Monthly Closing Deadlines

The January 2025 period in the general ledger has closed.  The current and future month-end processing deadline schedules are located at Monthly Closing Deadlines.

Prohibited Expenditures BOG 9.016

Per the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) 9.016 Prohibited Expenditures regulation, expenses related to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) are unallowable. The regulation became effective in January 2024 and university-wide compliance was effective July 1, 2024.

Budget managers must review all expenses before submitting to ensure these do not include unallowable services/deliverables. No purchases of goods or services related to DEI activities made with E&G funds can be approved as these are prohibited.

Please use the following tools to determine if an expense is prohibited:

• PE Decision Tree – tool to determine whether an expenditure is permitted
• PE PowerPoint – presentation by the PE Team
• PE Justification Form – form to document justification for permitted expenditures

If you have any questions on prohibited expenses, please send an email to prohibitexps@fiu.edu.

Important International Travel Compliance Reminder

Effective March 1, 2025, if you depart on an international trip prior to full Travel Authorization (TA) approval, a confirmation of which is emailed to you, there will be no reimbursement of travel expenses paid by you from personal funds, and repayment from the traveler to the University for expenses paid with University funds will be required. Further, an employee may be subject to discipline and/or restrictions on international travel privileges. Regardless of whether a proxy assists in the TA process, the traveler is responsible for verifying that the TA is fully approved before departing on the trip and will be held accountable if it is not.

Please reference the full memorandum, which also includes details from previous notifications.

Travel Website Updates

We have updated our Travel Website and created various forms to help you reconcile travel expenses.

Rail Transportation

Travel by rail is allowed and will be reimbursed when traveling in Coach Class on Amtrak and Smart Saver or Smart Class on Brightline trains. Employees must use their FIU Credentials(email) when booking to receive exclusive discounts. For instructions on how to set up an account with Brightline, click here.

Avis/Budget Car Rental

• It is crucial for university employees requiring a rental car for official business to adhere to the university’s policies and procedures. This includes using the specified website for making reservations: STATE OF FLORIDA RESERVATION PORTAL.
• Renters should not use the “Pay Now” Option on retail websites or mobile apps as it voids many of our Stat contract provisions and is always non-refundable. Do not prepay your reservation.
• If using a retail website or app, please email FloridaHelp at floridahelp@avisbudget.com from your work email address to receive your agency or leisure code. Renters cannot share their AWD or BCD code with family and friends.
• Students cannot use the State Contract unless on official department business travel. The department must set up a Billing Pin (Corporate Account via Avis/Budget) Application Form, which can be found at this link.
• The State only permits full-time employees (40 hours per week) to use Leisure Travel Benefits with Avis/Budget.

Use of Account 112009 Intra Unit Cash Transfers

General Ledger Account 112009 Intra Unit Cash Transfers is an account used for balancing transactions between Activity Numbers and/or Projects.  Even though the title contains the word “Cash” it is not a checking account.  University wide this account should always have a zero-dollar balance at all times.

It has come to our attention that some users may be entering amounts directly into this account by typing the account number into an entry in PeopleSoft.  This is a reminder to all University staff that enter journals in PeopleSoft that general ledger account 112009 Intra Unit Cash Transfers should not be manually entered.

If you have been recording entries using account 112009, please do not enter the account directly into the system, let the computer generate the amounts.

When an entry between different activity numbers and/or projects is edited, the system automatically generates the intra unit cash as the final rows to balance the transaction.  Users will be able to tell that the system generated the entries because the entries are greyed out and users are not allowed to make any changes to those greyed out rows.

If you have any questions, please contact Bonnie Bair at extension 7-6613 or Jose Zubimendi at extension 7-1139.

Below is an example of a system generated entry with the 112009 Intra Unit Cash journal lines:

System generated 112009 journal lines

Smart Journals

Effective February 11, 2025 all Smart Journals will require supporting documentation to be attached before they will be posted.  Please see page 3 of the updated Smart Journal Entry Manual for guidance on acceptable documentation.  If you have any questions or need assistance contact Jose Zubimendi at extension 7-1139.

CCS05 eForm Go Live

The Credit Card Solutions Team is happy to announce the launch of our CCS05 eForm to update Approvers and Reconcilers for existing Cardholders!  The new form streamlines the overall electronic approval process, verifies that Approvers are non-subordinates to cardholders, and ensures that Approvers/Reconcilers already have the appropriate roles assigned in Panthersoft.  Effective immediately, the community must discontinue use of the .pdf and submit all requests via the eForm document.

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.