Business Matters March 2004

BU$INE$$ MATTER$

P-CARD: P-card transactions posted through April 9, 2004 are in your April reports.
MEETING: Campus Financial Meetings for May through October have been scheduled as follows:

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 (time 3:30 - 5)

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

All meetings will be held from 3 - 4:30 (Please note time change for the May meeting) in the Human Resources and Training Center room 141/145. If you cannot make it to the meeting, please visit the web site at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/campusfmtg/ for access to information discussed at the meeting. This information is usually posted by the end of the day on the Friday following the meeting.

April "TIDBIT" : The end of the fiscal year is quickly approaching. It is our expectation that departments are monitoring their current FMS reports and notifying the Division of Finance of any corrections immediately. As June approaches, it becomes even more critical for departments to stay on top of their accounting since there is very little time once the year ends for accounting corrections to be processed. Please refer to the fiscal year end schedule below for important dates and deadlines.

FISCAL YEAR CLOSING SCHEDULE: A TENTATIVE fiscal year end schedule is now available on the Finance web site at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/components/yecalendar.xls

There are also links to this schedule on several of our office pages including Budget, General Accounting, and Accounts Payable. The schedule includes important reminders and deadlines relative to our fiscal year end.

EXPENSE NATURAL ACCOUNT 797900 : Please be sure to review the 7979 expense natural account code for each of your cost centers. This code should have a zero balance at June 30. All corrections for these entries should be submitted through an Internal Billing Authorization/Accounting Correction form located on the Division of Finance web site at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/components/inbillingauth.xls.

EXPENSE NATURAL ACCOUNT 990500 : We are considering eliminating expense natural account code 990500 TRANSACTIONS WITHIN UNRESTRICTED ACCOUNTS for fiscal year 2005. If you or anyone in your department has issues with this elimination, please contact Tanya Bibler, General Accounting and Financial Reporting, at 7-1417 or biblert@ohio.edu.

REVENUE RECOGNITION: Please be aware that the Statement of Position on Revenue Recognition applies to all departments. This statement can be found in the Accounting Manual on the Division of Finance web site. Please go to http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/accounting/index.htm. and click on "Revenue Recognition". Please contact Ruth McCall-King, Genral Accounting and Financial Reporting, at 7-2746 or mccall@ohio.edu if you have any questions regarding this statement.

GIFT BUYING GUIDELINES : The Division of Finance often receives questions regarding the purchase of gifts, decorations and other related items. Can the item(s) be purchased with University funds? If so, are there any restrictions? Guidelines are now being provided at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/pcard/giftbuyguide.htm. The site links from the Purchasing home page and thw "Whats New" link on the Purchasing Card home page. Contact Mary Patacca, Procurement Services, at 3-1965 or patacca@ohio.edu if you have questions about these guidelines.

WAIVER FROM COMPETITIVE BIDDING GUIDELINES : The Purchasing and Contracting Office often receives questions about the procedure for requesting a waiver from the competitive bidding requirement. Frequently Asked Questions - and Answers on this topic can be viewed by going to the Purchasing home page at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/purch. and clicking on the "Waiver Guidelines" link. Please refer any questions about this process to Mary Patacca at, Procurement Services at 3-1965 or patacca@ohio.edu

TRAVEL EXPENSE REPORT : Be sure that you use the latest version of the travel expense report to claim your travel reimbursement. The mileage rate chagned to $0.375 effective January 1, 2004. In order for your reimbursement to be calculated correctly, the most current version of the fomr should be used. This form can be found on the Division of Finance web page at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/components/ter04.xls. If you have questions regarding the completion of this form, or any other travel question, please contact Cindy Strickland, Accounts Payable, at 3-1874 or strickla@ohio.edu.

NEW FORM: : Introducing the NEW Payroll Expense Accounting Correction Form! We are excited to have a new way for you to get payroll expense corrections to us here in Finance! It is quick, easy and will help us to make to make these corrections more efficiently. Please navigate to our web site at: http://www.finance.ohiou.edu/components/acctcorrect.xls. or go the Division of Finance web page and click on "Forms and Manuals" then "Payroll".

OUF ACCOUNTS : When inquiring of central Finance concerning OU Foundation accounts, please be sure to have the full account number readily available. FMS revolves around the account number so having this information makes it much easier to reesearch questions. ALSO, please remember that the OUF account balances are unaudited at this time and audit adjustments may be necessary to some accounts once the audit is complete.

ISSUES : Please be sure to communicate with one of the three contacts above about any issues you may have regarding APRIL reports ONLY. We are working very hard to resolve any outstanding issues and need to focus on the latest version of the reports to do so.