Cuesta College Student Life & Leadership: ASCC Bylaws

Financial Code Bylaws

Section 1. Budget Requests
  1. The ASCC Finance Director* shall implement a program review and budget development calendar and distribute budget request forms during the spring semester to all departments or organized groups seeking ASCC funds allocation for the following academic year.
    1. Program review and budget development shall be designed with the purpose to develop an understanding of programs and fiscal accountability of the ASCC budget. It shall also establish a communication and public relations link with program and department advisors.
  2. Budget request forms shall be submitted by the departments and/or organized groups to the ASCC financial liaison no later than the second week of March to receive consideration of funds for the following academic year.
  3. All budget requests must contain an itemized accounting of all proposed expenditures and a description of all proposed activities.
  4. Organizations or individuals not submitting a budget request may be allocated funds at the discretion of the ASCC Senate.
Section 2. Budget Committee
  1. A budget committee shall consist of the ASCC Executive Cabinet. The ASCC Advisor(s), Coordinator of Student Life & Leadership, and the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison shall serve as ex officio members. Additional members may be appointed, at the discretion of the budget committee, to serve as non-voting members. The ASCC Finance Director shall chair the budget committee.
  2. The budget committee shall consider all submitted requests for funds and prepare a tentative budget for the succeeding year.
  3. The final budget shall be approved by the ASCC Senate before spring semester finals.
  4. The final budget is contingent on the availability of funds and must provide adequate income to meet approved expenditures.
  5. The approved budget shall be submitted to the Board of Trustees during the fall semester for final approval.
Section 3. Expenditure of Funds
  1. Budget funds shall be used only for that specific purpose which the allocation was approved, and accounts shall not be overdrawn without reallocations of funds and prior approval by the ASCC Senate.
    1. A finance committee may be appointed to resolve conflicts, gather information, and make recommendations on the financial issues presented to the ASCC Senate.
  2. Any allocations made for a specific purpose that are not expended may be reallocated by the ASCC Senate or the allocation may revert to the reserve funds at the end of the fiscal year (June 30).
  3. Bills incurred during the year and arriving during the summer or period of school closure may be paid when due only if they were previously approved by the student group with attached minutes and receipts, and must include the appropriate student and advisor signatures. The director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison, with approval of the Coordinator of Student Life & Leadership or vice president of Student Services, shall pay the bills only after this stipulation has been met. The expenditures shall be reported by the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison to the ASCC Senate at their next meeting unless funds were already approved by ASCC Senate.
  4. The ASCC Executive Cabinet, with the advisor(s), may act upon financial matters during periods of school closure to facilitate business and planning on a continual basis.
  5. Any expenditure request (money proposal) over $250 not previously approved within the budget allocations shall be referred to the finance board for the purpose of gathering information and making recommendations for ASCC Senate considerations.
  6. The finance committee may at any time review all budget accounts if revenues do not meet total projected income for the fiscal year. The finance committee shall recommend adjustments to the ASCC Senate to provide a balanced budget within collected revenues. Transfer of funds for budget accounts shall be done only on actual expenditure of funds and not on anticipation of expenses or programs.
Section 4. Financial Reports
  1. Copies of the adopted budget shall be distributed to all interested parties.
  2. The director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison shall prepare a quarterly balance sheet, monthly budget vs. actual statement, and special activity reports so that the ASCC Senate and Finance Director may be informed of the Associated Student' financial status.
  3. In compiling the monthly budget report, the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison shall ascertain if all stipulations of the financial code are being met, and shall report any discrepancies to the ASCC Senate, the ASCC Advisor(s), and the Coordinator of Student Life & Leadership.
Section 5. Auditing Cash Controls
  1. All funds shall be deposited in the Director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison ’s office on a timely basis.
  2. The ASCC Finance Director*, the vice president of Student Services, and the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison shall be authorized to sign checks issued from the ASCC funds with regulations set forth in these bylaws. The vice president of Administrative Services can be added as an authorized signature if any of the above people are unavailable.
  3. All checks must be signed by any two of the authorized persons shown above.
  4. All checks shall be listed on a weekly budget expenditure list and approved at a regular ASCC Senate meeting.
  5. A student may request a cash advance of no more than $50.
    1. The student will discuss the request with an ASCC advisor and receive her/his agreement to being the recipient of the cash.
    2. The student will then follow the appropriate request process (i.e., complete an ASCC Expense Requisition).
    3. Once approved, the cash will be given directly to the advisor, who will then give the cash to the student.
    4. The student will be held responsible and accountable for providing appropriate receipts after the expenditure:
      • Complete a second ASCC Expense Requisition reconciling the advance to the expenditure, attach receipts, and process accordingly.
    5. No more than one open advance shall be in process at any time.
Section 6. ASCC Club Funds
  1. All ASCC club funds shall be deposited with the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison ’s office on a timely basis.
  2. With prior club approval, the club advisor and club treasurer shall be authorized to draw upon the club funds according to the regulations set forth in the How to Be a Successful Club/Organization at Cuesta College handbook, under the chapter, Money: How Do We Get It? How Do We Manage It? How Do We Spend It?
  3. The vice president of Student Services, the vice president of Administrative Services, and the director of Fiscal Services/ASCC Finance Advisor or his/her designee liaison have signature authority on club checks.
Section 7. ASCC Activities Fund
  1. An activity budget and calendar for each semester must be submitted for approval by the ASCC Senate by the fourth ASCC Senate meeting of each semester, unless circumstances exist which make this difficult to occur (e.g., position of Activities Director is not filled, the Activities Board failed to meet, etc). If a circumstance is noted, it is the responsibility of the Executive Cabinet to request an extension of the deadline to the ASCC Senate and propose a new deadline not to exceed 2 additional weeks.
  2. The Activities Board will play an integral part in planning and facilitating the activities of the master calendar. An Executive Cabinet designee will act as the liaison to the ASCC Senate and will report on all activity plans. If an activity is not on the approved master calendar, then a separate Activity/Money proposal must be presented to the ASCC Senate for approval.
  3. The ASCC Social Club supervisor will be responsible for submitting an Activities Calendar/budget for the Social Club each semester.
  4. On ASCC Senate budgets controlled by individual Executive cabinet officers,** expenditure requests of $250.00 or less may be approved by the ASCC advisor/Student Life & Leadership Coordinator and the Executive Cabinet officer in charge of coordinating the specific account, subject to all expenditure of funds procedures outlined above. The following accounts shall be subject to the guidelines contained in this section:
    #4000 – Office Supplies (coordinated by ASCC Vice President)
    #4007 – Student Government (coordinated by ASCC President/Student Trustee)
    #4010 – Activities (coordinated by ASCC Activities Director)
    #4012 – Publicity (coordinated by ASCC Publicity Director)
    #4050 – Club Development (coordinated by ASCC Clubs Commissioner)
Section 8. Use of Reserve Funds
  1. All requests for funds from the reserve account must be submitted in writing at a regular ASCC Senate meeting before any funds can be committed.
  2. Each request must specify who is using the funds, for what specific purpose, and a total cost estimate must be provided.
  3. Each request for funds shall then be considered and discussed before being voted on by the ASCC Senate. The finance committee may be appointed to research the issues and recommendations presented to the ASCC Senate.
* In the absence of an ASCC Finance Director, it will be the responsibility of the ASCC President or his/her designee to determine whose student signature will be considered official.
** In the absence of an ASCC Executive Cabinet officer, it will be the responsibility of the ASCC President or his/her designee.