December 2008

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www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept

Important Reminders
1. Advanced Printing
2. CT Athletes and Entertainer Tax
3. Payments to External Vendors
4. CT Minimum Wage Increase
5. PCard SDOL System Requirements

Other News
6. Accounts Payable – Holiday Deadlines
7. Purchasing Card – Crystal Rock, SDOL Training Session Offered
8. Purchasing News – Pro Shred, Green Vendor Show
9. Month End Reports – Eprint reports
10. Who to Contact?

1. ADVANCED PRINTING
Advanced Printing has been Wesleyan’s preferred vendor for more than 3 years.  Wesleyan has contracted with Advanced Printing for stationery needs, specifically letterhead, envelopes and business cards. The program has been very successful and we encourage everyone to utilize them for conformity, standardization and cost savings.  In addition, the current paper stock being used is Environment-White: The stock is 100% Recycled, 70% pre-consumer and 30% post consumer.  Attached are Advanced Printing’s environmental initiatives.  They are striving to be more sustainable.  Mike Kalman is the new Account Executive.  He can be reached at (860)583-1906 x109 or mike@aprints.com.  Please welcome Mike as he visits departments around campus. 

It has come to our attention that some departments are utilizing local printers for business cards, letterhead and envelopes.  By not complying with purchasing from this preferred vendor, Wesleyan is paying at least six times the negotiated amount.  In addition, the paper being used may not conform to Wesleyan’s current sustainability standards.

Example: Purchased from other local vendors, 500 business cards cost $180 vs. Advanced Printing’s $30! Now, is the time for all of us to work together and save money as much as possible.  Therefore, everyone’s continued efforts and support is greatly encouraged and appreciated.

By utilizing Advanced Printing Services, Wesleyan has realized more than $70,000 in cost savings. In addition, Advanced Printing has agreed not to raise their prices if we utilize them exclusively.

To obtain a Username and Password for Advanced Printing’s online ordering system, email obookas@wesleyan.edu.  Include the department, name, email, phone number, ship to address and account number.  

2. CT ATHLETES AND ENTERTAINERS TAX
Connecticut venues that contract to pay athletes, entertainers, or performing entities (“performers”) for services performed in Connecticut are required to withhold Connecticut Income Tax at a rate of 5% of the gross payment unless the payment is less than $1,000 or the Department of Revenue Services grants a request for a reduced withholding.

The Finance Office has recently updated its website related to this topic to include helpful hints on communication and forms to facilitate the contracting of a performer.   In addition, the following clarifications are effective January 1:

  • A payment to an agent of a performer is considered a payment to a performer and subject to the 5% withholding requirement.
  • Speakers and lecturers receive an automatic $5,000 exemption per performance.
  • Performers that are an incorporated entity are subject to 1099 reporting for this tax regardless of their incorporated status.

3. PAYMENTS TO EXTERNAL VENDORS
In general, it is the policy of Accounts Payable to mail checks to vendors with sufficient time to either take advantage of offered discounts, or to comply with the terms noted on their respective invoice.  Best business practices call for payments to vendors between 30 to 45 days after the invoice date.   Accounts Payable is processing checks according to this guideline.  Wesleyan’s cash is an important asset to the university and requires careful management.   Wesleyan pays its bills, and vendors do not need to worry about being paid, an important benefit especially in difficult financial times.

4. CT MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
The Connecticut state minimum wage will increase by $.35 from $7.65 to $8.00 on January 1, 2009.  The recommended pay rates are here.  Similar to previous increases, we do not plan to provide additional budget for this change.

5. PCARD SDOL SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The following system requirements are necessary for optimal performance of the PCard Smart Data On Line (SDOL) system: 

Supported Browsers
Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher
Netscape 6.2 or higher
Mozilla/Firefox® 1.5 or higher
Supported Operating Systems
Windows 2000
Windows NT 4.0
Windows XP Home Edition or Professional

 6. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE – HOLIDAY DEADLINES
Due to the December holidays, the last check run of 2008 will be on December 19.  All vouchers to be paid on that date are due to Accounts Payable by 12:00 noon on Wednesday, December 10.  In addition, vouchers to be paid on Friday, January 9 are due to Accounts Payable by 12:00 noon on Thursday, December 18.  Accounts Payable will not have a check run the week ending December 26, 2008 or week ending January 2, 2009.

