Budget terminology

This is a guide to commonly-used terminology used in United Nations budget documents.

Budget
Redeployment
 * The transfer of funds between groups, classes or objects of expenditure by the Secretariat within an approved budget.

Vacancy rate
 * The percentage of posts not filled during a budget period. Budgets are prepared on the basis of historical or projected vacancy rates. The vacancy rates actually used in the calculation of the approved resources are the budgeted rates approved by the General Assembly, usually on the basis of recommendations by the ACABQ. The actual vacancy rates for a financial period are reported in the associated budget performance report. Vacancy rates are calculated separately for national and international staff.

Delayed deployment factor
 * A factor, usually expressed in percentage terms, applied to the costs associated with military and police personnel to reflect expected delays in reaching the full planned strength during a budget period.

Appropriation
 * An authorization granted by a legislative body to allocate funds for purposes specified by the legislature or a similar authority. For the United Nations, appropriations are voted upon by the General Assembly.

Apportionment
 * The amount to be divided amongst Member States on the basis of the applicable scale of assessments.

Human resources
Post (fr: post)
 * An authorization to employ a person, or a succession of persons, for the performance of work required by the Organization. Once a post has been established by the General Assembly, it remains in existence until the General Assembly decides to abolish it.

Position (fr: poste temporaire)
 * In peacekeeping and special political mission budgets, positions are understood to be temporary posts funded through general temporary assistance. Unlike posts, positions only last until the end of the financial period unless the General Assembly extends

General temporary assistance
 * In the regular budget, general temporary assistance (GTA) funding is primarily used to meet exceptional and/or peak workload circumstances or for replacement of staff on maternity leave or sick leave. In peacekeeping and special political missions, GTA is used to finance temporary positions.

Post establishment
 * A new post is proposed to be established when additional resources are necessary and when it is not possible to redeploy resources from other offices or otherwise accommodate specific activities from within existing resources.

Post reassignment
 * An approved post that was intended to cover a certain function is proposed to implement other priority mandated activities unrelated to the original function. While a post reassignment may involve a change of location or office, it does not change the category or level of the post.

Post redeployment
 * An approved post is proposed to be redeployed to cover comparable or related functions in another office.

Post reclassification
 * An approved post is proposed to be reclassified (upgraded or downgraded) when the duties and responsibilities of the post have changed substantially.

Post abolishment
 * An approved post is proposed to be abolished if it is no longer needed to implement the activities for which it was approved or to implement other priority mandated activities within the mission.

Post conversion
 * Three possible options for post conversion are as follows:
 * Conversion of general temporary assistance positions to posts: approved positions financed under general temporary assistance are proposed for conversion to posts if the functions being performed are of a continuing nature.
 * Conversion of individual contractors or individuals on procurement contracts to national staff posts: taking into account the continuing nature of certain functions, in line with section VIII, paragraph 11, of General Assembly resolution 59/296, individual contractors or individuals on procurement contracts are proposed for conversion to national staff posts.
 * Conversion of international staff posts to national staff posts: approved international staff posts are proposed for conversion to national staff posts.