October 2014

1. PCARD Voucher Creation – Feedback Requested
2. WFS Budget vs. Actual by Smartkey – What’s in it?
3. University Contracting Policy – Consultants
4. Broad Street Books – Direct Invoicing
5. Bon Appetit Dining Charge Forms – Business Purpose
6. Helpful Hint when Traveling Take a Picture!
7. Purchasing News

1. PCARD VOUCHER CREATION  – Feedback Requested
The Finance Office is looking for feedback on the idea of creating PCard Vouchers on a weekly basis rather than monthly.

Currently data is fed from Mastercard to the Purchasing panels in WFS every day. The billing cycle ends on the 20th of each month. A user then has about 3-5 days to go into the Purchasing panels of WFS and attach any Purchase Orders or change any accounting before the system creates a voucher. Once a voucher is created, it is budget checked against available budget, receipts are attached, accounting may be changed, and it is sent into workflow for approval.

The advantages of going to weekly processing would be that the expense hits the budget sooner, the backup documentation is moved quicker and the vouchers may not have as many lines which can potentially make workflow more efficient.  For example,  less lines means less attachments per voucher, quicker approval for approvers and, if denial is necessary, different workflow paths are minimized reducing the instances where approvers have to approve the same voucher more than once.

The possible disadvantages would be more vouchers created and approved and, for offices that work with a lot of Purchase Orders, the tying of PO’s can only happen on the Purchasing panels and would have to be done in a more timely manner.

Please let us know if you would or would not be in favor of weekly PCard downloads and if there are other advantages or disadvantages. You can let us know by emailing finance@wesleyan.edu by October 17.

2. WFS Budget vs Actual by Smartkey Report – What’s in it?
The Budget vs. Actual by Smartkey report (Wesleyan Menu>Wesleyan Reports>Budget vs Actual by Smartkey) can be run anytime based on user defined paramenters. Users can also set up reoccurring reports (instructions) that will run on the 5th day of each month for the previous month end and be delivered via email. The reoccurring report functions similar to E-Print reports from the old financial system. The report is a snapshot in time of the data in WFS. The greatest benefit of the reoccurring report is that once the parameters are set up to run the report, it is delivered to the user every month via email. Report parameters can be updated at any time.

The speed at which transactions appear in WFS is based on many factors such as how quickly receipts are turned in, whether or not a PO was used to encumber funds, how often subsystems are run, and budget errors occurring in one large journal. Payroll expenses in Budget vs Actual by Smartkey are measured simply by whether or not that week’s Payroll has been fed to WFS. The feed is generally run 2-3 days prior to the Check Date.  In general, weekly payroll will be included in a monthly reoccurring report for hours worked through the last full week of the month. Occasionally, when the last day of the month is a Monday or Tuesday, the last full week of the month will appear in the next month’s report.

Budget errors can also delay a a file feed. Payroll expenses are combined into large journals.  These journals are budget checked like online journals.  If there is no budget available the expense will not be posted to your smartkey. If your smartkey transaction is part of a batch with multiple errors, it will not post to WFS until all errors are corrected.

3. UNIVERSITY CONTRACTING POLICY – Consultants
Reminder that University General Counsel has a contracting policy relating to commitments made on the University’s behalf.  A consulting agreement can be requested from Dave Winakor.  See www.wesleyan.edu/generalcounsel/policies.html for more information.  If a department is negotiating a contract for consulting services, please make sure it is appropriate to pay as a consultant and that it includes more description than simply “work performed xxxx through xxxxx”.  Details such as dates of service, rate/fee, description of services and payment terms should be provided.

4. BROAD STREET BOOKS – Direct Invoicing
Beginning mid-October, Broad Street Books will invoice departments directly for purchases charged to that department. The department will be responsible for processing the voucher in WFS just like a regular invoice for payment.

5. BON APPETIT DINING CHARGE FORMS – Business Purpose
Please remember to add Business Purpose when using the Bon Appetit Dining Charge forms. Business Purpose is one of the most important piece of documentation for meal allowances so please remember to include some type of description.

6. HELPFUL HINT WHEN TRAVELING  – Take a Picture!
Are you drowning in a pool of paper receipts? Are you prone to losing your receipts?  Take a picture of them! Most travelers have smartphone capability to capture images. A picture of a receipt can then be uploaded as an attachment to a WFS voucher.

7. PURCHASING
Vendor Show ~ Save the date: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 ~ Purchasing will host another Vendor Show with WB Mason and other suppliers. Non-perishable food will be collected to support Amazing Grace. More details to follow.

WB Mason Furniture Orders ~ A reminder when placing a furniture order to please contact Julie Bunce at julie.bunce@wbmason.com and make arrangements to pay with your p-card.

SUBMISSIONS FOR FINANCE MONTHLY What topics would you like to see included in this monthly communication? Do you have a system tip you’d like to share? Finance Monthly will be e-mailed on a monthly basis. Items for inclusion are due five business days before the end of each month and can be submitted to finance@wesleyan.edu