Newsletter 2021-2022 Volume 10

Apr 10, 2022

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Newsletter 2021-2022 Volume 10

In this edition…

News

Monthly Closing Deadlines

The March 2022 period in the general ledger has closed.  The current and future month-end processing deadline schedules are located at Monthly Closing Deadlines.

Year End Close Process Workshop

The Office of the Controller is proud to announce our inaugural year end process workshop.  Our goal is to inform the University community about the importance of how their collaboration and cooperation impacts the overall Financial Statements of the University.  The workshop will be in room CSC 1123.  You will be able to sign-up through the FIU Develop website to one of 4 time slots as we can only accommodate 30 employees per session.  The dates are May 2nd and 3rd.  Please note that all the sessions will be exactly the same so please sign up only once.

Deactivation and Chart Field Change Requests

The Office of the Controller is proud to announce our inaugural year end process workshop.  Our goal is to inform the University community about the importance of how their collaboration and cooperation impacts the overall Financial Statements of the University.  The workshop will be in room CSC 1123.  You will be able to sign-up through the FIU Develop website to one of 4 time slots as we can only accommodate 30 employees per session.  The dates are May 2nd and 3rd.  Please note that all the sessions will be exactly the same so please sign up only once.

Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Processes

All HEERF (formerly CARES) reimbursement packages must be submitted to the CFO’s office by June 15, 2022 to ensure that they can be processed and posted by July 15, 2022.  Additionally, the FY22 Lost Revenue entries that will be billed to HEERF grants will be posted by July 22, 2022.  The recipients and amount of lost revenues claimed will be subject to eligibility and available HEERF funds.

Closing Bank of America Concentration Account

If your department currently receives any electronic payments from individuals or external entities in the Bank of America Concentration bank account then please contact our Cash Management Department for the updated ACH/EFT and/or Wire instructions with the JPM Chase banking information and provide it to those individuals or external entities so these payments are properly routed to the JPM Chase bank account.  We will be closing the Bank of America Concentration Account in May 2022 so any payments will be rejected.  For any questions or concerns please contact Jose Zubimendi, Interim Deputy Controller.

Invoice Verification

We would like to remind everyone of the importance of the verification of invoices, which is done by cross-checking the invoices against both the Contract Terms and Conditions and the Purchase Order.

Please keep in mind that an invoice is paid only if the details on the invoice match the supporting documents. Periodic invoice reviews are strongly encouraged based at the level and breadth determined to be appropriate by the Contract Manager. Invoice reviews provide assurance that paid invoices include adequate rationale and support documentation for proper payment to occur.

Prior to making payments to suppliers, the items below should be in alignment with the Contract/Purchase Order:

  1. Products or services to be performed
  2. Cost/Price of applicable work requirements and deliverables
  3. Payment provisions/terms (in-full, partial, performance, or progress)
  4. Dates should be cross referenced

Please contact Procurement Services if you have any questions.

IT Software

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) states that OGC is to review, revise, and approve all purchasing contracts, as to form and legal sufficiency, if valued at an amount greater than $75,000 or for IT software. Procurement Services and OGC manages the contract process utilizing Total Contract Manager (TCM).   OGC will review the contract regardless of the dollar amount for IT Software licenses and the contract should include the supplemental addenda for software license which is located at https://generalcounsel.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2021/01/Software-License.pdf.

When encountering new computer applications, software, or other services (even “free” ones) available online, you may be required to click a button that says “yes” or “I agree” as to certain terms and conditions in order to use the application. These are “click-through” agreements. One may even receive this request to click-through when upgrading to the latest version of an existing application.

Click-through agreements have become so common it’s easy to forget that they are legal contracts. Since FIU is a public entity of the State of Florida, the University is precluded from agreeing to certain terms and conditions. Unfortunately, it’s common that standard click through agreements contain language and terms that are not allowed by state law. This document provides guidance on questions about how and when it is acceptable to agree to click-through terms. If the purchase has a “click-through” mechanism for terms and conditions, please follow the instructions located at https://controller.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2021/05/Click-ThroughSOP.pdf.

As required by OGC, as Procurement staff is processing all PO’s related to IT agreements, (including annual maintenance, renewals etc.) if an issue is noted with the initial contract, i.e. it is expired or is missing documents, the PO will not be processed and the department will receive an email advising that new contract/documents will be needed in TCM so the PO can be processed. Procurement Services is also meeting with OGC, Division of IT (DoIT) and the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) to discuss the best way to handle software renewals and enterprise-wide software agreements.  DOIT has policies on Application Software Resources located at https://policies.fiu.edu/files/556.pdf  and has a list of software for FIU owned computers

Procurement Training Manuals

Procurement training materials are available that cover relevant information regarding Procurement, Contract Management, and the Total Contract Manager (TCM) system. These materials are designed to help you understand the processes, procedures, and best practices.

