INTRODUCTION
Accounting information is one of the main economic processes carried out periodically by the University of Camagüey, in particular the Investment Directorate. The Ministry of Higher Education is informed systematically and as precisely as possible of the execution of the approved budget plan. That is why it has a unique and detailed nature of the budget execution according to the activities with which it has been planned. Hence, it is reported monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and thus at the end of the accounting year.
According to the total approved figure, a monthly distribution is made according to the planned and even unforeseen maintenance, as work may arise that is unrelated to the activities that are planned. That is why sometimes problems can arise when making a payment and this in turn greatly affects the monthly execution, either by having consumed the assigned amount or simply delaying the payment until the next month when it is enabled a new amount of money.
Planning in the investment and maintenance process and its problems.
Planning and Budget are two totally interrelated concepts that can never exist without each other; they are activities of the Countries, the States, the Municipalities, the Organizations whatever their Nature, the Society, the families and the man as such. Their stocks are so exactly the same that only the differences in which Planning is required to be born and then have to give birth to the Budget, because it becomes the child of what has been previously discussed. Hence the Planning for it to exist must have the existence of the Budget.
A long-term business plan is implemented through annual plans that are the way to "land" or implement it in the short term. In this way, the origin of the annual budget or plan is found in the guidelines of the strategic plan, which are developed in specific programs and actions.
The Investment Department has two budgets approved by the Ministry of Higher Education. One is intended for Capital Investment and the other for Construction Maintenance. Both budgets are independent so it is a financial violation to make investment payments when maintenance is being carried out and vice versa.
The preparation of the budget plans is carried out retroactively, that is, the previous year with a view to the previous year, and in some cases it is projected up to almost 5 years. Constructive maintenance is one of the fundamental tasks to prepare the budget. That is why each head of area or faculty of the university must deliver to the Investment department their projection according to their needs. According to the specialists designated for the calculation of materials, a review is made of the quantity to request together with the values and the constructive capacity, yielding a value which will be the total to request.
Regarding the limitations of the strategic plan and the budget, the first has a lower level of limitation in terms of available resources, as well as space for greater imagination and creativity. Instead, budgeting requires being framed within the limitations related to the resources that are expected to be available throughout the year.
That is why during 2016 the Investment could not be made due to the lack of raw material that the Hydraulic Logistics company had to supply to prepare the pipes necessary for the collector.
Another factor that affects planning is not being able to know a certain future of what a known result may have, that is, the result will be unknown. These are some of the subjective causes that affect the execution of the budget, so in certain circumstances said planning is not executed, leaving the spending plans pending at a low percent of execution.
The Organization in the investment and maintenance process and its problems
The Investment Department constitutes a fundamental area within the administrative aspect of the University of Camagüey and the organization is very well defined in a hierarchical way, but despite being separate, it works jointly and closely. It has a maintenance department for construction activities and another for the repair and maintenance of equipment, whether laboratory, refrigeration and climate, mechanical, optical, etc.
According to its purpose, it is to maintain and provide construction and equipment repair services to the different areas and faculties of the center. It is of great importance because it reflects certain culturally accepted values and needs.
Each representative of these departments subordinate to the director arrange and assign the work, authority and resources to efficiently achieve the objectives of the organization.
On certain occasions, good budgetary execution is difficult for our organization due to internal and external components that come from a centralized system. The organization cannot always directly influence their budget depending on the environment they are in. These might be:
- External environment: are institutions or forces outside the organization that can affect performance. They take inputs from purchases made by other areas, transform them, and then return it in the form of services. They can be of two types: Indirect action elements (macroenvironment). They affect the climate in which the budgetary activity of our organization is carried out Direct action elements (microenvironment). They directly influence the activities of the organization. They are affected, directly or indirectly, by the way in which the organization seeks to achieve its objectives. Internal environment: Called organizational climate, they are groups or elements of internal interest that exert direct influence on the activities of the organization and fall within the scope, creating director's responsibility.Furthermore, this makes the influence of order and organization more enjoyable.
