FAQs – Accounting and Reporting

Our fiscal months begin with July (Period 1) and end with June (Period 12) instead of the usual January (1) and December (12). For example, period 7 represents the month of January.

The University’s Chart of Accounts in PantherSoft is made up of 15 blocks of information called Chartfields. Chartfields provide a common accounting language for identifying the University’s transactions. They make up the backbone of the University’s accounting system.

A few examples of Chartfields are: Site, Activity Number, GL Account, Unit, Fund, Department.

Crosswalk of old Chartfields to new Chartfields as of August 15, 2012

Required Chartfields combinations vary depending on the Fund Code being used. At a minimum, ALL journal entries and other financial transactions require the use of Site, Fund, Department, Activity Number (Activity Nbr), and GL Account.

It is encouraged to use the Speed types when processing journal entries. A Speed type is an index number that identifies an activity in the general ledger. It refers to a unique combination of fund, org, program, project, etc. which are collectively known as Chartfields. If Speed types are utilized, Chartfields on the journal entry related to a specific activity number will be populated automatically. For the latest list of Speed types run the following public query in Peoplesoft: SPEEDTYPE_PROMPT_QUERY.

Transactions recorded at the Project ID level for a construction project, require additional Chartfields such us: Budget Reference, PC Business Unit (PC Bus Unit) Project ID, Activity, and Analysis Type (An Type).

If you need specific or additional information, please contact the project’s manager.

A Reference to the Chart of Accounts is available to provide clear guidance on the proper use of these GL accounts.

If you need specific or additional information, please send your inquiry to the General Accounting Team.

Each commodity code and Purchasing Category is mapped to an expense account. This crosswalk is available on the query: FIU_FSSS_PO_CATEGORY_LIST

If payment is received from an outside entity for any good or service, it should always be recorded as revenue, not a reduction of expenses. The reimbursement of expenses by a university DSO (Foundation, Research Foundation, etc.) should be recorded as per the Procedures for Accounting for Funds Received from DSOs.

If you need specific or additional information, please send your inquiry to the General Accounting Team.

The Controller’s Office is responsible for posting all inter-departmental charges in PeopleSoft either through a manual review and posting process or an automated overnight posting process thru the Smart Internal Billing tool. All interdepartmental charges move cash from one Activity number and/or Project number to another without generating an actual payment (check/ACH). Please review the official University policy related to interdepartmental charges.

The seller or Billing Department is responsible for providing a price quote and initiate the billing process. The buyer or Receiving Department is responsible for approving the price quote and reviewing the charges being billed by the selling department.

Smart Journal is a tool that creates journals to facilitate the cash transfer process for those activities that can transfer cash thru the Smart Journal process. It looks very similar to a journal entry that has been limited to only use GL accounts 757001-Transfers Out – Within University and 657001-Transfers In – Within University; and configured to check for available cash of the activity that is transferring out. Access to the tool is limited to organizational approvers (Expense Managers) and only those activity numbers in which the organizational approver has access will be allowed to process Smart Journals. It reduces data-entry errors and labor costs by eliminating the need for double entry into the units’ software and PantherSoft Financials.

Smart Journal Entry Guide.

For any questions regarding Smart Internal Billing or Smart Journals, please contact Financial Systems and Support Services (FSSS) Call Center at (305) 348 – 7200. For our current instructor led classes please visit the Training Registration Site.

If the cash transfer is related to projects, a Cash Transfers Form (Link to Forms and Template page – AR section) should be processed along with the adequate and sufficient supporting documentation and sent via inter-office mail or e-mail to our Cash Management Team.

Smart Journals or Cash Transfers Forms are also used when recording adjusting entries for transactions that cross fiscal years, i.e.: to record a correcting entry in October 2019 for a transaction originally recorded in May 2019.

All adjusting journals entries requests should be submitted via inter-office mail or email our General Accounting Team  along with all supporting documentation. Please note that we might require original documents. For these adjusting journal entries that do not cross fiscal years, please use the Internal Transfer Form.

