April 2011

www.wesleyan.edu/finance/financeDept

wfs.blogs.wesleyan.edu

1. Monthly Reports
2. Year End
3. Steps to Pay a Non US Citizen or Business
4. Benefit Rate
5. Purchase Order “Use Procurement Card” Buyers
6. Purchasing News: Furniture Orders, Hotel Negotiated Rates
7. Summer Student Employment

1.MONTHLY REPORTS
Due to technical difficulties, March Budget vs. Actual reports will not include Wes Station charges.  

If you are a chargeback center, please be sure that all of your activity is charged to departments each month or email Valerie Nye at vnye@wesleyan.edu if it has not been done so that it can be communicated.

2.  YEAR END
It is not too early to begin thinking about year end.  The year end schedule will be distributed and posted on the Finance website this week.  The following items are things you can begin thinking about now:

  • Budget Status – Request that any old PO’s, vouchers and/or journals be closed or deleted.
  • Necessary expenditures through June
  • Travel Expense Reports
  • Prepaid Expenses
  • Workflow backlog – All documents will need to by processed by year end.
3.  STEPS TO PAY A NON US CITIZEN OR BUSINESS
Are you planning to bring a non US Citizen or Business to campus?  Are you planning to pay them for work conducted in the US?   These types of payments are closely regulated by the US Government which makes reporting and documentation much different than that of US entities.  Attached is a brief checklist that should help guide you through the process.
 
 4. BENEFIT RATE
The budgeted full benefit rate for 2011/12 will be 35.4%, with the breakdown as follows:
20.4% Medical, dental and other
7.35% Pension
7.65% FICA

The 35.4% benefit rate represents a 3.0% increase from this current year’s benefit rate of 32.4% due to the increase in medical, dental and other and pension benefits.  The percentage for FICA will remain unchanged from the current year. 

Operating, gift and endowed accounts will be charged the percentages above.  Grant and agency accounts will be charged actual medical, dental and other charges rather than the budgeted percentage for medical, dental and other.

Please note that the percentages above represent budgeted amounts only.  Actual amounts paid for pension will vary based on eligibility and participation in the retirement matching program and actual amounts paid for FICA will vary based on salary.  Any variances between budgeted rates and actual rates will be managed centrally. 

5. WFS PCARD HOLDER VALIDATION
WFS now validates the buyer on a Purchase Order to be a PCard Holder if the “Use Procurement Card” box is checked.  A PO is not allowed to “Use Procurement Card” without the buyer being a cardholder.

6.  PURCHASING NEWS
Please be aware of anyone calling you and offering to purchase toner from “Advanced Printing”.  It is a scam.

Please use account numbers 87217 for all furniture orders.  As year-end is approaching fast, keep in mind that furniture orders must be received in Purchasing by April 15, 2011.  The furniture lead time is 4-8 weeks, depending on product lines.   All deliveries, including office supplies, must be received prior to June 28, 2011 to be charged to 2010/2011 fiscal year.   Office supplies that are to be charged to the 2011/2012 fiscal year should be ordered after July 1.

Hotels Negotiated Rates
The negotiated room rates for 2011 are listed below.

Inn at Middletown – Beth Pruchnic, 860-854-6310 $122

Rocky Hill Marriott – Beryl Russell, 203-954-9354  Mon – Wed $129, Thurs – Sun $89

Crowne Plaza Cromwell – Gina Molde, 860-807-2457 $89

 See attached for additional information related to WB Mason, IKON Office Solutions, Verizon and Sprint cell phone discounts and negotiated rates at various hotels. 

7.  SUMMER STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
Wesleyan will again coordinate a summer employment program for Wesleyan students.  The funds available for the summer program are limited; therefore, the number of students employed in the program is limited.  The summer employment program period will be for May 16th to September 4th.  

 Please keep in mind the following guidelines for the summer employment program as you plan your needs for the summer.
 
