A new page has been added to the FS Web presence that will allow users to know of any issues with FS Web Applications. If known, issues are listed on the new page. If you are experiencing any issue not listed, a link exists on the page to report the issues to FS. The link to the new page is a picture of a lifesaver (below). This lifesaver has been strategically placed in various places in the FS Web presence as well as the FS pagelet in CIS.
Hyperlinks have been added to Management Reports and other web applications. These hyperlinks on column titles and labels, link to references explaining that particular topic and will help the user understand and use Management Reports as it was designed. How you will notice these references, they are red! The Orgid lookup, Activity lookup and Project lookup pages now have dynamic column sorting. A “sorting arrow” is located at the bottom of the column header which can be used to sort the page by that column. This will make it easier for users to review the information on the screen without having to download to an Excel file.
The 2008 University of Utah Annual Financial Report is available on the Controller’s website. Reports for prior years are also available. Printed copies of the 2008 report will be available early in January.
A flaw has been found with two EBT queries in the HR Information Library (HRIL), resulting in their removal from the library: EBT by Employee and EBT by Home Dept. We discovered an issue where some transactions were not returned, especially payroll reallocations. We anticipate the fix to this issue being in place by Spring, 2009.
If you have any concerns or questions about how to meet your EBT information needs without the availability of these reports, you may contact Kirt Hunter in HRIS at kirt.hunter@utah.edu or 587-9024.
The University continues to invest substantial resources to provide web tools to assist departments in accomplishing their mission. One such tool, implemented some time ago, is the “spyglass” image on the web Management Reports which allows the user to view documents which support financial transactions. Sometimes new web tools facilitate the elimination of traditional business processes that are costly in terms of supplies used and effort expended.
One such business process is the mailing of additional copies of journal entries, as requested on the bottom of the General Journal Entry form. This process results in real costs in the form of paper, toner, and human effort in preparing for mailing and delivering journal entry copies to those requested on the General Journal entry form.
Therefore, effective immediately, copies of journal entries will NOT be mailed even if an individual is noted on the journal entry form. Please use the image functionality on the web Management Reports to view a journal image and make whatever copies you require.
Effective January 1, 2009, the statewide general sales tax rate will increase .05 percent, affecting rates throughout Utah. Go to https://tax.utah.gov/sales/rates.html to see the new combined rate for all localities. The new Salt Lake City, in Salt Lake County general sales tax rate will be 6.85%.
For questions, please contact Laura Howat at
In 1991, the University created the Endowment Investment Pool (Pool). At that time, the University’s Board to Trustees (Board) required that all subsequently established endowments must be invested in the Pool. For endowments in existence when the Pool was created, participation in the Pool was optional and departments had to request that their endowments participate in the Pool. The Board strongly encouraged departments to invest existing endowments in the pool, even if done so over a period of time. Currently, there are approximately 1,500 endowments and only about 25 are not invested in the Pool.
The unit market price of the Pool is believed to be near a low point in this market cycle. Therefore, now would be a great time to have those endowments which are not currently invested in the Pool to participate. All departments should review the Management Reports for their endowments (Activities in Funds 8500 and 8700). If they have amounts only in Claim on Cash (Account 10500) and Fund Balance (Account 30000), they should immediately request that those endowments be invested in the Pool.
Endowments not invested in the Pool are not growing in value, thus not protecting their purchasing power for the future. They are only receiving interest at an annual rate of approximately 2%. That rate has been lower and, in this market cycle, it possibly may go lower again. The Endowment Investment Pool has a 4% annual total return spending policy which enables more funds to be credited to the endowment’s expendable to use for the purposes of the endowment.
To invest these older endowments in the Endowment Investment Pool, please send your request to David Heaps, in Financial Reporting & Accounting, at David.Heaps@admin.utah.edu.
Let’s get those endowments in the Pool and get them earning more and growing for your department!
The ending quarter endowment pool unit market value for September 30, 2008, is $187.62 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 calendar year. For detailed instructions on how to project endowment income, please refer to an earlier posting at: https://fbs.admin.utah.edu/news/2008/02/12/endowment-projections/.
The Board of Trustees has approved a new policy (Policy 3-070) which addresses both internal and external standards as they relate to the acceptance of credit cards for a variety of University services, such as tuition payment and ticket sales. Departments that accept credit cards for payment of goods or services must familiarize themselves with this new policy. Procedures affected by this new policy will be forthcoming.
If your department is affected by these changes, please review:
Policy 3-070: Payment Card Acceptance, effective December 8, 2008
Rule: Credit Card Guidelines, dated 1/22/07
Rule: Credit Card Security (PCI DSS) Standards, dated 7/18/08
The Financial Web Server has experienced intermittent problems the last few weeks. Some of the applications affected by this were: Management Reports, Limited Purchase Checks, PO applications and others. Your patience while we attempted to solve the problems is appreciated. Thanks to the diligence and hard work of the ACS team, we believe these issues have been resolved. Please continue to notify us in the future of any issues with the Financial Web Applications by clicking here.
