budget amounts to the nearest whole dollar.

Please key in the position number in the REFERENCE field and always include the two leading zeros (e.g. 00123456).

Video Guide on How to Prepare a Position Budget Entry

Enter the letters "FTE" into the STAT field and enter the amount for the FTE in the STAT AMOUNT field.

Video Guide on Budget Journal Entry with Position Information