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Learn how
to budget
10
Young faculty may become
frustrated when it comes to
managing their lab's finances. You're
not just the Chief Executive Officer of
your lab, you're also the Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Operating Officer too!
But even if you don't have a background
in money management, there are two
basic practices that can help you maintain a
healthy management of your lab funds: creating
a budget and keeping track of your spending.
Create a budget
If you want to be in control of your
spending, set up a monthly or quarterly
budget. To do this, start by categorizing
spending items (as shown on the right)
and estimating the costs for each of
them.
Fixed costs
Fixed costs include
personnel, equipment,
service contracts,
glassware, etc.
Variable costs
Variable costs can be divided into:
Operational costs
These include consumables (tips, tubes, etc.),
which can fluctuate with the team size and
experimental flow.
Service costs
These are associated with core services (gene
sequencing, animal maintenance, flow cytometry,
etc.), as well as equipment repairs, maintenance
inspections and calibrations.
Project costs
These are associated with specific experiments:
animals, assay kits, etc.
