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Business and Financial Policies and Procedures

Address a Self-Supporting Fund Surplus

Before You Begin

The State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105/6d) mandates that self-supporting income not necessary for the support, maintenance, or development of that activity must be credited to the University Income Fund. Therefore, to avoid transfers of excess revenues to the Income Fund, units must ensure their self-supporting activities break even over time. However, some level of self-supporting fund balance surplus is expected and desirable to permit financing for normal cycles of business activity.

Determine if you have a surplus fund balance in your self-supporting activity by following the procedures in Monitor a Self-Supporting Fund. For information on how to find your fund balance, consult Finding Your C-FOP Balance.

Begin

To address self-supporting fund surpluses:

  1. Determine the cause of the surplus by asking the following questions:
    • Were any expenses related to this activity recorded in a fund other than this one?
    • Have you recorded expenses in the wrong fiscal year?
    • Have you recorded revenues in the wrong fund?
    • Have you recorded revenue in the wrong fiscal year?
    • Does the current surplus represent a high point in the normal annual business cycle?
    • Is there a multi-year trend that indicates the surplus is diminishing over time?
  2. If the surplus cannot be explained by the answers to the questions in Step 1, and if additional amounts are not needed for equipment and facility upgrades/expansion, lower the rate to recover only actual costs incurred by the fund. Do not spend remaining funds for unrelated activities, or transfer balances to an unrelated fund.

Related Policies and Procedures

Monitor a Self-Supporting Fund
Avoid a Build-up of Excess Cash Balances
Establish and Monitor Rates for Goods and Services Sold to Customers
Address a Self-Supporting Fund Deficit
1 Fiscal Environment

Additional Resources

Self-Supporting Funds FAQs
Finding Your C-FOP Balance
Fiscal Control and Internal Auditing Act
State Finance Act (30 ILCS 105/6d)
Excess Cash Balance Computation

Last Updated: July 20, 2016 | Approved: Senior Associate Vice President for Business and Finance | Effective: January 2013

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