Budget and Finance

Budget and Finance

Core Standard

Given the following resources are available to the candidate:

  • Library’s vision, mission, core values, and strategic plan.
  • Current operational and capital budgets.
  • Programs and services the library provides.
  • A history of past financial requirements, current funding sources, budgetary protocols, and approval authorities.

The candidate:

  • Develops programming budgets.
  • Prepares and monitors operational budgets.
  • Develops capital budgets.
  • Conducts cost/benefit analyses.
  • Understands the role of the library trustee in the budgeting process.
  • Identifies and describes different funding models among district / political unit (municipal or county) / private (“association”). 
  • Understands financial statements (i.e., profit & loss, balance sheets, assets, etc.).
  • Understands basic internal and external audits.
  • Understands the institution’s financial policies and procedures (i.e., purchasing, credit cards, reimbursements, financial control).
  • Works collaboratively with accounting personnel.

The criteria to judge the adequacy of the performances are:

  • Budgets and cost/benefit reports comply with standard accounting principles.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describes the relationship between budgeting and overall planning for the organization’s goals and objectives.
  2. Develops a program budget based on a line-item budget (convert a line-item budget to a program budget).
  3. Performs cost /benefit analysis for specific library services or programs.
  4. Develops performance measures and operations indicators for specific library functions.
  5. Identifies and evaluates the feasibility of using various potential sources of funding for a major capital project.
  6. Presents a program/service budget plans or a capital budget plan to the library’s governing authority or general government administrator.
  7. Understands and monitors performance about investment of public funds.

Revised April 2016

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