Newsletter 2021-2022 Volume 12

News

Fiscal Year End 2021-2022 Memorandum is Now Available

The fiscal year end closing process is quickly approaching. In preparation for the fiscal year end close, please refer to the 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.

Monthly Closing Deadlines

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

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.

Accounts Payable Information and Deadlines

Please note that all invoices should be submitted to AP by Friday, June 17, 2022.

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 of 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.

The job aid for receiving can be found under the Procure to Pay header at the link below:

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

Please review transaction reports to make sure that items that have been received have been invoiced.  If the invoice has not been entered, 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 Liza Del Campo for an update on the status of the invoice.

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 Liza Del Campo by e-mail.  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.

Invoices Pending Receipt
Attached is a list of vouchers in PeopleSoft that are pending a receipt in order to be paid.  This report is as of June 3rd.  Please review and create a receipt if the item has been received or the services have been rendered.  Please disregard if a receipt was created on or after June 3rd.

Any voucher not approved and posted by June 29th will be deleted.  Each unit will be responsible for resubmitting the invoices.

MarketPlace Invoices
As of May 31st, the transfer of invoices from Jaggaer have been placed on hold.  AP will release invoices throughout the remainder of the month (if the receiving is complete).  The remaining invoices will be released in July and will be included in the accrual if it fits the criteria below:

  • 1st Accounts Payable accrual: Items ordered must have a receiving date prior to July 1, 2022 and the invoice must be entered, matched, and approved in Accounts Payable by July 11, 2022.
  • 2nd Accounts Payable Accrual (will be recorded in Financial Statement Activity ID only): Invoice amounts must be $5,000 or greater. Invoices must have a receiving date prior to July 1, 2022 and must be entered, matched, and approved in Accounts Payable by July 21, 2022.

Changes in UPS Contract

Procurement Services has been informed that E&I Contract CNR01461 will expire on June 13, 2022 and will not be renewed. To avoid going on published rates once E&I Contract expires, FIU will switch to a competitively bid Sourcewell Consortium Contract 090121-UPS. Since rates of the Sourcewell contract are higher than current E&I rates, Procurement recommends to check rates of FedEx State of Florida Contract to make sure the most cost advantageous carrier is being utilized.

To set up new FedEx departmental account and to begin shipping with FedEx please call FedEx government customer service at 800-645-9424 or FIU FedEx Representative Bobby Bledsoe at 901-219-6964 or rdbledsoe@fedex.com

Please visit Procurement Services’ Shopping Guide for more information on the UPS and FedEx contracts at https://controller.fiu.edu/departments/procurement/procure/shopping-guide/ 

How To Order with UPS

To get access to the FIU-UPS CampusShip web site to begin shipping with UPS, please contact your local UPS Account Manager, Judith Gonzalez, at judithgonzalez@ups.com or (800-550-4184 x114-2134)

If you already have your UPS CampusShip login ID, you can go directly to the following web link to ship, track, and order supplies: https://www.campusship.ups.com/login/fiu-campus?loc=en_US

For general customer service support needs, FIU can call upon the UPS Strategic Customer Support Team at enterprisesupport@ups.com or 1-800-877-1497.

New myFIUMarket Catalog – 4Imprint

We are happy to inform you that we have enabled 4Imprint as a new catalog in myFIUmarket. Effective immediately, you should order your promotional items through the newly enabled catalog.

End of Fiscal Year Pcard Reminders

As the end of the fiscal year quickly approaches, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of upcoming Pcard deadlines and updates!

  • It is recommended that all purchases using the Departmental Card for transactions intended to be charged to your FY 22 budget be made by June 20, 2022. This will allow time for the transaction to be processed by the bank and posted to the June 27, 2022 billing statement.  You may continue to use your Departmental Card through the end of the fiscal year, however, all transactions posted by JP Morgan Chase after June 27, 2022 will be charged to your FY 23 Budget. Please note that the Pcard Billing Statement date has been updated to June 27th and is not the 28th as previously posted.
  • June 27, 2022 Pcard transactions will load into the PantherSoft System on July 2, 2022 and must be approved no later than noon, July 7, 2022.
  • All Pcard journal vouchers (adjustments) must be fully submitted via the PantherSoft workflow to Credit Card Solutions by June 24, 2022.

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.

Airfare Comparison

Airfare comparisons are needed for the following:

  • If the traveler chooses to drive long distance rather than fly for personal reasons, comparable airfare quotes must be obtained before the travel occurs and provided as part of the receipt package. The lesser of the two amounts will be reimbursed.
  • If flying a different route for personal reasons, advance airfare quotes showing round-trip to and from the business event must be included in the receipt package for comparison purposes. The lesser of the two amounts will be reimbursed to the traveler.

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.

Reminders & Deadlines

Departmental Card Deadline

We are experiencing a delay with the upload this month’s billing statement (dated May 31, 2022) that was originally scheduled to load into PantherSoft on 6/2/2022. We are actively working with both JP Morgan Chase and VISA to resolve the issue. There will be an extension of the deadline for this month’s reconciliation; the new deadline will be provided to you when the file loads.

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.