Excel – FiscalShare

Tag: Excel

Excel Solver for Expense Transfers

Thank you Pronger for your post about the Excel solver function. Follow this link to view his explanation and instructions. The solver function is especially useful if you deal with a multitude of funding sources such as state and local grants, federal awards and bond funds. Each restricted funding source has very particular spending rules and most have

December 31, 2013 Short URLaccounting, Accounts Payable, analysis, best practice, data, Excel, Excel solver, Excel spreadsheet, Expense, funding sources, Funds, General Journal, government spending, governmental accounting, information technology, Invoice, Microsoft, Microsoft Excel, nonprofit accounting, problem solving, public school finance, school district business, school districts, school finance, solver, solver function in Excel, spreadsheetsAccounting, Finance, Government, Public Schools, School Construction

Governmental Cost Recovery

I have heard the mantra again and again “we don’t make a profit” meaning, if we charge for services it’s only on a cost recovery basis. Yet I just read that Inyo COE charges a flat 7% to its charter schools for providing business services. If a charter school now receives significantly more funding under the Local Control Funding Formula,

December 25, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, best practice, business, business services, Cafeteria Fund, California Schools Accounting Manual, charter school, Charter Schools, cost accounting, Cost recovery, CSAM, education, Education Code, Excel, fee for service, fund balance, government, government spending, Inyo County Office of Education, Inyo Register, lcff, overcharging, public school finance, public schools, school district, school district business, school districts, school finance, surplusAccounting, Cost Accounting, Government, Local Control Funding Formula

What Does it Take to Get Fired?

Sometimes, Not Much The article Fatal IT Distractions lists mistakes that will lead to immediate dismissal in the IT world: things like forgetting to back up data nightly or not testing your disaster recovery plan prior to a disaster. This made me ponder. What will get you fired in the world of school finance? I am not talking about obvious offenses

December 5, 2013 Short URLcalculation, conflict of interest, disaster recovery plan, dismissals, employment, Excel, fired, government, hiring, IT mistakes, jobs, Management, revenue calculations, school bonds, school district, school district business, spreadsheets, tax rate, unemploymentCareer Development, Excel, Finance, Management, School District Jobs

Schrödinger’s Excel

Or, how to be deadly and awesome at the same time Is Excel good or bad? It is both. Are you good at Excel or bad at it? Probably both. Excel is extraordinary. In the wrong hands it also can be a disaster, Excel is just a tool, like a chisel. It is inspiring in the hands of a skilled carpenter and murderous in

November 25, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, business, candidate, data, Excel, fiscal, Herb Kelleher, hiring, job candidate, Management, Microsoft, Schrodinger, spreadsheet software, testing, workAccounting, Excel, Finance, Government, Management

Local Control Funding Formula: Nothing and Something

The California Department of Education has “updated” its reporting software by removing the previous revenue schedule and replacing it with, um, nothing. I am going out on a limb. I have created my own multi-year calculation. Please email me at support@fiscalshare.com if you want a copy. We are four plus months into the fiscal year,

November 7, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, budget, calculation, California, California Department of Education, California school districts, CDE, Excel, government, lcff, local control funding formula, public education, public school finance, revenue forecasts, school district, school financeAccounting, Analysis, Daily Work, Data, Excel, Finance, Local Control Funding Formula

We Don’t Need No %@# Standards?*

Imagine comparing two school districts’ test scores, where each district uses different tests. That would be meaningless, right? Yet, this situation exists on the business side of things. Legislation will require a calculation, but the implementation is unclear. Subsequent guidelines and regulations (if any) sometimes just cite the statute verbatim. For example, prior to the new funding formula, conversion

October 3, 2013 Short URLaccounting, analysis, business, data, Education Code, Excel, fiscal, government, problem solving, SARC, School Accountability eport CardAccounting, Analysis, Data, Excel

Eleven Important Rules for Reporting

When you are asked to report results internally or externally, there are several rules of thumb that, if followed, will usually make life a lot easier for you. Otherwise, you may overshare, share wrong data, or actually not answer the real question being asked. This is especially important when dealing with reporters and public information requests.

October 1, 2013 Short URLanalysis, archive, data, Excel, formula errors, important rules, newspapers, public information requests, reporters, reporting, reports, rules, school district, selection criteria, standardsAnalysis, Data

When to Say No

I recently overheard two employees chatting with their supervisor. “We want to learn Excel” they said. “Can you teach us?” They do not need to know Excel for the work they do currently. Much of the time they are doing data entry. However the next position up the pay scale uses Excel extensively. The supervisor

September 29, 2013 Short URLaccounting, data, employee engagement, Excel, initiative, interview questions, job, job description, learning by osmosis, Management, MBA, problem solving, responsibility, school districtAccounting, Excel, School District Jobs, Working Together

Technology and Job Descriptions

When you work in the Business Office, you have to stick your nose into everyone’s business. For example I remember getting involved in a controversy about job descriptions for clerical positions at school sites. Wouldn’t that be an issue between Human Resources and school principals, you ask? Well, no. Not when you are charged with

September 22, 2013 Short URLanalysis, bell curve, computers, data, early adopters, Excel, grievance, information technology, innovators, job descriptions, laggards, Management, technology, VisicalcAnalysis, Data, Excel, Working Together

Hiring an Analyst: Inside Scoop

In a school district business office there is usually a position called Budget Analyst. When I first went to the Pretty Big School District I needed to fill a Budget Analyst vacancy. I started by talking to current staff to see who would be interested in applying. One (I thought) promising employee asked “do you need to

September 19, 2013 Short URLaccounting, accounting analyst, analysis, budget, budget analyst, data, Excel, hiring, job interview, Management, modellingAnalysis, Data, Excel, School District Jobs, Working Together

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