Newsletter 2022-2023 Volume 10
News
Monthly Closing Deadlines
The April 2023 period in the general ledger has closed. The current and future month-end processing deadline schedules are located at Monthly Closing Deadlines.
PantherSoft Financials Upgrade
As part of the continuing effort to improve services and keep FIU’s enterprise applications current, PantherSoft upgraded the Financials application from PeopleSoft Release 27 to 46 the weekend of May 6, 2023. Accordingly, the PantherSoft Financial system was unavailable from 6:00am Saturday, May 6th through Sunday, May 7th.
While testing the new releases, we noticed several changes to the Travel and Expense module. To ensure a smooth transition, the Financial Systems & Support Services team has updated their system manuals and hosted a webinar highlighting the changes. These training materials and a recording of the webinar are available in our Training Resources.
If you experience any problems accessing PantherSoft Financials after the upgrade, please contact the Division of IT Support Center via AskIT or by calling 305-348-2284 during our normal working hours: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Please report all other upgrade issues by contacting Financial Systems & Support Services via email at controller@fiu.edu or by calling (305)348-7200.
Fiscal Year End 2022-2023 Memorandum
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.
Help Us Help You!
As part of our commitment to promote our “Help Us Help You” initiative to better serve and support all users throughout the university community, the Office of the Controller is proud to introduce and launch a special feature on our website where users can provide feedback and ask questions relating to any processes or procedures that may need clarification, updating, or can even be enhanced to address pain points hindering potential efficiencies that will make work easier. Our goal with this feature is to expand the communication channels to connect with and engage users to help bolster our understanding of user needs and be able to provide guidance and solutions to meet them more effectively. Feedback recognizing the work and service our team provides as well as suggestions for improvements we can implement to do an even better job are also welcomed, therefore please send us your comments. Our team remains dedicated to providing quality and efficient service to our students, faculty and staff and we encourage you all to use this new feature with the intent that it will become a valuable forum to Help Us Help You!
The Help Us Help You form can be found on the footer of our website:
Travel News
The cost of rental vehicles may be charged to an FIU PCard, a personal credit card, or charged through a Global Electronic Billing Agreement that is used to acquire an AVIS/Budget Wizard number. Departments must have the established AVIS/Budget Wizard number to rent for employees, students, and non-employee and comply with University guidelines.
To receive an AVIS/Budget Wizard number:
- Complete the AVIS Global Electronic Billing Agreement Form
- Please add the last 4 digits of the card and its expiration date
- Choose Compact 4-door in the car group section.
- Print the completed document.
- Please initials next to the X’s in the Declines Coverages section
- Sign and date the form
- Scan the form and email the completed document to floridahelp@avisbudget.com, subject line GEB Application, time-sensitive, and highlight it with a red exclamation point high importance flag.
- Completing this form will charge the rental costs to the associated FIU PCard
A Wizard Number is not needed for rentals reserved and paid by the individual traveler for themselves.
Do not disclose Wizard Numbers to others, as it is tied to your PCard.
Payment Services
Fiscal Year End
As the fiscal year end approaches, we would like to remind you to 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.
Please review the invoices that you have submitted to invoices@fiu.edu. If the invoice has not been processed within a week, and you have not been contacted by someone in AP, please send a copy of the invoice to ldelcam@fiu.edu or bblancog@fiu.edu. Do not send the invoice to invoices@fiu.edu.
Receiving Transaction Notification
PantherSoft sends automatic notifications when an invoice has been processed but a receipt is pending. If you feel that you received the e-mail in error, perhaps you had already created the receipt, please forward the e-mail to ldelcam@fiu.edu or bblancog@fiu.edu for resolution.
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 May 2nd. Please review and create a receipt if the item has been received or the services have been rendered.
Unidentified Wire Transfers and ACH Payments
The Controller’s Office occasionally receives payments that cannot be applied to the appropriate department due to inadequate information. Click here for the list of unidentified wire transfers and ACH payments as of April 2023.
To claim a payment, please contact Cash Management and provide the following information:
- Payment details
- Activity/Speedtype to which the payment should be recorded
- Revenue Account to which the payment should be recorded
Payments that are not identified within 45 days of the wire/ACH date will be returned to sender.
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, 2023) loaded into PantherSoft on April 3, 2023 and must be completely processed by the end of the business day, April 14, 2023.
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.
Surplus Form Submission Requirements
Effective immediately, the University has implemented changes to the Surplus Form submission requirements. The most significant change is that pictures must be attached to the email sent to property@fiu.edu of the equipment that is listed on the Surplus Form.
The Surplus Form has been updated with specific instructions on page 2 of the form.
Please take a few minutes to review the form located at: https://controller.fiu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/SurplusForm.pdf
Should you need additional information or have any questions, please contact Property Control at: property@fiu.edu or (305) 348-2167.
For additional information, please visit Asset Management’s website: https://controller.fiu.edu/departments/accounting-reporting/asset-management/