Budget Reporting Guidelines & Forms

Student Budget Guidelines for FY 05

Quick Links:
Travel | Budget | Petty Cash | Purchase Order

TRAVEL:

1. Written Faculty Member Approval: Once a faculty member has decided to use a student as a traveling design assistant, that faculty member is required to submit a brief memo (via e-mail) to the Associate Director of Design & Production and the Design & Production Coordinator. The memo should include the following information:
a. Name of Student Assistant
b. Destination of Student
c. Dates of Travel and Assistantship

2. Travel & Entertainment Authorization Form: A TEA must be completed, at least two weeks prior to travel, for any travel expenditures. This form, which is available through the STA Design & Production Coordinator, requires the signature of the student traveling, the STA Director and, for expenses totaling over $500, the signature of the CFA Dean. No travel reimbursements will be approved (and no expenses reimbursed) without prior submission of a TEA form.

3. Acceptable Travel Expenses: Students may only be reimbursed for transportation costs such as airfare, car rental, or train fare. Students should make every effort to minimize travel expenses, as he/she would do with his/her own funds.

4. Receipt Submission: Within seven days of travel completion, but preferably before travel commences, students must submit their transportation receipts to the STA Design & Production Coordinator. Only original receipts are accepted; Accounts Payable will not accept photocopies of any receipt. Subsequently, Accounts Payable will not reimburse expenses that are not validated by original receipts. E-mail receipts (such as airfare E-tickets) are considered original receipts. Should a student fail to submit receipt(s) within ten days of travel completion, no reimbursement will be issued.

BUDGET:

1. Who Gets a Budget: When serving in a position of responsibility and authority, such as Technical Director, Master Electrician, or Stage Manager, students are also responsible for their departmental Show Budgets. This also means that these students must keep track of their budget and submit that information to the Design & Production Coordinator. PLEASE REMEMBER expendables such as cab fare, spike tape, and gaff tape! Also, turn in the completed second carbon copy of the cab Voucher to Meg.

2. Deadlines for Submission: Final show budget records are due no later than the Friday following the Strike of a show or the date scheduled by the Design & Production Coordinator, whichever comes first. No late reports will be accepted; please make sure you have thoroughly gone through all your expenditures before submitting the information requested.

3. Receipts & Forms: The Design & Production Coordinator does NOT require the actual receipts. If you have a form you prefer to use, please continue to do so, and hand it in, either in paper form or via email. If you do NOT have a preferred form please see the form, utilized by the Design & Production Coordinator, at www.bu.edu/but.

4. The information required from each receipt follows:
" The Date the item was purchased
" The Vendor from which the item was purchased
" A brief description of each item
" The total cost of the expenditure, minus tax

5. Sales Tax: Accounts Payable WILL NOT pay for sales tax - you must get a Tax Exempt form from the Design & Production Coordinator, and use it each time you purchase something.


PETTY CASH:

Petty Cash Funds are relatively small amounts of cash entrusted to a student who is making purchases for an STA or Opera production. Expenses covered under Petty Cash should be small, miscellaneous expenses. If purchases exceed $100.00, purchase orders (or the Design & Production Coordinator's Purchasing Card) should be used, when possible.

Opening a Petty Cash Fund:

1. Receive approval from the Associate Director of Design & Production for the amount needed. Use a Petty Cash Form, found in the Production Office, and record the amount of the fund, and if at all possible, fill in the vendors and description of products that will be purchased. The Associate Director of Design & Production needs to sign this form.

2. Go to the Huntington Theatre Company's offices in the basement of 281 Huntington Avenue with the approved Petty Cash Form to receive the fund. Here you will be asked to sign out the fund, for which you will then be responsible.

3. Spend the cash, collect a receipt for every purchase and use sales tax exemption sheets at all times. Tax Exempt forms can be found in the Production Office.

4. Return the receipts, Petty Cash Form, and all Cash on Hand to the Accounting Associate at 281 Huntington Ave. If your purchases have gone over the amount originally intended, or if other purchases have been added, please fill out a new Petty Cash Form and have the Associate Director of Design & Production approve and sign this new form.

If you would like to see a sample form, please come to the
Production Office - the Design & Production Coordinator has samples.

PURCHASE ORDERS:

Purchase Orders should be obtained for large dollar funds from companies that accept our P.O. Numbers. If you have any questions about these, you should see the Administrative Associate.

TO OBTAIN A PO:

1. Go to the Boston University Production Office and obtain a form from the Design & Production Coordinator. The Associate Director of Design & Production will need to sign this form for you

2. You must call the company you need a PO for. If you have a question about which vendors to use, please talk to the Design & Production Coordinator or the Administrative Associate. (We will need to call the Purchasing Office to get the name of the approved BU vendors.) DO NOT think that you can just use any vendor you want to.

3. Once you have spoken to the vendor, please note their name, address, phone number and the name of the person you spoke with on the form. Please also get a unit cost amount and a total cost amount (if purchasing more than one of an item). For instance, if you need to rent a car for 5 days, we need to know how much it is per day, and how much the total cost will be. Check off that you need a BU Number, and whether you need a Requisition or a PO Number. See the Design & Production Coordinator to get the proper account codes for the bottom of the form - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - EVERYTHING YOU PURCHASE MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE CORRECT ACCOUNT CODE!! We need to know which show you are spending money from.

4. Once you have this information filled out, you will need to take the form across the street to the Administrative Associate. Please leave a contact number on the form, just in case there are any questions with your request. Keep in mind that there is a 24-hour turnaround for receiving a PO number.

5. You then need to call the company and give them the number or fax them the PO.