He ain't here... (for budget explanations)

There was a classic radio show in the 1940s and early 1950s called Duffy's Tavern. (It subsequently transitioned to TV.) The thing about Duffy's Tavern was that Duffy, the bar's owner, was never there. The show began with "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" as a theme song. A phone would ring and Archie The Manager would answer:

"Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here—oh, hello, Duffy."

Archie would then tell Duffy, who wasn't there, about the day's events, which would form the story of the program. But we would never hear from Duffy. Of course, it was the fictional Duffy who created the place where the various stories would unfold. But he wasn't there to participate.*

We have been posting from time to time about UCLA's budget information. Former CFO Agostini said a Very Bad Thing to the Daily Bruin about how UCLA's prior financial statements were misleading due to bad management, words that got him canned. But as blog readers will know, he did leave us with a budget book legacy containing macro data for 2023-24 and unit-level data for that year plus 2024-25 and forecast data for 2025-26, the current fiscal year. But like Duffy, he ain't hear to explain and clarify what is in the budget book.

The budget book contains data on revenues and expenditures for 41 identified "units." Apart from numbers for revenues and expenditures with some detail, there are charts for each unit showing whether revenues exceeded or fell short of expenses. The units are not totaled in the book. That omission of a total may be because there were purportedly no data for one unit: "Basic Biomedical Sciences." (There is a blank page for that unit which, given its name, presumably receives significant research grant revenues.) Unit detail goes down to the school, but not the department. Presumably, one could in theory go down to the department level, but the book is what it is, and Agostini, like Duffy, ain't here to explain why it isn't more detailed. He also ain't here to explain some of the definitions of subcategories of revenues and expenditures.

A different problem is that the budget book came out as a pdf document, not an Excel sheet. But the wonders of AI allows us (us actually being my son - who knows how do use an AI program) to create an Excel sheet from the pdf. And from that, we can explore the data. 

Former CFO Agostini was keen to tell the Academic Senate there was a major budget problem at UCLA requiring cuts in spending. But it was all expressed in general statements, not detailed accounts. The resulting pressure to produce actual numbers seemed to be the impetus for the budget book. So let's start with a macro look at the unit level data. Note that unlike the figures we have previously been looking at on this blog from other sources, the 41 units are basically academic components and exclude, for example, hospital revenues. And they also exclude the one missing unit.

As the chart above shows, expenditures for each of the three years significantly exceeded revenues,** at least by Agostini's figures. The chart below shows the deficits for the three years:

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Two deficits are shown. The smaller ones on the chart isolate the campus General Fund (GF). The larger bars show the overall funds (including the GF) but also from revenues and expenditures outside the GF. 

The overall deficits shown are large: about $374 million the first year, $703 million the second, and $290 during the current year. Presumably, the reduction in the deficit this year compared with last reflects budget cuts that were made.

Note, however, that missing from the Agostini budget book are data on reserves. More than a billion dollars had to be drawn down from somewhere to cover the deficits for the last three years. Where did that billion come from? How much reserves are there in the kitty to cover deficits that might arise in the future? If I were on any Academic Senate committees tasked with budgetary oversight, I would ask for reserve data along with figures on revenues and expenditures. 

Keep in mind the caveat we keep making. At the micro unit level, revenues attributed to any one unit are often a matter of somebody's discretion regarding allocation, especially of FTE. Thus, whether a particular unit shows a surplus or a deficit is also often a matter of discretion.

In future posts, we will look further at unit-level data. The fact that Agostini ain't here will be a complication in interpretation. But it (the inability to get clarification) is what it is.***

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*Recordings of the program are at https://archive.org/details/DuffysTavern.

**I have subtracted withdrawals from unit reserves from the reported revenues. Depleting reserves is not revenue. (As blog readers will know from our past analyses of state budgets, it is common in state and local finance circles to confuse depleting reserves with revenue.) The depletion of unit reserves, however, was not a major factor at the macro level. 

***The Excel spreadsheet from which the charts were derived can be downloaded at:

https://archive.org/download/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026/UCLA%20Agostini%20Budget%20Book%20AI%20Combined%20-%20Original.xlsx. It is part of the Internet Archive page where we have stored UCLA's past budget documents in case they disappear:

https://archive.org/details/ucla-budget-book-v-final-feb-2026.