Revisioning the New Budget Model

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this email finds you well and having enjoyed a wonderful summer. Before we initiate the 2023–24 academic year, we are writing to provide an update regarding progress on the university’s anticipated new budget model.

As you all know, Leslie Brunelli joined WSU as our Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration on May 1. EVP Brunelli and Provost Elizabeth Chilton have spent a considerable amount of time this summer evaluating the university’s budget development, execution, and reporting practices. They have also reviewed the work stewarded by the Executive Budget Council and the associated process managed by Huron Consulting.

After careful and thoughtful consideration, we are going to suspend additional work on the new budget model during the fall 2023 semester and delay the initiation of the pilot year as originally anticipated for FY24. During Executive Vice President Brunelli’s onboarding and review, it became apparent that our current budget and financial reporting systems and practices are insufficient for supporting a transparent comprehensive budget model at this time. Improvement for these reporting needs is underway with an expectation that new budget-to-actual variance across all funds and more timely financial statements will be available before resuming work on the budget model.

Additionally, it was recently announced that Kelley Westhoff (Executive Director for Budget, Planning, and Analysis) will retire in early December. Kelley’s leadership has been critical to date and her successor will need to be heavily involved in the pilot year and implementation. The university community can anticipate quarterly updates from Finance and Administration as they refocus their efforts, define next steps, and establish a revised timeline to resume the budget redesign work.

We are grateful for the Executive Budget Council’s and the subsequent Budget Planning Advisory Council’s dedication and hard work to date. Their work has generated a more robust understanding of our current budget practices and provided initial recommendations for better resource alignment with our strategic priorities.

Finally, we appreciate our WSU community’s interest, efforts, and continued engagement in the university’s new budget model. We also appreciate your understanding and patience as we focus on improvement in budget and financial reporting.

Best wishes to each of you as we begin the fall semester.

Kirk H. Schulz
President, WSU System

Elizabeth S. Chilton
Provost and Executive Vice President
WSU Pullman Chancellor

Leslie Brunelli
Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration
Chief Financial Officer