Management Innovation – Finance The Interactive Budget Process Everyone can make a difference!

Our mission Is to provide housing opportunities, promote self-sufficiency and strengthen communities. To accomplish this we: Create and preserve housing for Indiana’s most vulnerable population.  Enhance self-sufficiency initiatives within existing programs.  Promote place-based initiatives that will allow Hoosiers opportunities to improve their quality of life. Promote a value-driven culture of continuous improvement.

Continuous improvement Looking at our daily work and finding new ways to be more efficient. Questioning the status quo. Changing outdated processes and procedures. Being open to new ideas for the future. Providing creative solutions to issues that serve as good examples to our peers nationally or locally. For our work in Continuous Improvement, we received the 2015 NCSHA Award in Management Innovation.

Continuous improvement Identifying the problem: IHCDA had organizational activity that generates costs and revenues, but there was no controlled means to make that activity meaningful. Identifying the solution: Include directors, program managers and staff along side of accounting / finance in the budgeting process by inclusion and participation throughout the year.

What is the process? Accounting team compiles total budget Budget is presented to the Board of Directors for approval After approval, owners receive monthly budgets to track spending, meet quarterly, and change course, if needed Annual Budget “kick-off” Meeting Each department and program (owners) compile a budget in a phased approach Those draft budgets are submitted to the executive and accounting teams Executive and accounting teams make edits to each submitted draft Executive and accounting teams provide finalized drafts to individual owners Owners review and retain final budget

Making the process “interactive” Process started on September 3rd of 2015, with a “Budget Kick-off Meeting” including all executive team members, directors, and program managers. All were given an overview of the budgeting process and due dates for each phase. Each department and program submitted it’s own budget, split into three major categories: Salaries, Hardware/Software, and Revenue/Expenses. Meetings were conducted between each budget owner, the accounting team, and the executive team to go over specific items in the budget. The budgets were then compiled, finalized, and presented before the IHCDA Board of Directors at the December, 2015 meeting, where it was approved. Throughout the year, monthly reporting is provided to owners for their monitoring. Quarterly budget meetings are held to review progress and variations. This ensures all budgets are on track, and taking corrective actions for those foreseen as heading off track.

WHY DOES IT WORK? Promotable 3 P’s People Process IHCDA’s approach is effective because it empowers staff to make suggestions, improvements, and decisions regarding their own budget while also maintaining the appropriate level of oversight.

conclusion The Interactive Budget Process has created greater understanding and transparency for the accounting and finance functions within our agency. This has empowered IHCDA leadership to take more of an active role in the budget process. Through education, the development of a yearlong calendar, monthly reporting, and quarterly meetings, we are in a better position to understand our revenues and costs. This also allows for the agency to be in a position to make better informed decisions regarding financial stability.