What is a Budget?

    A Budget is the total money allocated for a specific purpose, for
    instance, a school/department may be allocated $50,000 for one year. 
    The purpose of this money is to purchase supplies, staff development,
    and services that are necessary for the continuing operation of the
    school/department.

    To track the Budget in an accurate manner, it is necessary to further
    allocate the Budget into a series of relevant Accounts.  For instance,
    one might allocate $10,000 to be spent on office supplies or allocate
    $40,000 to be spent on textbooks.  The total of the amounts allocated
    to the various Accounts would be equal to the total Budget.

    Once the Budget has been allocated to the specific Accounts, it is
    then possible to track each expenditure from each Account.  Each
    expenditure is called a Transaction.

    PowerBudget is designed to be flexible.  Budgets can be created to
    strictly match District Office/County Accounting Department Account
    numbers.

    In addition to tracking Department and Categorical programs, 
    PowerBudget also tracks Teacher or Team accounts. Multiple budgets 
    for multiple years can be worked with concurrently.

    We have seen PowerBudget used in a variety of ways.  The following
    descriptions of PowerBudget will reflect an adherence to District
    Office budgets.