**Summer Employment Eligibility**:  Students that have demonstrated need (i.e. Federal Work-Study or Term-Time eligibility) during the 2010-11 academic year will be eligible for the 50% wage reimbursement. Supervisors must e-mail a list of all students employees that they would like to have considered for this wage reimbursement by May 13th – there will be no exceptions to this deadline.   Students who participate in the summer employment program must work on-campus. Any  exception must be pre-approved by Sun Chyung (schyung@wesleyan.edu)

List of students (with their WesID) must be sent to workstudy@wesleyan.edu. Requests will be granted on a first come, first serve basis and departments will receive an e-mail confirmation if their student(s) will be eligible to participate in the program.  Requests received after the May 13th deadline will not be eligible to participate in the program.

Summer Employment eligible students can earn up to $3,264 in hourly wages during the summer, during which their employer(s) will receive the benefit of the 50% wage reimbursement. Students may hold multiple jobs on-campus and all of their earnings will go toward this $3,264 individual allotment. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to monitor each student’s pay. Earning in excess of the $3,264 allotted for each student will be charged 100% to the department. Additionally, if a student qualifies for overtime, overtime earnings will be charged to the respective departmental accounts.  

Summer Pay Rate:  The recommended summer pay rate is set at $8.50 per hour.

Summer Employment Web Site:  Please see the link below to the Student Employment web site order to update or post a job on the summer employment web site.  Students have the discretion of selecting their job for the summer.  We cannot guarantee that every department’s job request will be filled.  Students will view all job postings on the web and make their request for an interview by e-mail unless otherwise instructed on the job posting.

For more information on posting summer positions go to: http://www.wesleyan.edu/finaid/employment/postingposition.html
(Be sure to indicate in the posting that this is a summer position when submitting it.)

Questions/Contacts:  Any financial questions or concerns regarding summer employment (i.e., student earnings, the 50% wage reimbursement, etc.) should be should Chris Andrews at x3153.  Any other general questions or concerns about the summer employment job postings should be directed to Sean Martin at smartin@wesleyan.edu.

Temporary Summer Housing:  Students must secure housing on their own either off campus or through the Office of Residential Life.  For more information regarding summer housing please refer students to the Office of Residential Life Website http://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/.

General Reminders:  The student payroll dates are the same as during the academic year (Monday through Sunday). Summer student employment hours are submitted through PeopleSoft (Student Time Reporting) in the same way that hours are submitted during the academic year. Departments are responsible for submitting time for students on a timely basis because Connecticut state statutes require that all wages earned during a weekly pay period shall be paid within 8 days.  The submission of time is due by Monday at noon for hours worked the prior week with the exception of special holiday payroll schedules.  Hours submitted retroactively should be on an exception basis only and must be entered on the Retro Student Time panels.  Retro earnings will not be eligible for the summer employment match.  Because students are allocated a summer employment award and award earnings are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, allowing summer employment match on retro earnings would make it difficult for employers to track eligibility. Please impress upon the student workers that it is their responsibility to submit their hours promptly so that the time reporters can report them accurately to payroll.  Failure by the students to comply may result in termination of their employment. 

Students must be paid for the actual number of hours worked and they must be paid an hourly wage that meets the minimum wage.  Hourly time reporting is necessary to comply with the state’s labor laws to ensure that students who hold multiple jobs have all of their work hours combined for determining and calculating overtime.  It is a violation of state law to submit hourly time based on an estimated number of hours worked. 

When hiring students, please contact the Payroll Office if you need to confirm that the student(s) have completed the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form.  The students are no longer allowed to work prior to completing the proper paperwork.  Any questions can be directed to Payroll at 860-685-2670.

Because the university’s fiscal year ends on June 30, wages paid after July 1st will be charged to the 2011-2012 fiscal year budget.

Failure to comply with summer employment guidelines as outlined above may jeopardize a department’s ability to receive the summer employment wage match. 

Graduating Seniors:  Departments hiring graduating seniors must contact Human Resources Office x2229 to make arrangements to convert them into temporary employees. Graduating seniors are ineligible for the summer earnings wage-split

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