Fiscal Administrators Meeting Wednesday, November 16, 2011
South Meeting Room, Newcomb Hall FA Meeting
Opening Comments – Steve Kimata · Recon@ - some statistics as of 11/15
79%
of accounts have been prepared
52%
of accounts have approved
Around
1300 left to be done in Medical School, but their due date is the 30th
of the month We are a
little behind in getting back to everyone, we have had many questions and
requests to change preparers, approvers, etc. Thank you for your patience and all the
great work you and your colleagues have done. The
system generated emails are not working properly. The team is working to fix them at this
time. (Guest Speaker) Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
– Yoke San Reynolds · Will discuss (1) new leadership and (2) Internal Financial
Model – how it will impact all of us and (3) projects she is working on. · Yoke San and her managers – working on - how to generate unrestricted revenues, increase productivity,
cut costs, invest in Financial Aid, strategic balance sheet analysis. - Support VPR’s objectives – expanded research to
commercialization, Engineering looking at ways to get new sponsors for funding -
Enrollment growth of 1500 affects all
areas of the University. Planning
for impact on Housing, Dining, Parking & Transportation, Mail,
other of our areas. -
Second daycare facility has opened for
infants/toddlers, increase of 77 children · We have a super new management team – President Sullivan,
Michael Strine and John Simon -
Sullivan “Laws” Don’t
hide bad news No surprises Good
stewards of resources, people first Respect, value people’s time in
meaningful work -
Sullivan perceptive of form and
function – put Provost, Exec VP and President on same floor in Madison
Hall. -
Sponsored Research – Is our 2nd
largest revenue stream, after tuition and fees, despite our not having a
presence in Washington DC. Our own
representative was surprised to hear that UVa gets
federal money. President Sullivan
tries to go to DC once a month to keep the federal government aware of UVa’s interests.
She is building a working relationship with, e.g., Senator Mark Warner
with regards to UVa’s needs. -
Michael Strine
– wants us to get more involved in compliance, such as training for high
risk areas. Michal
has a wonderful combination of experiences to bring to his role at UVa. He was a
faculty member at the University of Colorado in Boulder and at the University
of Denver. He has 10 years of
experience in state government. He
understands complex issues and can reduce them to the most important sound
bites. Michael is a long-term
thinker focused on strategic goals.
He sees the need for more metrics to use in program assessment of original
objectives to determine whether to change focus, modify objectives, or continue
on the same course. An example is
to use metrics to re-evaluate Access UVa now that we
have three years of graduates who have been through the program. · The new financial model - will provide the schools with
their revenues so that they will be able to pay for all their
expenditures. The Deans will be in charge of their Destiny so they can
make informed decisions based on budget management at projected enrollment
levels, program offerings, people and payroll, space, maintenance, utilities,
and services needed. Revenues come in over time, so all the dollars may
not be available at the beginning of the year. Cash management decisions
may include getting loans from Treasury’ central bank. Schools
will take on some functions that are currently performed centrally. Other functions will continue to be
performed centrally. Some services
may be required but schools may be able to opt out of using other services. Deans
will get to see their whole economic picture. Their business administrators will have
lots of opportunities to learn new skills.
On a more practical level, there will be a need to create new
reports. Central departments can’t
walk in the departments’ shoes so central cannot develop the reports that the
departments will need. Each school
may choose to expand their reporting to the point of creating financial
statements, such as income statements and balance sheets. The new
financial model includes incentives for Deans and departments to be
entrepreneurial, partnering with external parties including corporate sponsors
to generate extra dollars to shore up their budgets and advance their mission. Q & A Example of an incentive? Response: New Hampshire which charges schools and
department for the space they occupy. There has been a reduced need to construct
new space. Do other
schools use the same model? Response: Michigan, Cornell, and John Hopkins
have moved away from using a centrally managed budget model to some form of
responsibility center management or activity-based management where schools and
departments have authority and accountability for their revenues and expenses
and mission accomplishments. The approach is over 30 years old. The
timeline? Response: Timeline for implementing our new financial model is
to have it up and running for FY14. How will
the 26% cap on administrative recoveries in the F&A rate affect the schools
when the new financial model pushes indirect costs to the schools?
