Finance Department
The Financial Planning and Analysis Office of Union College is located in 17 South, 1st floor.
The FP&A team serves as a partner to key functions and groups across campus to assist with budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis. Our team leads the development, implementation, monitoring, and analysis of Union College’s Annual Operating Budget, Quarterly Forecasting, Long Range Planning, Financial Analysis and Management Reporting. The team includes:
- Janice Butler, Director Forecasting, Planning and Analysis
- Miriam Forget, Sr Financial Planning Analyst: Partner of Student Affairs, Athletics, Dining, Housing, and Facilities
- Julie Pendergrast, Sr Financial Planning Analyst: Partner of College Relations, Communications, Admissions, Human Resources, Finance, ITS, Bookstore, EHS, Conferences & Events, and President's Office
Liaison between FP&A and Academic Affairs
Greta Donato, Director of Academic Planning and Finance
Major responsibilities of the office include:
- Developing budgets and forecasts for the current fiscal year. Union's fiscal year runs July 1 - June 30.
- Budget
- Each year, Union College presents an annual operating budget to the Board of Trustees for approval. An operating budget sets the revenue and expense levels for the fiscal year. It identifies the level of spending required for the College to operate. Revenue is any income received by the College from an outside source, such as student tuition and fees, use of the endowment, and gifts from donors. Expenses are the costs incurred to operate the College, such as wages and salaries, benefits, utilities, insurance, supplies, equipment, and maintenance fees. The operating budget presented to the Board of Trustees must be balanced. A balanced budget occurs in a fiscal year when the expenses are equal to revenue.
- The finance team partners with each budget manager to develop a bottoms up budget. This means that budgets are developed at an object code level, by Account. The budget process begins in January and is finalized by June 30.
- What does an effective annual financial cycle look like?
- FY23 Annual Planning Timeline
- Forecast
- Three times per year (October, February, and May), Responsibility Areas submit a bottoms-up financial performance forecast which projects the anticipated revenue & expenses for the fiscal year. The finance team partners with each group to construct and analyze the data on an object code by Account level. This information is combined to create an overall financial picture for Union College. The forecast is used as a planning tool to determine how positive variances to the budget will be spent, or how negative variances to the budget will be funded. This information is shared with the Planning and Priorities Committee and the Board of Trustees for their review and input.
- Developing financial models, creation and distribution of management reports, PowerPoint presentations, financial analysis, along with various analytical projects.