Budget Limit Checking

As users create, receive, and invoice purchase orders, Horizon warns users when a transaction will exceed the on-order (encumbrance) or spent (expenditure) limits for a budget. You can enter the on-order and spent limits you want for each budget you create. If a user tries to perform a function that will increase a budget’s on-order or spent amount beyond the limit you define, Horizon warns the user. Users can override this warning only if their security settings allow it.

You enter these limits in the Limit fields in the Edit Budget window. You can enter these limits as a fixed amount or as percentage of the budget amount. To enter a percentage, mark the % box. For new budgets, Horizon completes these fields automatically with the default limit specified in the “account_year” view; however, you can change the defaults as necessary. If you want, you can deactivate budget (and vendor contract/account) limit checking altogether by selecting the appropriate option in the Check Budget and Vendor Contract Limits field in the Edit Acquisitions Parameters window. (For instructions, see Acquisitions Parameters.)

You can enter a limit that is less than, equal to, or greater than the budget amount. You can also change this limit periodically to ensure that funds are used evenly throughout the year. (For example, a library may enter a limit of 25% during the first quarter of the year, 50% during the second quarter, 75% during the third quarter and 100% or more during the fourth quarter.) Entering a limit that is equal to the budget amount ensures that you do not over-encumber or over-expend the contract. Entering an amount that is greater than the budget amount lets you over-encumber or over-expend the budget up to the amount you feel comfortable with. You may want to allow a certain amount of over-encumbrance since many items do not come in during the year they are ordered.

 


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