Monthly Closing Deadlines

The May 2024 period in the general ledger has closed.  The current and future month-end processing deadline schedules are located at Monthly Closing Deadlines.

Prohibited Expenditures

A new regulation regarding Prohibited Expenditures 9.016 relating to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) became effective in January 2024, and university-wide compliance with this new regulation is required by July 1, 2024.

 A university committee has been working on guidance (i.e. FAQs, decision tree, checklists, etc) to assist departments with understanding and identifying contracts/agreements for services and expenses that are unallowable per the new regulation. All guidance developed to assist departments in compliance efforts will be posted on a new link titled “Regulation 9.016 – Prohibited Expenditures” in the Office of the Controller website under the Tax and Compliance Section.

 In addition, the Controller’s Office has been updating our AP, Travel, P-card and Procurement manuals with information on DEI prohibited expenditures guidelines.

 Immediate measures and steps that Budget/Finance managers must take include reviewing all existing activities, contracts and agreements for your department to ensure these do not include unallowable services/deliverables. All such contracts, agreements and invoices should be compiled and reported to your business unit head and no purchases of goods or services related to DEI activities can be approved as these are prohibited.

Fiscal Year End Closing Deadlines

The fiscal year end closing process is quickly approaching. In preparation for the fiscal year end close, please refer to the FY24 Year End Memo for important information including all year end closing deadlines and a listing of departmental contacts. Our team counts on you to meet crucial year end and monthly closing deadlines, so we thank you for your efforts and cooperation throughout the year.

Accounts Payable Deadlines & Reminders

Please note that all invoices should be submitted to AP by Friday, June 14^th.

Fiscal Year End

Please complete the receiving in PantherSoft as soon as services are rendered or ordered items are received.  In most circumstances, you should not need to review the invoice in order to complete the receiving in PantherSoft.  An invoice will only be approved for payment when all the below criteria are met:

• The price of an item(s) equals the price on the PO
• The items being billed are ‘received’ in PantherSoft

In other words, the ordering department controls when payments are made by controlling the receiving of the merchandise or service in PantherSoft.

The receiving date in PeopleSoft should always be the date the product was received – not the date that the receiving entry is made. Receiving date is especially important for Fiscal Year End cutoff for recording expenses in the correct fiscal year. Goods/services received by 6/30/24 must have a received date in the system on or before 6/30/24. Please refer to the job aid at the link below:

https://controller.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2020/06/TheCasualReceiver.pdf

Please review transaction reports to make sure that items that have been received have also been invoiced.  If the invoice has not been processed, the expense will not be recorded.

Avoid Duplicate Entry – During your year-end review, if you notice that an invoice that you previously sent to invoices@fiu.edu has not been entered, please do not resubmit.  E-mail Beatriz Blanco-Hernandez (bblancog@fiu.edu) or Liza Del Campo (ldelcam@fiu.edu) for an update on the status of the invoice.

Any voucher not matched, approved, and posted by June 27^th will be deleted. 

Receiving Transaction E-mail Notifications

During the month of June, the receiving notifications will be sent out daily.  If you are receiving this notice, Accounts Payable has already received and entered the invoice in PeopleSoft.  Please DO NOT send the invoice to AP when you have entered the receipt.  PeopleSoft will automatically match the invoice to the receipt.  If you continue to receive the notification that a receipt is pending after the receipt has been entered, please notify Beatriz Blanco-Hernandez (bblancog@fiu.edu) or Liza Del Campo (ldelcam@fiu.edu).  Do not send the invoice to invoices@fiu.edu.  This will cause a duplicate entry of the invoice.

Delivery of Invoices

Please remember that invoices attached to requisitions are not forwarded to Accounts Payable.  If the vendor does not send the invoice directly to Accounts Payable, the department must do so.

MarketPlace Orders

If an ordered item has not been received by the expected date, or delivered damaged, contact the vendor as soon as possible.  The vendor must issue a credit memo before we delete the issued invoice.

Blanket Purchase Orders

Invoices for FY24 blanket purchase orders sent after June 27^th, must be submitted via an unencumbered form.  Please include the purchase order number and the date that the goods were physically received.  Invoices submitted on or after August 1st, for a FY24 blanket purchase order must be processed using the non-conforming option of the unencumbered form.

Deactivation and Chart Field Change Requests

The last day to request deactivation or changes to chart field strings for activity numbers or projects is May 17, 2024 for FY24.  If a balance exists in fixed assets or liability accounts, it is not possible to process your request until the balances are zero, this may result in your request being processed in the next fiscal year.

Travel & Expense Year End Process

• We request you cancel Travel Authorizations (TA) for employees who have separated from the University if the travel did not occur. If travel did occur, please contact the Financial Systems team (controller@fiu.edu) to gain access to these individuals’ profiles.  Once access has been granted, you must create an expense report for a non-employee, including any prepaid travel and out-of-pocket expenses (if applicable) that were listed on original TA.  Please click here for instructions.
• The department should cancel or delete TAs that have not been finalized.
• June 3, 2024 – Last day for Expense Reports (ER) in the Prepay Auditor (Travel) queue to be processed against FY24.  All required documentation must be included to meet this commitment.
• The travel staff will continue to approve ERs for payments after June 3,
• If the ER has not been paid by year-end, we have created a new process to avoid deleting them. Here is what we need from the community:
  • If the ER is in submitted status, the proxy (or employee) must withdraw the report, or the approver must send it back.
  • If the ER was in the Prepay Auditor queue and not paid, the travel staff will detach the TA from the ER.
• For ERs not paid in FY24, the Travel and Financial Systems team will ensure that the Approved TA is detached from the ER.
• After July 2, 2024, the travel proxy can reattach the TA to the ER and resubmit the report. Please click here for instructions.
• June 14, 2024 – System access to the Travel & Expense module will be removed. 
• The Travel staff will begin the cleanup process.  All TAs that are not approved will be deleted.
• TAs deleted in FY24 must be recreated in the new fiscal year.
• July 2, 2024 – All TAs in an approved status will roll over to FY25.
• Vicinity travel will not be reimbursed if the dates claimed are over 90 business days old.
• The year-end process will not affect cash advances regardless of the status of the document.
  • Ensure the TAs are approved to avoid delay in the final processing of cash advances.

Purchase Order Close Requests Reminder

As a reminder, please communicate to Herve-Serge Menyonga, Assistant Director of Procurement Systems, those purchase orders that you wish to close prior to June 30, 2024.  Send your requests to close POs via email only to hmeny001@fiu.edu no later than June 21, 2024 to allow sufficient time for processing. Also, carbon copy Kesha Shrestha at keshrest@fiu.edu in your request. Please note: All invoices should be matched and approved prior to requesting that the PO(s) be closed out. 

New GovSpend Contacts

GovSpend‘s quotes module is mandatory for purchases between $25,000 to $149,999.99 unless the purchase is exempt, a sole source, or you are piggybacking off an existing contract. Following is GovSpend support contact information:

Cameron Dewaele

Relationship Manager

Cdewaele@GovSpend.com

Available to discuss firm-wide training sessions, and any questions regarding the current agreement.

 Chris Desir

Customer Success Specialist

Cdesir@govspend.com

Available to conduct group training sessions and best practices in the GovSpend platform.

General Quote/Search Support

Support@govspend.com

Available from 9 AM EST – 6 PM EST for immediate assistance with quotes, searches, updating, and adding licensed users. This email is monitored by the entire GovSpend team.

You can also visit the GovSpend support website or view the training video Agency New User Training Tutorial on GovSpend’s Quoting Module.