December 2014

1. New Procurement Policy – Federal Grants Only
2. Receipts Management App
3. Minimum Wage Increase
4. Budget Reminders
5. Budget vs. Actual Reports Reoccurring Reports – Different timing for December reports
6. PCard Download Dates – Winter Break Deadlines
7. Accounts Payable– Winter Break Deadlines
8. Purchasing News

1. NEW PROCUREMENT POLICY – Federal Grants Only
For anyone working with Federal grants, please note that there is a new procurement policy that will go into effect immediately and can be found at http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/grants/federal_purchasing.html. Important points to note are:

The new policy will only affect purchases greater than $3,000. For these purchases you MUST:
• Complete a purchase order and wait for approval PRIOR TO PURCHASING the item. Timing and documentation are everything.
• Include either 3 quotes in writing as an attachment to the PO with justification as to why your vendor was selected or attach the Sole Source Justification Form for approval.
• Contact Olga Bookas if the purchase will exceed $150,000 and must go to competitive bidding.

If the procedures outlined in the new policy are not followed, the grants accounting office will have the authority to deny payment against federal funds. Because we have so few vouchers that actually fall under this new policy, they will ALL be pulled for audit.

If you have any questions regarding the new policy, please contact either Rose Pandolfo or Kim Savinelli.

2. RECEIPTS MANAGEMENT APP
Thanks to the recommendation of a frequent University traveler, the Finance Office would like to share an available smartphone app that can help you manage those paper receipts required for documentation. The app is called SmartReceipts and is available for free on IOS or Android. It allows you to take pictures of your receipts and categorize them by trip, meal, vendor etc.  A very convenient feature is that, once the trip is complete, there is an option to create a pdf of all the activity and send it to an email account.  This pdf displays all the pictures along with a summary cover page.  Check it out at:

Android –   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wb.receipts

iPhone – https://itunes.apple.com/app/id905698613 

 

3.MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
As a reminder from the September newsletter, the state minimum wage will increase from $8.70 per hour to $9.00 per hour on January 1, 2015. If you have any student workers or others currently at the minimum wage, please plan accordingly. A budget request to fund this increase for operating funds 100 and 104 has been submitted to the new money request process and will not be finalized until later in the year. All non-operating funds will need to fund this increase from their own resources.

4. BUDGET REMINDERS
Please be sure to check your financial reports so that you are on track in your budgets. Assuming consistent spending throughout the year, budgets should be 41.7% expended.

5. BUDGET VS ACTUAL REPORTS – Different timing for December reports
For those who have set up monthly, reoccurring budget vs. actual reports, please note that, due to the December winter break these reports, which are normally available on the 5th of every month, will not be available until January 9. This change will give various chargeback centers and other monthly activity time to post to the December reports.

6. PCARD DOWNLOAD DATES
Due to the University’s holiday schedule, the December PCard download will occur on Monday, 1/5/2015 with an extended reconciliation due date of 1/31/2015.

Email credit limit maintenance requests and general PCard questions to pcard@wesleyan.edu.

7. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE – Winter Break Deadlines
Due to the Holiday break, Wednesday, December 24th, 2014 through Friday, January 2nd, 2015, our final AP check run for 2014 will be dated Friday, December 19th.

**Please keep in mind that Wesleyan’s payment terms determine when a payment is made.

All vouchers required to be processed by December 19th must be in the Accounts Payable inbox by 4:00pm on Monday, December 15th. Vouchers received after this deadline will be paid in January 2015.

Checks will be available for pickup after 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 18th. All checks must be picked up by 4:00pm on Friday, December 19th. Checks not picked up by this deadline will be mailed to the payee.

There will be no Accounts Payable check runs on December 26th or January 2nd. The first check run for 2015 will be on Friday, January 9th for vouchers received in the Accounts Payable inbox by Tuesday, December 23rd at 4:00pm.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation in adhering to our processing schedule. Please contact Tamara Harley at extension #2843 or Crystal Flores at extension #2842 with any questions.

8. PURCHASING NEWS
Green Initiatives Presentation
Olga Bookas presented the attached presentation to the Academic Administrative Assistants on November 20, 2014. The green initiatives are about bulk purchasing for sustainability and cost savings opportunities. Many requests have been discussed with ideas around greener purchasing and since Olga chairs the Procurement Sustainability Sub-Committee, she wants to hear from departments who are interested to increase awareness, exchange ideas and work toward these goals. If you have an idea for a greener way to do something that involves buying products or contracting for services, please contact Olga at obookas@wesleyan.edu.

4th Green Vendor Show
The Purchasing Office would like to thank the 160 employees who attended the 4th Green Vendor Show. Our preferred vendors were pleased with the good turnout and are continuing to support us with new eco-friendly products and services. In addition, we collected 68 lbs. of food and $59.00 for Amazing Grace!
The weather was great; our employees picked many free samples and sustainable ideas along with food and refreshments. We had 48 winners that were notified and won amazing raffle prizes. We hope that you enjoyed the Vendor Show and found it informative. Olga is looking forward to assist you with your purchasing needs.

Local Hotels Rates & Holiday Parties
The Sheraton Hartford South hotel will be offering amazing rates starting as low as $85 per night for the months of January, February and March.

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