Starting of the School Year

Submitting a List of Officers

Before funds are disbursed, each Student Council must submit their List of Officers to the Student Council Budget Advisor (Appendix A). The signatures of the President and Treasurer and any other officers who will have the authority to sign or approve expenditure forms should be included on the list. If the council's Advisor needs to initial transactions, this must also be noted on the form.

It must be understood that while there may be a designated Treasurer for the council who will be responsible for processing transactions or keeping track of the council's financial status, all council officers are jointly responsible for how and why council money is disbursed and will be held jointly responsible for any misuse of funds

All councils should establish a voice mail account and/or phone extension where they can be contacted and where messages for the council can be left. A voice mail account can be accessed from any phone (on or off campus) and does not require the council to have a physical phone connection.

Councils may also establish e-mail accounts. All registered councils can contact Julie Hitt in the Office of Student Activities who is responsible for helping student groups set up accounts with the University's Academic Computing Center. If interested, your council may also set up an Internet web page as well.

Planning a Budget

Councils may only spend the money that is allocated or available to them within the current year. Your council should budget its anticipated costs and should not plan or rely on using next year's money to pay for current expenditures. Continual overdrafts by any council may result in suspension of the council's activities in the current or subsequent year.

If your council gives an event that will benefit next year's students, but the expenditures are made within the current year, those expenditures must be budgeted using money from this year. The University's accounting department will only allow an expense to be charged to next year's budget if the item ordered will not be delivered or cannot be used (is physically inaccessible) until the next academic year. Please see the Student Council Budget Advisor if you have such an expenditure.

Submitting a Budget

At the beginning of the academic year, each student council is notified about the amount of money they have been allocated from the University for the year, as well as the amount of money that has been carried forward from the previous year. Once each council has received notification of its funding, each council should submit a budget to the Budget Manager, detailing a proposed plan of activities and intended expenditures for the academic year. Each event should also be budgeted based on type of expense. Use the Student Council Budget Worksheet (Appendix B) to record your budget estimates. The council Treasurer should meet with the Budget Manager to discuss the timing and appropriate measures to expedite forms for purchases. From this meeting, a calendar of submission dates can be prepared for all expenditures.

Each month your council will be asked to confirm the next month’s budgeted events. A submission schedule will be prepared and discussed with the Treasurer. A reconciliation of the previous month’s transactions will also be given.

Student councils that fund other clubs and organizations within their school should include the amounts allocated to these clubs in their budgets. Councils cannot give funding to any organization that receives funding from the All-Square Student Budget Allocation Committee (ASSBAC).