Status on LIFE’s budget cuts, budget and new organisation of finance function

Before the summer holidays, Dean Per Holten-Andersen briefed heads of departments on the status on LIFE's financial situation:

 

Summer is almost upon us, and I would therefore like to take this opportunity to provide a status on some of the financial steps taken and with which not least LIFE’s administrative employees are quite preoccupied.

Budget cuts at LIFE

In the two-year budget for the 2011-12 period, LIFE has incorporated all known cuts for the period up until and including 2013. This does not rule out further cuts if necessitated by future finance acts, but we have implemented our share of the administrative cuts set out in the Government’s recovery plan, the quarterly report looks marginally better after the second quarter, and a new incentive structure is now in place which means that we should be able to continue the convincing growth in revenue which the departments have so far delivered.

Administrative streamlining

The Rector has now announced the overall process for follow-up on the administrative streamlining introduced by the recovery plan. It is emphasised that cuts implemented from 2010 onwards will count, and that individual targets will be announced for individual faculties etc. According to the so-called baseline, LIFE is expected to implement administrative cuts corresponding to 28.3 full-time equivalents in 2013. In connection with the budget for 2011-12, LIFE introduced job cuts and voluntary redundancies corresponding to more than 30 full-time equivalents within the technical-administrative area on top of cuts implemented in 2010 and the cutting of vacant positions. LIFE should therefore have met the targets in full.

Not all faculties are in the same situation so some uncertainty could arise if LIFE employees are not aware that we have done our bit. At the same time, we must of course consider whether further optimisation is possible through coordinating individual assignments with the rest of the University of Copenhagen, but the overriding message is that we have implemented our share of the administrative cuts required.

Budget fulfilment

LIFE posted a prognosticated deficit of just over DKK 8 million, which is within the margin accepted by the University of Copenhagen management. The reports received from the departments for the second quarter this year indicate slight improvements, which is also substantiated by a favourable pay forecast. The faculty management thus believes that the faculty is on course.

The results have been achieved through extreme restraint on the part of the departments, considerable inventiveness when it comes to identifying new sources of revenue and a very strong desire to work together to overcome the faculty’s budgetary challenges.

Financial reorganisation

As part of the follow-up on the so-called Penkowa case, the University of Copenhagen management has asked the faculties to reconsider their finance organisation with a view to heightening competency levels, thereby ensuring that we can honour the ever increasing requirements placed on project management and project accounts. The faculty management has appointed a task force consisting of representatives from the departments, Budget Office and the Faculty Director with a view to presenting a joint proposal for the faculty. The proposal is expected to be finalised in September with a view to implementing it as from 1 January 2012. The faculty management will endeavour to provide a high level of information once a proposal is ready, thereby ensuring that all employees involved will see the initiative as a starting point for genuine competency improvements.

Should you have any questions concerning the above, please contact me or Budget Manager Uffe Gammelgaard at 32001 or 32015.

Kind regards – and have a nice summer!

Per Holten-Andersen