Often the cause is unrealized income or expense recoveries. Accordingly, in November each year the Comptroller sends out a request to divisional finance officers to prepare a forecast of divisional net underspending or overspending for the year as at April 30. The divisional offices, in turn, require input from their departments. The forecast is due the first week of January. If there are any changes to this forecast, updates should be submitted on or before the first week of March.
Departments can use their own preferred format, so long as the required information is present.
A spreadsheet package is a simple and efficient method of completing the forecast. If the division is projecting a deficit in the current year, the forecast should explain the contributing factors to the deficit, the steps being taken to limit the deficit, and an indication that a plan is being developed, in consultation with the respective Vice-President's office, to recover the deficit. FC Area Report available in FIS is suggested. This report is run on-line to obtain an expenditure report for the division as a whole by CF Center and should be run again to obtain the total divisional income by CF Center. This report displays the divisional CF Center hierarchy, CF Center name, budget, expenditures and commitments and funds available.