Vouchers received by 4pm on Thursdays will be processed for payment in the following week’s Friday check run.

For accounts payable questions please contact Tammy Harley at x2843 or Janet Gyurits at x2842 or email ap@wesleyan.edu

7. PURCHASING CARD – CRYSTAL ROCK, SDOL TRAINING
Crystal Rock accepts the University PCard as a form of payment.  Please utilize this form of payment for Crystal Rock if you have a University PCard. 

SDOL training will be offered on Thursday, December 18 from 2-3 in the PAC 100 training room. Reserve your spot and obtain access information prior to the training session by emailing pcard@wesleyan.edu

PCARD charges will be downloaded on Monday, December 22nd for billing cycle ending December 20th, 2008.  Be sure to access SDOL to reallocate any charges prior to the download.  Any reallocation after the download will require an ELF Entry.

Reconciled and approved PCARD statements are due to the Finance Office by December 20th with supporting documentation.

Cash Advance Option – If you have a cash advance option on your card there are PCard cash advance procedures that must be followed to create a PIN and access the cash advance.  A cash advance fee of 2% of the advance amount will be charged to your account.

For immediate assistance with your JPMorgan Purchasing Card, call the 24 hour Customer Service number on the back of your card (800)316-6056 or (847)488-3748 outside the U.S.

Contact pcard@wesleyan.edu for all card maintenance requests (i.e., credit limit increases/decreases, name change, address change).

8.  PURCHASING NEWS
ProShred:
Attached is the 2009 pickup schedule for shredding confidential material.  Please mark your calendar. 

 If you are not currently using ProShred, and would like to learn more about their services, please contact Olga, obookas@wesleyan.edu.

WB Mason:
Training sessions were held by WB Mason today for ordering office supplies and using their website.  WB Mason has recently upgraded their online ordering system to include an online product catalog for Contract items.  The Contract item online catalog replaces the paper catalog.  Purchasing is pleased that this change will allow a positive impact on Wesleyan’s sustainability efforts.  WB Mason is offering more recycled items as part of the new contract. 

Purchasing and WB Mason are also extending the Contract prices to all Wesleyan employees for their personal use by selecting the Personal option at checkout.

Please remember to purchase Contract items as much as possible to maximize savings.    

 2009 ~ GREEN VENDOR SHOW ~

Purchasing will sponsor its next Vendor Show on Wednesday, January 14, 2009.  The 2008 show was a great success.  Please join us again.  This year’s theme will be “Sustainability. Are you in?”  Vendors already include WB Mason, Fisher Scientific, FedEX, Sanditz Travel, Proshred, Verizon Wireless, Barker Specialty, and Advanced Printing, just to name a few.  The audience will be faculty and staff.  More information will follow. Please mark your calendar. 

9. MONTH END REPORTS – Eprint Reports
The November month end jobs have successfully run and the reports are currently available on Eprint. Users can access Eprint through the Administrative Applications area in their employee portfolio and by using their FRS operator number as the UserID and FRS Password as the Eprint password.

10. WHO TO CONTACT
Please save these sites as favorites for quick answers to questions you might have.
Finance Office Website http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept/
Finance Monthly Blog http://financemonthly.blogs.wesleyn.edu
New Financial System Blog http://wfs.blogs.wesleyan.edu/
Contact Information http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/misc/contactInformation/

Email Addresses:
General Finance finance@wesleyan.edu.
PCard pcard@wesleyan.edu
Accounts Payable ap@wesleyan.edu
Purchasing obookas@wesleyan.edu

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, corresponding with the availability of month end financial reports. Items for inclusion are due five business days before the end of each month and can be submitted to finance@wesleyan.edu