Please find definitions for various budget and financial terms below. Many items include links to other sites or sources for more information. Contact the Budget Office if you have a question about what you see, or if you have a suggested addition.
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Budgets
Capital — A budget specifically for the purchase or maintenance of assets such as land, buildings, and equipment.
Carryover — Some departments at Carleton are allowed to “save” positive year-end budget balances to carry forward into the next fiscal year; more information can be found in the budget management guidelines.
Compensation — Employee salaries and benefits expense (health insurance, social security, retirement, etc.).
Comprehensive Fee — The cost to students for tuition, housing, food, and activity fee; sometimes called the “sticker price”. See a video for more on Carleton’s fee
Department Budget — An allowance for a fiscal year with which a department can fulfill its mission at the College.
Discount Rate — Scholarships divided by gross student fees, this ratio represents the percentage of student income Carleton does NOT collect due to scholarships.
Endowment — A pool of funds set up to provide long-term support for Carleton. Gifts are often restricted by donors for a specific use; according to the law, these gifts must be invested and only the income may be used for operations. See a video for more information.
Fiscal Year — The calendar used for financial reporting; abbreviated “FY”; Carleton’s fiscal year is July 1 – June 30; fiscal years are named for the year in which they end (FY2025 = July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025).
Fungible — Flexible or interchangeable. Example: budgets in the Travel account can be used to cover Supplies expenses, if needed; these two budget lines are fungible. (Note that you should always charge an expense to the account that most closely matches the type of expense.) Student Employment budgets are not fungible, meaning they cannot be used for any other expenses.
Gross Student Fees (Income) — Comprehensive fee multiplied by the number of students enrolled; also called “comprehensive fee income”.
Net Income — Total income minus total expenses; a balanced budget has equal income and expense, or zero net income.
Net Student Fees (Income) — Gross student fees minus financial aid (scholarships); Carleton’s largest source of income.
Operating Budget — An estimate of income and expenses for Carleton’s fiscal year; a plan for how to use Carleton’s dollars to fulfill its mission. View information for current year budget and process.
Operating Budget Results — Actual income and expense for a fiscal year; often expressed as net income or as a comparison to the budget (planned income and expense).
Financial Statements
Financial Statements — A set of documents that show Carleton’s financial status at a specific point in time (Balance Sheet, Statement of Activities, Statement of Cash Flow); compiled, reported, and shared by the Business Office in compliance with reporting regulations.
Reconciling Items — List of reasons why the operating budget and the statement of activities report different year-end results; operating budget results, a subset of the financials of the college, are meant to capture annual operating activity and are not subject to outside reporting regulations.
Statement of Activities — The financial statement that most closely resembles the operating budget results, but with several reconciling items.
Workday
Actual Expense (or Actuals) — A payment Carleton made to someone outside of Carleton (via credit card or by paying an invoice); this includes payments to employees.
Available Balance — How much is left to spend from a budget or gift.
Encumbrance — A commitment to pay someone outside of Carleton, usually in the form of a purchase order; typically only used for large purchases. When Carleton fulfills the commitment, the encumbrance turns into an Actual Expense and the encumbrance is zeroed out.
Pre-Encumbrance — A request to reserve funds before a purchase order is approved (requisition) or a commitment to pay someone inside of Carleton (ex: pre-approval of expenses funded by the Provost’s Office to help pay for a conference).
Utilization — The percentage of budget used (actual expense divided by budget).
Variance — The difference between budget and actual expense.
Workday Help Center — A guide for topics and questions related to the Workday platform.
Other
Carleton Acronyms Glossary — Glossary of terms that details Carleton’s many abbreviations and acronyms.
Fiduciary — A person or group that is legally responsible for the financial well-being of an institution; the Board of Trustees are Carleton’s fiduciaries.
Financial Aid Terminology — A glossary of financial aid terms.
Trustees — A group of individuals that are elected to serve on Carleton’s Board. The Board of Trustees are responsible for policy-making and resource management of the College. The Board of Trustees also determines the general, educational, and financial policies of the College.