How to Make Federal Budget Estimates
The fiscal year runs from October to September, but federal budget managers like to have things in place by the middle of the summer to avoid any surprises when the final dollars are requested. But if you are new to your job in a management position or you've been given the responsibility to create the fiscal budget for your section, you could end up spending weeks upon weeks trying to come up with a justifiable figure that can serve as your spending estimate. This article will show you how to make a Federal budget estimate that will hopefully take just a matter of days.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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1
Design your spreadsheet with your major categories for spending and columns by the month. Further categorize those monthly columns into quarters. The first quarter is October thru December and so forth. Be sure to include categories like supplies, maintenance, payroll, insurance...stick them all in there. Better to have more categories to account for than leaving one out and finding out the hard way. Make a duplicate copy to plug in numbers from other sources and label it "comparison". Print it out.
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2
Contact your purchase card holders and ask to see their purchase logs for your office. You can get estimates for supplies. You may need to do the same with your payroll officer to find out how much is allocated to staff. Try to break down spending by the quarter as well and log these figures into the "comparison" sheet.
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3
Call or e-mail people at other locations who have a similar (or even the same) work setting. See if you can find their budget analyst or fiscal planner to get an idea of what was spent and under what categories. If possible, you may be able to get a hold of their own spreadsheet. If you do, scan and eliminate any non-applicable categories and costs. For example, they may hire temp employees whereas your work center does not have that authority. You would line out the costs for that.
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4
Ask your supervisor or leaders if there are any special projects that need additional funding or if there are going to be any changes in personnel as far as hiring, firing, transfer, or promotion. Ask for estimates and enter those figures into the "comparison" block.
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5
Pass around a "wish list" for people in your workcenter and give them a deadline to input any supplies, equipment or other items they want. If it is a larger office, distribute the list to the supervisors and have them conduct the survey. Make the deadline non-negotiable. Most people know what they wish they had in the office to make life easier.
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6
Compile the numbers and input them into the main spreadsheet. Take into account spending by the quarter because typically purchase card holders cannot buy anything at least two months before the end of the last quarter. When accounting for supplies, compare what you actually have inventoried and what you estimate for the first quarter. You may have enough supplies to cover your first quarter so that can add a little wiggle room in your budget.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Search for wish list items around the office or in other branches of your work. Someone may have that spare printer or extra chair that an employee wants for his desk.
