Education
Strategic Planning/Resource Allocation
Why, as administrators, would we want to increase budget flexibility?
So much of budget planning is based upon the concept of predicting future conditions.
Unfortunately predicting what is going to happen in the future is very difficult and oftentimes almost impossible. Administrators use the idea of planning in order to gain information and insights into the character of future conditions in order to guide current decisions and plans of action (Schmidtlein, 2001). It is because of this uncertainty about what is going to happen in the future that administrators would like to increase the flexibility of their budget. Having flexibility allows administrators to, better allocate funds that are available and thus be more successful at accomplishing the goals that they set out with at the beginning of the budget periods. It also allows the institution to be better equipped to handle any situation that arises throughout the fiscal year that wasn't planned for ahead of time.
2. While salaries and benefits occupy the largest portion of nearly every college and university budget, why is this major portion of the academic budget fraught with special dangers?
The salary and benefits sections of a budget always come with their own special hazards. Salaries and benefits are cost drivers. If there is enough revenue to cover these things then one is in good shape, but if there is not then major problems will occur. There are a lot of hidden costs that are associated with not only maintaining but adding to current staff positions. Hiring new staff involves training and support in addition to salaries and benefits; advertising new positions; along with evaluating the need for additional office space, furniture, equipment, and supplies. You also need to consider that an expanded staff requires additional time for staff meetings, supervision, and coordination. Making sure that your institution has staff is a vital aspect of doing business which makes the budgeting for this staff such an important component of any budget plan.
References
Schmidtlein, Frank A. (2001). Why Linking Budgets to Plans Has Proved Difficult in Higher
Education. In ASHE, Finance in Higher Education (pp.415-424). New York: Pearson.
