Advice from PTO Today

lharac writes:
Hello! I think you might be talking about a sample budget from the National PTA. If you're looking at an *annual* sample budget form (not a one-month sample budget), then the "balance on hand" from the previous year is all the money you expect to start your fiscal year with in the bank account. This is probably mostly made up of your carry-over budget, but may also include fundraising profits and donations that exceeded your budgeted amounts, as well as other sources of revenue. This is included in the "receipts" section because it's money that is available to your group for spending in support of your mission.

The "carry-over" in disbursements is the amount you budget each year to set aside purposely, not spend, so that you can start the following school year with money to support your back-to-school programs. This is in disbursements because even though it's not technically leaving your bank account, you want to remove it from the funds available for spending this year. As stated above, this probably makes up the bulk of your "balance on hand" -- it may even be exactly the same amount. But even if it's the same amount, accounting for it in this way shows the money in-money out pattern that makes your budgeting more transparent.

Lani @ PTO Today

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