As the budget in the organization is technically structured to the human and material resources to seek efficiency and productivity in the services it provides, in many occasions it is affected by causes that arise unexpectedly or the problem is simply known and there is no effective solution in time for not having sometimes a good constructive capacity and lacking the different resources to provide the service. Among them there are some factors that prevent a good budget execution:
- Lack of financing to acquire resources or labor. Scarcity of resources and specialized labor. Machinery and tools that can be used in services. Technological resources that are not counted to perform services. Cognitive resources: ideas, knowledge and information originated in the human intellect and technological advancement. Lack of communication level and therefore, there are resentments that disturb and prevent the contribution of workers to achieve the budgeted goals There is no accounting system that generates trust and credibility. There is an "illusion of control" that is, that managers trust the formulations made in the budget and forget to act in favor of the results. Escape of qualified or qualified personnel in process improvement programs.
All these factors mean that the budget plans are not executed in a timely manner, which is why many times it is necessary to make modifications to have liquidity in the different months to carry out the programmed activities. Therefore, the organization structure with its objectives and resources must be adapted in a good organizational design.
Leadership in the investment and maintenance process and its problems
Many people want to be leaders of what they join, of the company or of their work group, but the truth is that being a leader is not so easy and not everything goes for it. But it is that also being a leader carries its advantages and disadvantages, the good and the bad, the face and the cross.
There are several problems that the directive of our area can present:
- He takes a lot of personal time, the leader has to dedicate a lot of time to his work, despite the fact that it seems the opposite. A leader always has more responsibilities, and that is that if something happens he is ultimately responsible for it. from others, regardless of whether they have to do with it. You have to do more paperwork, more paperwork, control everything, have more knowledge of the processes. You have to learn continuously, sometimes faster. If you lose The group's trust the department can go wrong. You have to deal with many more functions that employees do not know or recognize. You have some uncertainty about what may happen. You have to deal with other people in the department promoting aspects such as their skills, attitudes, motivation, work environment, etc.
With all this previously related, many times the department's management team has to dedicate itself to aspects outside its leadership, including personal ones, in order to integrate the workers and they can have an understanding of how the area's budget is being executed. However, its execution is always reported even though many of the workers do not understand in a certain economic aspect what it is about.
Small businesses often start as individual companies where a single entrepreneur controls all aspects of a business. While it may be difficult to execute an operation in this way it also keeps things simple.
Control in the investment and maintenance process and its problems
Investments represent an important part in the purchase of University Fixed Assets. According to the notification of the figure approved by the Ministry, our area is responsible for reporting monthly the financial execution that is carried out throughout the period.
Many of these equipment investments are not made by our area, that is, all kinds of purchases of these assets are made by the ATM Directorate through its buyers, so in many cases it is unknown from us which equipment was purchased or which It is expected to acquire, only when the packages are opened where we participate is when you can know what has already been purchased.
That is why we can only have the knowledge when it is reported in conjunction with the Directorate of Economy when the payment has already been made and has been reflected in the Financial Statements. At first glance we only have a notion of the amount paid, hence that is one of the main control problems with the budget in terms of equipment investments.
There are several problems that make it impossible to have better control of budget execution in terms of equipment investment:
- Purchases of Fixed Assets are made without the prior knowledge of the Investment Management. Equipment is purchased without being evaluated by our specialists to certify its functionality. Equipment that is not necessary can be purchased from the university.
We simply have the budget for investments but we only report the purchases made, so certainly when making purchases by ATM, in many cases the budget situation is not taken into account, although they also already have the approved notification and it is not they who must report the execution.
CONCLUSIONS
It is evident that our organization and the people who administer it fulfill the essential function by overcoming limitations as individuals where they allow us to achieve goals that would otherwise be much more difficult or even impossible to achieve.
Strong leadership can improve employee morale and make workers more loyal to the company. They trust their bosses and may be willing to work harder and stay with the company in difficult times. Hiring and training new workers can be costly, so building high morale through good leadership can have an impact on the bottom line.
