Aurora Finance News Topics
Current Issue - #4
Fiscal Year End
The University’s fiscal year end is fast approaching. March 31st, 2009 is year end and is the cut-off date for recording expenses and revenue in the fiscal year they relate to. March and April are a flurry of activity as Financial Services and the units work to meet various deadlines in order to close off the old year, prepare the financial statements, undergo the annual Audit and preparing the “roll over” of the baseline budget.
Suggestions to help year end run smoothly for your department include (1) reconcile your FOPs and make any adjustments ahead of time, (2) remind staff to submit travel claims and invoices to Financial Services, (3) deposit all cheques and cash, (4) review your PO commitments, (5) ensure all payroll has been processed including adjustments, (6) clean up baseline budget and (7) review the In Progress Journal Voucher report at umanitoba.ca/computing/renewal/aurora/finance/reports/index.html
To obtain a copy of the University’s fiscal year end guidelines, visit the Financial Services website at umanitoba.ca/admin/financial_services/.
Research Administration Process Reviews
The University of Manitoba, along with all other Canadian universities, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Tricouncil Granting Agencies. The MOU details the roles and responsibilities of the Tricouncil, the University and researchers. Based on the MOU and Tricouncil site visit feedback we received, Research and Special Fund Accounting has taken a more proactive approach to monitoring research administration.
This more proactive approach has included revising the University’s financial policy on the administration and control of research and special funds as well as reviewing our internal processes. Currently the grant accountants are involved in process review visits to the units to observe their practices as they pertain to the administration of research funds. The review consists of an examination of files maintained by Financial Services, inquiries into the general procedures of the units and examination of the files maintained by the units.
The end goal of this review process is to improve processes and share best practices with the units and researchers.
Status of a Travel & Business Expense Claim
You’ve submitted a Travel and Business Expense Claim form to Travel Services, but you’re wondering what the status is. Has it been entered into the system? When is it going to be paid? What FOAP is it going to be paid against?
We now have directions on how to find this information for yourself online. The directions are available from both the Financial Services Travel Claim website and the Aurora Finance site (umanitoba.ca/computing/renewal/aurora/finance/index.html). All you need is the employee number of the person for which the claim was submitted.
Issue # 3
New Help Line
As of September 2008, all Aurora Finance users can contact 480-1001 for any Aurora Finance or Financial Services related questions. This number replaces the previous 272-1555 Help Desk number. Our new Customer Services line will provide you with the assistance you need, whether it’s dealing with technical problems, trying to figure out how to change your password or answering your accounting questions without transferring you from person to person. So, give us a call at 480-1001 and let us help you!
Detail Information on Journal Entries
It can be frustrating when querying information in FAST Reporting only to find that that the detail information provides you with no information at all.
If we were all to adhere to the same standards of journal entry descriptions, the frustration level when looking at detail information should diminish. If creating a correcting journal entry within the General Operating Fund (1xxxxx) and within your unit, make your journal entry description match the Description field in FAST. You can then use the Document Text (FOATEXT) option in Banner to further explain the reason for the entry.
If you would like to take your journal entry to the next level, use the FGAJVCD form in Banner. FGAJVCD (Journal Voucher Detail form) is a lengthier version of FGAJVCQ, and provides you with the ability to reference the original document or invoice reference number you are making a correction for. Detailed instructions on using the FGAJVCD form are available in the Aurora Finance online help webpage.
For more information on standards and backup documentation for JVs and BAs, please visit the Budgets and Grants website and click on “JE and BA Back-Up Documentation.”
New Petty Cash Policy
Financial Services has recently made changes to all of its policies. One of the most recently approved policies that will affect you as a researcher is the revised Petty Cash Policy.
As per the new policy and procedure, if you are seeking reimbursement of personal expenses you are to use the Travel and Business Expense Claim form only. In the past, minor individual transactions up to $100.00 were allowable for reimbursement from the Cashier’s Office on the Petty Cash Reimbursement form. Now, only petty cash fund custodians are to seek reimbursement from the Cashier’s Office. So if you pay for something using personal funds and your department doesn’t have a petty cash fund, please send in a Travel and Business Expense claim form to Travel Services along with your original receipts.
Issue # 2
Revised Travel & Business Expense Claim Form
In order to ensure your Travel Claim is not being delayed due to insufficient funds in the FOPs, we have modified our Travel and Business Expense Claim form to include 2 new fields:
- Budget Available as of Claim Date: This field should have a dollar amount of the funds available in the FOP as of the date of the claim. If there are not sufficient funds available, the claim should be made against a different FOP. If you require help in finding the balance, access the Aurora Finance Online Help
http://umanitoba.ca/computing/renewal/aurora/finance/ohelp/check_budget.html - Checked By Initials: This field should have the initials of the person who checked the FOP to determine the funds available, i.e. the claimant or one-over-one authority.
This change was made in order to avoid delays that occur in personal reimbursements as a result of insufficient funds. If you have any questions about this or any other travel related issue, please contact Travel Services.
The NSF Queue
You have received notification from Financial Services that your invoice can’t be paid because your FOP is “NSF”. What does that mean?
In Aurora Finance there is a budget checking feature that looks at the Fund, Organization and Program code combination (FOP) and ensures there is sufficient budget to pay the charge. It ignores that Account (A) code, thus allowing you to be overspent in one account and yet under spent in another. If there are insufficient funds the system will stop the charge, marking it “NSF”. The system looks at the “$ Budget Available” column you see in FAST Reporting and not at the “YTD Actual” column.
