Allotments

Allotments are a budget tool that allows the control of spending against a budget over defined time periods. As with budget structures and levels, allotments must also be designed into a structure. Online setup pages will not enable allotments to exist for a structure that does not have them designed.

Allotment lines are just like a budget line in almost every respect. They both are defined by COA elements, contain multiple budget amounts that correspond to the type of budget (expense or revenue), are created by budget transactions, have an online query, are tracked in the budget journal, and have an audit level. The only three differences are: they are stored in a separate allotment structure; are never automatically generated; and are required to have a time component in their definition.

Allotments are always designed to be for just one budget level. The budget level for allotment attachment does not have to be the lowest or highest level, but can be in between the two. Sample structures would be:

Determination of where allotments should exist rests on the question of what level should be broken down into time components. Budget levels below the one allotted will be eligible for funding on a first-come first-serve basis. For example, in the 3^rd diagram above, if $10,000.00 is allotted to the 1^st quarter for a line at level 1, then spending of that money will be done by the department or departments that process spending transactions to that sum.

Just like budget lines, allotment lines are defined on budget transactions. A more in depth discussion on that procedure is located in the Budget Transaction topic. When an allotment line is created, the amount updated on that allotment will be the same one updated on the budget line. The Event Type ID on the budget line will call a posting code that directs the system to update a particular stand alone budget amount. Therefore a budget line that adopts $10,000.00 with four equal quarterly allotments will update the Adopted amount on the budget line for the $10,000.00 and the Adopted amount on each of the four allotment lines for $2,500.00. If a budget control exists to keep spending in check using that Adopted amount, then if that control is also checked to Include Allotments, then the most that can be spent out of the first quarter is $2,500.00 and not the $10,000.00 at the budget line. The "Budget Control” topic contains more information on budget controls and their application to allotment lines.

When creating or maintaining an allotment line, an update to the budget line is not required - the dollar amount can be zero, however an event type must be entered so the allotment line can be created or updated. Having that amount set to zero will require the use of the allotment distribution amount. There is an edit that prevents the sum of allotment lines on a budget transaction from exceeding the distribution amount if that amount is not zero. If it is zero, then the sum of allotment lines cannot exceed the dollar amount.

Given that only 1 choice of frequency can be made within a BFY and budget structure combination, the need often arises to allot certain budget lines differently than others. In such a case, the allotment frequency must be the most detailed. Additionally, accumulation must be used. Not every frequency combination will work. Annual and accounting period frequencies will work not because a frequency of accounting period does not allow for the definition of any accounting periods outside of the fiscal year, which is the budget fiscal year of the allotted budget line. The following example shows allotments for three different budget lines with the same total allotted amount using an allotment frequency of accounting period. The first line allots by accounting period, the second by quarter and the third by semi annual periods.

The annual allotment frequency provides the ability for a multi year budget, such as a capital spending budget, to be defined by no particular budget fiscal year and maintain the ability to track and control spending by allotments defined by a fiscal year. Without the Inception-to-Date accumulation option, spending in a fiscal year can be capped, thus controlled. With that accumulation option, spending in one fiscal year will be limited to the amount allotted to that year and any in any previous year that is still available, thus partially capped.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000	1000
3000	0	0	3000	0	0	3000	0	0	3000	0	0
6000	0	0	0	0	0	6000	0	0	0	0	0

Samples are provided below depicting the logic used by the system to determine what allotment period should be found when making an update with an accounting transaction that has a budgetary impact. Sample dates have been given for clarity. For the semi annual calculation, accounting periods 0 to 7 will be in period 1 and 8 to 99 will be in period 2. The Accounting Period page has 13 as the highest numbered Adjustment Period besides 99, which is for annual closing purposes.

Fiscal Year = Budget Fiscal Year

An accounting transaction with:

Record Date of 12/31/2004

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005

Budget Fiscal Year (BFY) 2005

Quarter (QTR) 2

Accounting Period (APD) 6

Semi Annual 1

Allotment Frequency	Allotment Period
Accounting Period	6
Quarter	2
Semi Annual	1
Yearly	2005

Fiscal Year < Budget Fiscal Year

An accounting transaction with:

Record Date of 06/15/2004

Fiscal Year (FY) 2004

Budget Fiscal Year (BFY) 2005

Quarter (QTR) 4

Accounting Period (APD) 12

Semi Annual 2

Allotment Frequency	Allotment Period
Accounting Period	1
Quarter	1
Semi Annual	1
Yearly	2004

Fiscal Year > Budget Fiscal Year

An accounting transaction with:

Record Date of 07/15/2005

Fiscal Year (FY) 2006

Budget Fiscal Year (BFY) 2005

Quarter (QTR) 1

Accounting Period (APD) 1

Semi Annual 1

Allotment Frequency	Allotment Period
Accounting Period	13
Quarter	5
Semi Annual	3
Yearly	2006

From the above rules it can be seen that if the Allotment Frequency is:

Accounting Period, then the APD from the accounting transaction's posting line will be the one used to find the allotment line as long as FY = BFY on that posting line. When the FY < BFY, then APD 1 is used. When the FY > BFY, then the highest APD marked as an Adjustment Period on the APD page other than APD 99 will be used.
Quarterly, then the QTR from the accounting transaction's posting line will be the one used to find the allotment line as long as FY = BFY on that posting line. Quarter is not displayed on the posting line, but is determined by taking the APD of that posting line and looking up the Quarter on the APD page. When the FY < BFY, then QTR 1 is used. When the FY > BFY, then Quarter 5 will be used.
Semi Annual, then the system takes the FY from the posting line and finds the total number of Accounting Periods defined to the FY on the APD page. That number is divided by 2 to determine which APD's are in Semi Annual periods 1 or 2. When there is an odd number of periods, then Semi Annual Period 1 has one more APD than 2. Semi Annual period is not displayed on the posting line. When the FY < BFY, then Semi Annual 1 is used. When the FY > BFY, then Semi Annual 3 will be used.
Fiscal Year, then the FY from the accounting transaction's posting line will be the one used to find the allotment line. This is true for all three situations: FY = BFY, FY < BFY, and FY > BFY.

Within CGI Advantage, rules used to define allotments can differ across budget structures and budget fiscal years. Setup of these rules is on a page accessed through the Allotment Options listing in Related Pages in the row menu on the Budget Structure page.

Allotments (Allotment Options)