Acquisitions FAQs

1. How do I find out how much money is encumbered for approval shipments?

2. How do I view Chinook fund reports on the Web?

ACQ FAQ #1 – Blackwell’s Approval Encumbrance

February 22, 2005

Q: How do I find out how much money is encumbered for approval shipments?

A: View the appropriate Chinook order record created specifically to track encumbrances for the Blackwell’s approval plan attached to the bib record entitled “xxxmo approval encumbrance for current fiscal year”. The encumbrance is the amount entered in the EPRICE.

At the beginning of a new fiscal year, the total amount expended on approval the previous year is entered as the beginning encumbrance for the new year. Fifty-two approval shipments are posted in Chinook in the course of the fiscal year. The encumbrance is reduced whenever a shipment is posted. There is a time lag in posting shipments due to the time necessary for bibliographers to review books and for the Acquisitions staff to process accepted and rejected books.

So that bibliographers may know how many weeks are represented by the encumbrance, Acquisitions enters an note in the order record explaining what week corresponds to the encumbrance figure.

For example, the record below has been updated through week #28, for the shipment dated 12/22/04. This means that 28 shipments were processed through December 22. (The last two shipments in June are sent to us in the new fiscal year.) The encumbrance of $16,483.79 is to cover the remaining 24 shipments for the year. As each subsequent shipment is paid and posted in Chinook, the encumbrance will be reduced by 1/52 of the previous fiscal year’s total expenditure. Artmo’s total approval expenditure for the previous year was $37,463.15, so with each posting in Chinook, the encumbrance is reduced by $720.45 ($37,463.15 divided by 52 = $720.45)

ACQ FAQ #2 – Millennium Fund Report

April 5, 2005

Q: How do I view Chinook fund reports on the Web?

A: Go to http://libraries.colorado.edu/manage.  From ACQUISITIONS, select "Fund Reports", then enter your Chinook authorization/initials and password. Work through the groupings to find your fund. Click on the fund to get to the FINANCIAL STATUS table specific to the fund. The following information is displayed:

• APPROPRIATION = the total budget for the fund.
• EXPENDITURE = the total amount that has been paid (i.e., posted in Chinook).
• ENCUMBRANCE = the total amount that has been set aside (i.e., encumbered) to pay for orders not received yet, including the amount encumbered for future approval shipments
• FREE BALANCE = the appropriation minus expenditures minus encumbrances; in other words, the amount available to spend on firm orders).
• CASH BALANCE = the appropriation minus the expenditures; in other words, the amount available if nothing on order is received and paid. In the year-end report, the cash balance tells you how much was overspent or under spent.

To view the total percentage committed (i.e., appropriation minus expenditure, minus encumbrance), click on the "bar graph" button at the top of the screen. The graph displays the percentage of expenditures and encumbrances for your fund in relationship to the allocation.