Koha Question of the Week: How does Koha handle multiple budgets?

by Kalleen Marquise on Nov 19, 2021

Each Friday, we will bring you a new Koha Question of the Week. We will select real questions that we receive and share the answers with you!

Question: How does Koha handle multiple budgets?

Budgets are entered into Koha via administration and can be made as granular as the library chooses. Koha allows for multiple budgets. Each budget has at least one fund and then funds can be broken down further into sub-funds if needed or wanted. Budgets and funds can also be branch-specific.

Koha will track all expenditures and encumbrances against budgets as orders are placed in the acquisitions module. Budgets and funds can be adjusted as needed throughout the fiscal year. At the end of the year, a budget can be duplicated to easily create the same breakdown for the following year. This allows for less ‘work’ year after year, it is a curated section of Koha allowing libraries to focus on other important areas of the library.

Setting up Multiple Budgets

• Navigate to Administration --> Acquisitions --> Budgets
• When viewing the main budget administration you will see two tabs, one for active and one for inactive budgets.
• Staff can create multiple budgets within Koha by clicking New Budget
• View a full tutorial on creating a budget below

Budget Administration

Within Koha's Administration, you can modify multiple budgets, add, edit or delete funds, and establish plans for the budget.

Acquisitions

Within Koha's Acquisitions home, you will be able to view multiple budgets, their funds, amount, ordered, spent, and total available. Staff will also be able to filter by a library or search within the budgets.