Response: The F&A distribution will have to be discussed. Dollars
that go back to the schools may have to be used to pay for the indirect costs
like facilities costs. Although the calculated administrative rate is
over 30%, the federal government restricts the recovery to 26%. The
schools will need to make decisions about what the F&A will pay for,
whether the Dean chooses to use all the F&A to pay for all the O&M
costs and give nothing to the Chairs (or the Dean could give some F&A to
the Chairs and find another way to pay for the remaining indirect costs).
The F&A costs were first paid with central funds, and after the fact being
reimbursed through the F&A rate for the portion allocated to actual
sponsored projects. Comment:
Some units may not be able to replace federal funding with corporate funding,
e.g. in basic sciences. Response: Federal funding for research is not
expected to grow. Schools may seek to increase the number of awards with
agencies other than NIH or NSF or they may seek to increase public/private
partnerships in efforts similar to pharmaceutical drug studies. Accounting Services – Tommye Arnold · Work Study Corrections – must be moved off by end of
this month. · University owned Cell Phones – IRS has given guidance,
incidental use is ok, do not have to be taxed back. Effective January 1,
2012, form will have to be completed UVA Funded Cell Phone Agreement when
purchasing a phone. This form can be found on the Forms Directory under
the Comptroller. Anyone who currently has a University owned phone,
should sign off on form to keep in your department, but it is not required. · Closing Projects in Oracle – a form is on the Forms
Directory under Accounting Services, projects
can only be closed in Grants Accounting, nothing is ever closed in GL.
Need to check periodically, things could still hit there. · GL Journals on last day of the month – best to wait
until next morning to do these. They will forward through workflow if you
process them, but will have to be sent back to have the month changed. Assistant VP for Budget and Financial Planning –
Melody Bianchetto Upcoming
Budget Cycle – Some changes this year as
we are in a transition year as we plan/develop a new budget model ·
Budget assumptions developed and taken
to the BOV in November instead of February. Under a new budget model, the
assumptions will be developed with greater collaboration and will include more
information that will be critical to schools and units who are managing their
own revenues. For example, compensation changes, fringe benefits, etc.
We will be able to make earlier compensation decisions as our workforce
becomes primarily University Staff, versus the way we have had to wait until
the General Assembly finalizes the Appropriation Act previously. ·
Narrative, Addenda, Forms, etc. –
will be uploaded in a share point website, budget developers will have
access. The site, while portions will still be under development, will go
live December 1st. Two of the forms (Tuition Request and
Addenda Request) will be web forms, rather than excel templates. The
Budget Office will send out notification when the new budget development portal
is ready. ·
Budget kickoffs will be in first week
of January. January 4th in the morning for areas reporting to
the President; January 4th in the afternoon for areas reporting to
the Provost; and January 6th in the morning for areas reporting to
the Chief Operating Officer. Invitations were sent out right before
Thanksgiving ·
Rolling calendar of due dates, February
or March to EVP, meeting for each VP or Dean will be a week to 10 days later ·
The request for increased tuition/fees
will be due at the same time as all other budget submission items. ·
Will communicate addenda decisions
earlier, in late April/early May. Considering how to make the process
more transparent. Information Technology Services (ITS) – Shy Hicks · Encumbrance Issues in Production Continue…. We were
not able to liquidate the biweekly encumbrances before we closed October. However, the encumbrances for the
monthly payroll were correct. As I
discussed last month, we have been unable to terminate employees because the
Labor Distribution module is not recognizing that the biweekly encumbrances
have been relieved. Despite
this service request being a severity one (the highest level) for more than two
weeks, we are still working with Oracle to get a fix that will relieve the
encumbrances so that we can terminate employees. We will know by the end of the week
whether the latest fix is going to work.