Please remember that for sales and service funds budget checking is not against the actual revenue received. Therefore, if revenue has been received but there is no budget, you must do a Budget Adjustment to increase the revenue budget and the expenditure budget before the charge can be processed.
Adding Website Links to Banner
Banner was upgraded last October and along with its new icons and the new Journal Voucher copy/reverse function came the ability to create a menu of favorite web links. This menu enables you to link to various Aurora Finance resources while working in the system – resources such as FAST Reporting and Aurora Finance’s Online Help webpages. Easy and simple directions on how to use this new tool are located in the Online Help section of the Aurora Finance website. Access the directions by going to
http://umanitoba.ca/computing/renewal/aurora/finance/index.html, select the Online Help option and select “Add Website Links to the My Links Menu in Banner”.
More Info On Systems Contract Charges
Have you ever been frustrated when looking in FAST Reporting and can’t figure out where an expense came from? If your Doc # in FAST begins with an I you can use Banner to find additional information that may help you out. Follow these steps to obtain additional contact or reference information:
- If using the Transaction Detail Report, use the number that appears in the Document column. If using the Operating Statement or Expenditures Only Report, use the number that appears in the Doc # column.
Removing Purchase Order Commitments
FAST Reporting takes into account YTD Actuals and all Commitments when calculating a FOP’s budget available. Most expenditure account (7XXXXX) commitments are generated from Purchase Orders. At times you may have a commitment from an open PO that you believe should be closed, i.e. all goods received and invoices have been paid. If you think a PO should be closed, you can:
- Fax the PO copy you received back to Purchasing Services with a request to remove the remaining commitment or
- Email the Purchasing Consultant who generated the PO with your request.
There may be reasons for why the commitment will not be removed, but your Purchasing Consultant will provide an explanation. To avoid this situation from occurring often, please ensure you promptly return to Purchasing Services your Receipt Notification copy of the PO whenever goods or services are received in full in order to remove your commitment and have the supplier paid without delay. If you have any questions on this matter, please contact Purchasing Services at 474-8348.
Income Budget Adjustments
Budget Adjustments that increase or decrease funding for any given Fund form part of a report (Statement B) that is provided to the Board of Governors on an ongoing basis. Whenever funding changes, Financial Services must provide the Board with an explanation as to why it changed and for which Faculty. As such, Financial Services is requesting that the following specific information be entered in the Budget Adjustment Description field in FAST:
- Source of revenue: (e.g. Province of Manitoba, XYZ Company, etc.)
Note: The Description field has a maximum of 200 characters.
Issue #1
What's In Your FOP?
Your FOP contains a myriad of details that are pertinent to your budgeting decisions: salaries; commitments; fund transfers; baseline vs. fiscal budget. However, there are certain essentials Financial Services often asks Units to address when reviewing their FOP or FOAP. This newsletter addresses these 4 essentials:
- The use of proper program codes for your revenue and expenses
- Salaries are correct as listed in the “Current Year - Budget by Position” report
- Expense verification
- Over-expenditures
Program Codes
There currently exists a misconception that the program code changes depending on your type of revenue or expense. This is not true. Your program code is designed to classify revenue or expense as defined by the purpose of your Unit or Grant.
This misconception has resulted in 1000s of errors. Program codes have a huge effect on the General Ledger. When coded improperly, Program codes:
- Hold up POs and invoices from being processed as they do not have budget assigned to them
- Overstate budget available in other areas, resulting in the tendency towards over-expenditures.
Common Error Example:
You belong to an Academic Unit and are buying a fax machine. You think because the machine is for administrative purposes you should use program code 1300 Administrative Expenses. This is incorrect as you should use your default program of 1100 Academic Expenses which defines the purpose of your Unit.
Visit the Chart of Accounts page on the Aurora Finance websitefor more information and help to find your default Program and to correct program code errors.
Reviewing Salaries Budget
It is imperative that the salaries listed within your budget be correct so that Budget Adjustments for contract increases are properly allocated. Budget Adjustments for contract increases are not based on actuals, but on the baseline budget.
To confirm that budgeted salaries correspond with your records, use the “Current Year - Budget by Position Report” available from FAST Reporting. Follow these steps to review:
- In the FAST Main Menu, enter your FOP (If responsible for multiple funds leave the fund and program codes blank)
- Select the “Current Year - Budget by Position” Report.
- Select the Enter button.
- Review all Base budget allocated to each employee.
Expense Verification
Use the “Expenditures Only Report” via FAST Reporting to verify all expenses listed belong to your funds. Follow these steps to verify:
- In the FAST main menu, enter your FOP.
- Select the “Expenditures Only Report”.
- Select the Enter button.
- Drill down twice on the left (first the Fund and then the Organization code) until you see the listing of accounts.
- Select the “Current Month” and/or “YTD Actual” column amounts for every account to view all transactions listed for the FOP. Verify they are as expected.
Checking For Over-Expenditures
Although budget checking is performed at the FOP level, you should be ensuring sufficient budget exists to cover salaries and benefits, as well as non-salary expenditures. To check your budget, follow steps 1 to 4 above and review the “$ Budget Available” column for the “Total Wages and Benefits” and “Total Non-Salary Expenditures” lines. This will provide you with the budget you have available for these areas.
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