We are constantly working on updating and upgrading our training materials and will keep you informed.

Included below are the links to the Procurement training platform and can be found on the Office of the Controller website by clicking on Resources -> Policies and Procedures -> Procurement Contract Guides:

The below items can be found on the Office of the General Counsel website.

Travel Training

The Office of Controller would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the training (or refresher) that is offered. This training results from a lot of enthusiastic, extremely knowledgeable personnel whose objective is to make sure that the University community is trained and has all the tools and resources at their disposal to ensure compliance with University policies.

FIU Travel training can be found on the FIU Develop website at https://develop.fiu.edu/?query=travel. We encourage you to register for any training and obtain the benefits.

Important Reminder: Name Changes to Activity Numbers

In the past, name changes to activity numbers were rarely approved, however, the Controller’s Office has re-evaluated our position on name changes for activity numbers and will now approve name changes for many requests.  The process remains the same, enter the desired change on an electronic Activity Number & Department Maintenance Request eForm which will be sent for approval electronically.  Changes in Universal Speedtypes can only be processed the Friday through Wednesday of a payroll week to avoid issues with payroll processing.

Please be aware that you will lose the ability to lookup the activity number by name when a name is changed, and any issues caused by changing names will need to be resolved by the Finance Manager in an area.  In addition, if names are changed several times, it may be difficult to track the transactions unless the Speedtype is used.  Keep in mind it is possible to effective date activity numbers, so when viewing the activity number in PantherSoft online you can include history to see previous names. However, it is not possible to put this on most reports and queries, therefore, it may be difficult to track the changes.

Name changes that will not be approved include:

  • A name change when two or more activity numbers are combining. For example, if an activity named “Controller Business” and another activity number named “Controller Finance” wanted to combine to “Controller Business and Finance”.
  • A name change when one activity number is being split into two or more activity numbers. For example, if an activity number was previously named “Controller Business and Finance” and the desire is to separate to an activity number for “Controller Business” and another activity number for “Controller Finance”.
  • In both of the examples above, new activity requests should be submitted and when the new activity number is established, the old activity number should be deactivated.

HR currently allows name changes for departments.  The change in policy for activity numbers is an exception to the normal procedures in the Controller’s Office. Name changes will not be permitted on any Chartfields other than department and activity number.

Credit Card Reconciliation: Supporting Documentation

As a reminder, when reconciling Pcard transactions, scanning and attaching of receipts and supporting documentation is mandatory.  While all charges must still be approved within 10 business days, Approvers will have through the end of the calendar month to complete attaching all documentation.  Examples of supporting documentation include:

  • Flyers
  • Print samples
  • Agendas
  • Quotes
  • Attendance Sheets

Card Security: Card Sharing

Each Cardholder is responsible for the security of the Card assigned to them. All precautions should be used to maintain confidentiality of all information relating to the card, such as the Cardholder account number and expiration date. University issued card or card number should always be protected and kept in a secure location.  The only person authorized to use university issued Card is the Cardholder whose name appears on the face of the card.  Under no circumstances will a card and/or card number be given or loaned out to another person or e-mailed in its entirety.

Any Cardholder sharing their Card information or allowing another individual to use their Card for purchases may have their card privileges revoked.

Reminders & Deadlines

Departmental Card Deadline

As a reminder, departmental card billing transactions regularly load the first business day of the month; program participants will have 10 days to process this activity in its entirety. This month’s billing statement (dated March 31, 2022) loaded into PantherSoft on April 1, 2022 and must be completely processed by the end of the business day, April 15, 2022.

Any charges not processed by the closing deadline will be automatically charged to the cardholder’s default accounting on file and will not be eligible for expense transfer. Additionally, cardholders with three unjustified non-approvals in the same fiscal year may have their card limits temporarily suspended until they complete a retraining session.

Pending Travel Reports

Please approve Travel Authorizations, Cash Advances, and Expense reports in a timely manner. Documents that have not been completely finalized and are older than 90 days will be canceled or deleted by the Travel Department.  A list of pending documents is located here.  For information regarding report status abbreviations and how to close or cancel Travel Authorizations and/or Expense Reports, please click here.