New Policy and Rule for Financial Record Retention and Disposal

Posted June 20, 2019 in Financial Services.

The Board of Trustees has approved both Policy 3-014; Financial Record Retention and Rule 3-014A; Financial Records Retention and Disposal.

New Policy 3-014 and its associated Rule establishes a records retention policy, as well as outlines the processes and best practices for the retention and disposal of University of Utah financial records. Policy 3-014 is meant to meet legal requirements, optimize use of space, and minimize cost.

This policy is binding for all University colleges, departments and units, including University Hospital & Clinics. This policy does not govern retention and disposal of non-financial University documents.

Departments should review Policy and Rule and implement retention and disposal schedules immediately.

Policy establishes:

1. Definitions of financial records, retention schedules, archives and document destruction.

2. Major categories of financial records with unique retention periods such as grants and contracts, bonds, purchasing, tax, Pcard, real property and capital equipment as well as general financial documents.

3. Disposal requirements.

Questions regarding the new Policy or the new Rule should be forwarded to Accounts Payable using the following ASK US form.

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Revised Noncapital Equipment Account Codes

Posted May 21, 2019 in Financial Services.

The Property Accounting Office wants to inform you of upcoming, and required changes to Noncapital Equipment Account Codes due to the recent revision of Policy 3-041: Accountability for Noncapital Equipment.  The revisions now include THREE CATEGORIES of assets, physical inventory requirements of these categories are outlined below.

  1. MANDATORY INVENTORY: Noncapital equipment with an acquisition cost greater than or equal to $3,000 but less than $5,000.
  2. MANDATORY INVENTORY: All university-owned computers, laptops, tablets and cell phones of any value less than $5,000 that may contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) at any point during the university’s ownership of the asset.
  3. OPTIONAL INVENTORY: Noncapital equipment having an acquisition cost or donated value less than $3,000 and having a useful life in excess of one year. Assets in this category are to be inventoried at the discretion of the departments or units, but not required.

Currently, in Management Reports, the Noncapital Equipment is identified as: Equip-Noncapital $1,000-$4,999, account number range 61400-61419, but this account code structure doesn’t provide the granularity required to implement new inventory requirements.These changes will be effective as of July 1, 2019, but you may want to include the accounts codes in setting up new PO’s and PR’s for FY2020.

There have been no changes to the capital equipment account codes (61000-61021), for all assets including computer related devices over $5,000.

If you have any questions please call employees of Property Accounting: Paula Monaco 581-8673, Pamela Day 585-6969 or Robin Love 581-3973.

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Q3 FY 2019 UMV for Endowment Projections

Posted May 17, 2019 in Endowment & Investment Accounting, Financial Reporting and Accounting.

The ending quarter endowment pool unit market value (UMV) for March 31, 2019, is $220.44 per unit. This information is necessary for Method 2 of projecting endowment income and is provided quarterly through FS News. All other factors in the instructions remain the same through the fiscal year. For detailed instructions on how to project endowment income, please click here. The instructions are available there now for fiscal year 2019-2020.

If you have any questions or feedback just ask us!

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EBT by BU 01 Activ/Proj Org Is Now Functioning

Posted May 15, 2019 in Financial Services Technical Support and tagged , .

EBT by BU 01 Activ/Proj Org report in the Payroll folder of the Financial Information Library is now functioning. We appreciate your patience while this issue was resolved. You may need to clear cache and cookies to access the updated report.

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Adequate Documentation for non-SRC and non-Auxiliary Journal Entries

Posted May 13, 2019 in Compliance Oversight and Reporting and tagged , .

Adequate Documentation for Journal Entries Submitted by Departments that are not an approved Service/Recharge Center or University Auxiliary

With the demise of the Campus Order Form almost a year ago, a number of internal billing transactions once submitted on that form are now processed through the University’s eJournal Entry system. One advantage of the old Campus Order was it acted as an invoice and contained all the elements required for the transaction to be adequately documented. Unfortunately, not all journal entries submitted by departments (billing another dept. or a sponsored award) are adequately documented when submitted in the eJournal Entry system.

For those departments (which are not an approved Service/Recharge Center or a University Auxiliary) entering Journal Entries that internally charge another dept. or a sponsored award, please include the following detail with each journal entry submitted. Failure to include this detail may result in the JE being recycled.

JE explanation field:

  • A brief summary of what the expense was for (the explanation should generally reflect the description of the expense item on the invoice)

Authorization and request:

  • An agreement or other written authorization (e.g. email) from Account Executive, PI, or authorized individual for expense to be incurred and charged to their Activity/project
  • Authorization date of the expense
  • Activity/Project chartfield identified in the authorization

Included on a formal invoice:

  • University Department/Organization and contact information
  • Invoice date
  • Date/time period services/work was performed
  • Description of services/work provided that a financial auditor will understand
  • Total number of units/countable items provided (if applicable)
  • Rate(s) for services/work performed (if applicable)
  • Total amount
  • Provider’s activity chartfield to be credited
  • Project chartfield to be debited

Ask UsPlease ASK US if you have any questions.