Users should be as explicit as possible in the “Justification” section as this information will appear in the header description of the journal within PantherSoft Financials.

Please note that if the internal transfer is between two different activity numbers, the signature of both departmental expense managers should be included on the Initiating Activity Number. and Benefiting Activity Number. sections of the form.

All adjusting entries submitted with an Internal Transfer Form related to Accounts Payable will be routed to the Accounts Payable Department as these adjusting entries are processed with an AP journal voucher.

Internal transfers related to travel will be routed to the Travel Department.

Some users have access to upload the adjusting journal entries with an Upload Form to PantherSoft Financials via the spreadsheet journal import process. The Spreadsheet Journal Import process is used to streamline the journal import and simplify journal data entry using Microsoft Excel. Spreadsheet Journal Import uses a front-end interface that provides you with an easy-to-follow menu for entering data, specifying defaults, and importing journals. With Spreadsheet Journal Import, you can enter foreign, base, and statistical journals, as well as adjusting journal entries. Guideline: Journal Upload Tool Manual.

Internal transfers related to credit card transactions, i.e.: vendor – JP Morgan Chase, please contact the Credit Card Solutions Team (Link to Directory page – Credit Card Solution Section).

For a new activity number request, change or deactivation of a current activity number, please follow the steps as prompted on the Activity Number & Department Maintenance Request E-Form Instructional Guide.

Link to the Request E-form: Activity Number & Department Maintenance Request eForm.

For further instructions, please contact Financial Systems and Support (FSSS).

To complete the Merchant Employee e-form. The eform is an electronic workflow that incorporates several departments (HR, University Compliance, Merchant Services) to ensure that the employee has completed the following requirements:

• Level II background check (background check and fingerprinting).
• Completion of PCI training with passing score.
• Completion of the employee attestation that includes the University’s payment card processing policy, related procedures and records your merchant role and required access.

The Merchant Services team can manage, track, monitor these employees which have a merchant related role through this process.

• Reputational Damage
• Fines (up to 500k per card brand, Visa/MasterCard/Discover/American Express)
• Legal and Investigative costs
• Cardholder notification and credit monitoring for 3 years
• Potential classification as a Level 1 Merchant
  • Report on Compliance (ROC) – Minimum 50k

The PCI Compliance Team via email at pcicompliance@fiu.edu or contact any of the team members directly via phone (Link to our new Directory page – Merchant Services section).

No, only one custodian is allowed per fund. The custodian is fully responsible for the safeguarding and proper usage of the fund. For planned absences the current custodian must submit a transfer of custodian form to cashrequests@fiu.edu.

Complete the Petty Cash Transfer of Custodianship or Participant Payment Transfer of Custodianship form and send the completed form to cashrequests@fiu.edu. The new custodian must have cleared a level II background check.

The participant payment fund can be extended as long as the Institutional Review Board (IRB) form has extended the project date. The IRB protocol form and the Participant Payment Extension form must be completed and sent to cashrequsts@fiu.edu. If the forms are not received on time, the fund will be requested to be close by the Controllers Office.

The FIU Travel Policy is located on the University Compliance website.

Please review our Travel and Expense Manual for more information.

Cash Advances are only issued to FIU employees.

For rentals other than the Avis/Budget State contract, travelers will be reimbursed at the rate of the state contract.

Surplus warehouse or W-7 (West 7) is located on the west side of MMC, next to SAAC building.

The MMC Central Receiving area is located in CSCS 1142.

The MMC Scientific Receiving area is located in CP 193.

The BBC Central Receiving area is located in S01.

NO! What you can do is transfer the equipment AS IS to your department and then proceed with the cannibalization of the equipment following the property control guidelines. Consult FIU property manual.

YES! Surplus property is sold (exclusively) through an online liquidity service open to the public. For currents assets for sale click here. It will require the creation of an account.