I hate using a budget at home. I don’t have time or patience, and my husband or I always tend to mess it up by spending the wrong money or forgetting we even have a budget.I suppose, however, since I am an accounting and finance major, I would do well to learn to love a budget. And, I am ashamed to admit, when I have been paid to work an organization’s budget as part of my job, the challenge of the budgetary puzzle does get me a little excited.
Numbers don’t lie. Well, mostly. Numbers can tell outrageous stories, provide excuses, and can sometimes hide, but you can always guarantee the numbers will eventually tell the whole story.
When my husband forgets that the orthodontic payment is about to get sucked from our account and buys a 30-pack of beer, a gallon of milk, and two cases of Ramen after I spent six bucks on a junk food dinner at the bookstore, there’s a reason our account gets to be a hundred dollars overdrawn.
Where am I going with this? Well, I want RWC to provide accurate budgetary information, so we in Student Government can accomplish our goals. Banging our heads against fiscal walls can only remain fun for so long.
Here’s an example:
In May of 2006, the Building and Grounds Committee received parking fund information: $364,748.69 in income, an estimated $231,000 in expenses, and an outstanding debt from construction of the back parking lot of $440,000.
Six months later, the same source provided new numbers to the parking fee subcommittee, saying income is $355,000, expenses $350,000, and the back lot debt down to $250,000.
I asked the question that begged to be asked: how did income go down, expenses go up, and debt get reduced? The only response was an X through the numbers on my comparison spreadsheet (the first set of numbers above) and a hand-written statement: “Discussion. Best Guess.”
I think, and perhaps I’m wrong, but $364,748.69 is an odd “best guess.”
A written subcommittee statement was then made to Building and Grounds that if students want to know more about this, we should form a committee to investigate further.
So I wrote a resolution bill in Student Government that said Raymond Walters ought to provide better transparency in financial reporting, and I asked administration where one might get answers to such questions.
I didn’t get a response, so I asked the question again.
I still haven’t gotten a response, although I did have a faculty member tell me perhaps I would get further if I coddled administrators better.
I don’t coddle well. Ask my children.
In fact, my son recently wrote a personal narrative assignment for Language Arts. He was to write about the person he admires most and what he has learned from that person. He said, “My mom has taught me many lessons in my life, but this is by far the most important: she taught me that life isn’t always great. So deal with it and move on.”
(Ironically, he added, “She also taught me that going to school and getting a degree the first time is a lot better.”)
My point? Boring budget talk isn’t always great. Deal with it and move on.
But deal with it.
Visit us at www.rwc.uc.edu/rwcsg and www.myspace.com/realitycheck_rwcsg. My email is cowanka@email.uc.edu.
By the way:
GOT WIRELESS?