The following reflects some of the personal perspectives I bring to the financial planning process as Chief Financial Officer of Trinity Western University. My views have been drawn from many sources and life experiences and have been significantly influenced by the nineteen years I have been engaged in the Trinity Western community.
I welcome your feedback on these and other principles you might suggest should guide our financial planning
Poulsen's Planning Principles
1. We are stewards, not owners.
We recognize the University is a ministry, accountable to the many stakeholders who guide it and provide the resources to enable it to fulfill its mission. As stewards, it is essential that the "business" of the University operate with a high degree of integrity, transparency and accountability.
2. There is no Mission Fulfillment without Business Effectiveness.
As stewards of multiple millions of dollars of annual resources (approximately $50,000,000), it is imperative that the "business" of the University be managed to optimize resource deployment to fulfill the mission.
3. Mission/strategy informed resource allocation.
The University's mission and strategic planning must guide our resource allocation process.
4. We can do almost anything, but we can't do everything.
Prioritization and continual reality checks are crucial to ensure maximum mission fulfillment in the deployment of resources.
5. Top down (resource based) budget development.
The budget process starts by forecasting key revenues (enrolment and tuition rate increases) and then we prioritize expenditures based on available resources.
6. Manage to the whole (full cost, not the margin).
We must consider the full impact of business decisions. This includes consideration of the extent to which the decision absorbs existing capacity that will have to be replaced (e.g. facilities, divisional service levels, etc.).
7. Multi-year planning
We plan within a three to five year financial horizon to ensure positive and negative trends are effectively managed within our business planning cycle.
8. Capacity based growth.
Planning for growth must give careful consideration to existing capacity constraints and how those constraints might be ameliorated.
9. Fairness does not mean equal allocation.
We must allocate resources in a manner and process that is fair to all key stakeholders. However, the principle of "fairness" does not mean all stakeholders are automatically entitled to an equal or even proportionate share of available resources.
10. Value based purchasing.
Purchasing decisions must be "value" based. That is, we need to consider the "life-cycle" costs of significant financial investments. Someone has well said, "Only the wealthy can afford to buy cheap." It may be appropriate to spend more now on a durable asset with a longer life-cycle than to buy cheap and have to replace it sooner. Further, we will not engage the "lease game" as an expensive way to increase budgets outside of due process. Rather, lease/purchase decisions will be made in the most "total cost" effective manner.