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Household Moves – New Moving Allowance Payment Form

Posted April 10, 2019 in Financial Services, Payroll, Tax Services, Travel.

Due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, moving expenses paid by the University are taxable to the employee subject to the applicable tax withholding.  Therefore, the University has a new process for new hire household moves. 

Instead of providing moving expense reimbursements or a University payment directly to the contracted moving company, moving allowances are now paid through Payroll directly to the employee.

Payroll has a new MOVING ALLOWANCE PAYMENT FORM for this purpose. 

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2019 Procurement Updates

Posted April 10, 2019 in Financial Services, P2P, Procurement and Supply Management, Purchasing Card, UShop.

Please join the Purchasing Department for a session discussing several topics such as: 

  • Utah Procurement Code and Review
  • UShop eProcurement System
  • PCard highlights
  • Contract Management and TCM highlights
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Year-end Procurement Processes
  • Electronic Payment Requests (ePR) in the context of Procurement
  • Software Purchases

The dates and locations for the four sessions are as follows:

Tuesday, April 16th  9:00 – 10:30    HSEB room 1730  Session Full

Thursday, April 18th      9:00 – 10:30      S.J. Quinney Law Moot Courtroom 6200

Tuesday, May 7th          9:00 – 10:30      S.J. Quinney Law Moot Courtroom 6200

Tuesday, May 21st         9:00 – 10:30      HSEB room 1750

Procurement Update Session registration:

Campus Employees click here to register

Hospital employees click here to email your registration request to Karri Almond

Note:  Hospital employees, these sessions are intended for departments that work with Campus Purchasing including UShop.  Hospital employees may have UShop access for University (internal) departmental purchases such as the Print Shop, Bookstore, Nutrition Care and Guest Housing.

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April Is Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Posted April 1, 2019 in Risk & Insurance Services.

Distracted DrivingEvery day in the US, at least nine people die and 100 are injured in distracted driving crashes. Cell phones, eating, drinking, fiddling with the stereo or navigation system, dashboard touchscreens, voice commands and other in-vehicle technologies pose a threat to our well-being. The consequences of those distractions are not worth the convenience they offer. Ignore the distractions and #justdrive.

University of Utah Risk & Insurance Services encourages you to take a minute and review this video as well as the materials on the National Safety Council’s website.

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Vehicle Operation for University Business

Posted March 28, 2019 in Risk & Insurance Services and tagged .

Accident

Operating a vehicle may be your most risky daily activity. University departmental supervisors have a significant management responsibility to know about drivers from their department who are allowed to operate automobiles for University purposes.

The University’s “Auto Insurance Provisions” are applicable to the operator of any vehicle driven for University business and include requirements for Driver Training, Rental Cars, Personal Vehicles, etc. Insurance questions may be directed to U of U Risk & Insurance Services at extension 1-5590.

Questions related to driver records or rules specific to University vehicles may be directed to U of U Fleet Services at or extension 1-8155.

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FY 2019 Year-End Procurement Submission Dates

Posted March 6, 2019 in Financial Services, Procurement and Supply Management, Purchasing Card, UShop.

The last day of the University’s fiscal year is June 30, 2019. Procurement transactions required to be completed prior to the end of FY 2019 are subject to the due dates described below. 

The dates shown below are estimates and not guarantees. They reflect the typical time necessary to allow for a procurement process to be completed, as well as for delivery of requested goods or services prior to June 30th. Delivery of goods or services based on procurement requests submitted after the dates below may not be completed by June 30, 2019.

April 8, 2019 – Request for Proposal (RFP): Requisitions for procurement requests requiring a request for proposal process must be submitted by April 8, 2019. This process requires draft RFP documents for review and input by Purchasing, committee chair participation, and suggested vendor list.

April 8, 2019 – Multi-Stage Invitation for Bids (IFB) for purchases over $50,000: Requisitions for procurement requests requiring a multi-stage low bid process must be submitted by April 8, 2019. This process requires bid stage advancement criteria, specifications/requirements, and a suggested vendor list.

May 3, 2019 – Invitation for Bids (IFB) and Sole Source Requests for purchases over $50,000: Requisitions for procurement requests requiring a standard low bid process must be submitted by May 3, 2019. The IFB process requires specifications/requirements and a suggested vendor list. The sole source request requires a completed sole source form and quote.

May 31, 2019 – Request for Quotes (RFQ) and Sole Source Requests for purchases between $5,000 – $50,000: Requisitions for procurement requests requiring a quote or sole source process must be submitted by May 31, 2019. The RFQ process requires complete specifications and a suggested vendor list. The sole source request requires a completed sole source form and quote.

Reminders:

  • Goods and Services must be received and the invoice dated on or prior to June 30, 2019 to be charged to fiscal year 2019 funds.
  • Grant funded purchases must be completed at least 30 days prior to project end date which may alter the timelines listed above.
  • Contracts must be fully executed before a purchase order is issued.

If you have questions, please contact the Purchasing Department at (801) 581-7241.

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