If it does, we will move the fix to Production on the last Sunday of
this month and your encumbrances should be correct when we close November. However, if we cannot liquidate the
biweekly encumbrances by the end of November, you will again have to ignore
those encumbrances when reconciling your accounts. I promise that we are doing everything
possible to get this resolved before month-end. Assistant VP for Treasury Management and Fiscal Planning
– Gene Crouch · Petty Accounts – Updated all policies, they are broken
down into 3 policies, in the past, just one. They are approved and out. We will start visiting departments next
month, may be able to close some accounts that are not being used. Will be streamlining and making
paperless soon. · Special Cash Advances – Should now come to Treasury,
not Comptroller for approval. Still
being processed in Comptroller’s Office. · Cash – A counterfeit $5 bill was passed here at UVa…be on the look-out for counterfeit bills, we have been
instructed by the UVA POLICE Department to let units know if they come across a
counterfeit bill that they should immediately call 911 (no matter how small the
counterfeit bill). Please contact Gene Crouch in Treasury Management as
well. Office of Sponsored Programs – Andrew Bedotto STATISTICS -
Number of LD Adjustments affecting sponsored projects ·
30/day
(this includes expenditure type change for Graduate Assistants from October
biweekly payroll) ·
120
in the first month VERY FEW REJECTIONS!!!! ACTIONS we
can take from the Integrated System worklist, not
from the emails you receive: ·
REJECT
(OSP)/CANCEL/FINISH- All of these delete
the batch entirely. If any of
these options are selected, you’ll have to key the batch again. ·
SUBMIT-
self explanatory ·
APPROVED(OSP)-
self explanatory ·
RETURN
WITH COMMENTS- OSP returns a batch for additional information. After
providing the additional information in the comment box, don’t finish, rather, submit the batch again, unless you want to delete the batch. OSP reviewers do not see the batch in
the workflow once it is returned for comments so we won’t know if you have
accidentally clicked finish instead
of submit. ·
COMMENT
BOX- The OSP reviewer and the creator of the batch have a terse and meaningful
exchange about the LD adjustment.
It is part of the supporting documentation of the batch, so please do not erase the comments. o
Include
the reason code from the list or provide detail if no reason code fits o
Include
the employee’s role, not his working title, unless it accurately describes the his
role on the project §
Staff
and Wage employees: their role should be technical in nature,
not departmental support, in
which case CAS issues arise and require additional documentation before
charging the grant. In this regard,
consider clerical/fiscal personnel as
well as LSP/departmental computer support
personnel. LD
EXENDITURE TYPE CHANGES IN RESPONSE TO PAYROLL PROCESSING ERROR (Biweekly Payroll Period 10-Oct-11 to 23-Oct-11) ·
Departments
responsible for changing non-student expenditure types when appropriate ·
Use
reason code 12 “Other” with a brief explanation including “due to payroll processing
error” ·
1,200
STILL NEED TO BE CHANGED ·
2
Implications for OSP: o
Effort
Reporting- Only GRA/GTA expenditures included in GRA reports o
Tuition
Remission- Without GRA expenditures, tuition remission is not allocable to a
sponsored project. Fixed Assets – Gary Young The workflow for PO’s using expenditure types
that contain “Eq Capital” in their names will soon
begin routing to Donna Cox in the Fixed Assets Accounting group. (“Eq capital” refers to capital equipment expenditure types.)
The accurate use of these expenditure types is critical to the University’s
accounting and financial reporting. So once the new routing begins, if an
expenditure type is used incorrectly, Donna will reject it back to the
department to be corrected. If you have questions about this, or the
coding of capital equipment, please call Donna at 4-4323. Procurement John McHugh · Announced the conversion of 38 non-catalog vendors to electronic purchase order delivery in the Marketplace. Departments will no longer have to deliver orders manually to these vendors, saving time and resources. This conversion will electronically deliver approximately 6,000 purchase orders per year. We recommend shoppers closely review purchase order notifications for delivery method and fully describe the products and services being purchased on non-catalog purchase orders to avoid vendor confusion. If your department has any questions regarding electronic delivery of purchase orders or suggestions of other vendors you would like converted, please contact Charles Kidd at ck5b@virginia.edu or 434-924-3507. · Furniture – we will remove from restricted items, this will occur around December 1st. Please think about the description used when ordering, this will now go directly to the vendor, and they need to understand what is being ordered. · Travelectra – test system set up in December, hope to roll out in January or February, we have asked them to do a pre-session in February. Eric Denby · Please remember to send receipts in with travel reimbursements. · Matt Marshall and Wanda Taylor have left Procurement. The December meeting is canceled. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at 10:00 am in the South Meeting Room, Newcomb Hall. |
E-mail comments to: Comptroller@Virginia.edu |