1. Year End
2. Wes Station Charges
3. Minimum Wage Increase
4. Debarred Vendors
5. WFS Changes – New Inquiry in June
6. WFS Tips and Tricks – Comments
7. PCards
8. AP Deadlines – Memorial Day
9. Purchasing News
1. YEAR END
Calendar
The Finance Office has developed an Outlook Calendar of important dates to remember, specifically around year end. We encourage you to add this calendar to your “Shared Calendars” using the attached Procedures.
Year End Memo
Year end is fast approaching. You can find lots of information in the year end memo attached here or located on the Finance website.
Year End Seminar
Still have questions about year end? Or just need a refresher? Please plan on attending one of three year end seminars being offered to review the year end process and highlight differences from normal financial processing. Note we have added an additional seminar very close to June 30 to address questions that arise along the way.
Thursday, May 14, 1:30 in Usdan 110
Tuesday, June 9, 10:00 in Usdan 110
Wednesday, June 24, 10:00 in Usdan 110
In addition, Academic Affairs staff has an additional opportunity to attend the presentation and ask questions prior to their monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 20, 11:00 in Usdan 108.
Reminders
- If you have a voucher that needs to be paid now but pertains to the next fiscal year please ad hoc Susan Pavis as an approver into Workflow after Accounts Payable. It will be processed as a prepaid voucher.
- Remember to set an approval proxy if you are going to be out of the office. It is very important, especially at our fiscal year end, that all SmartDocs make their way through workflow in a timely manner. Please remind others in your department to set a proxy if they are out of the office.
- If you are a chargeback center or you have outstanding transactions that may hit a budget outside of your area, please be sure to process the transaction as soon as possible as departments are actively trying to predict year end balances.
- Come to the year end seminar to learn more.
2. WES STATION CHARGES
Wes Station charges for January through March were erroneously posted to Period 6 (December) in WFS. The balance available in smartkeys is still accurate. However, if you rely on static Budget to Actual reports, please rerun the December report to get the most up to date activity. The issue has since been fixed and Wes Station charges will post in the current period from here forward.
3. MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE
A new money request to increase the student wage budget for the increase in the Connecticut state minimum wage increase was approved during the development of the 2016 operating budget. The new money funding will be allocated proportionally to operating funds 100 and 104 based on actual student help spent in the prior two fiscal years (2013 and 2014). All non-operating funds will need to fund this increase from their own resources.
4. DEBARRED VENDORS
As part of the on-going effort to stay in compliance with federal regulations, the grants accounting office recently drafted a policy regarding debarred and suspended vendors. Please find the full policy at http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/grants/debarred_suspended_parties_policy.html
Debarment and suspension are actions taken by the federal government against organizations or individuals who have committed fraud or a criminal offense in violation of federal law. Under federal guidelines, the University may not pay any vendor who is debarred or suspended with federal funds. To alert departments to a vendor who is debarred or suspended, the finance office will be flagging all vendors with this status in WFS. If a vendor is debarred or suspended, they will come up on the voucher highlighted in orange. If you are concerned about the status of a vendor that you have not used before and would like to check their status before making a purchase, instructions on how to check can be found at http://www.wesleyan.edu/finance/grants/How%20to%20Search%20to%20see%20if%20a%20Vendor%20is%20Debarred%20or%20Suspended.pdf
5. WFS CHANGES – Inquiry Customizations
Changes are coming “behind the scenes” to the WFS Inquiry tables. These changes will be implemented in June. Unfortunately, we are unable to retain any column customizations after implementing these changes. Therefore, please take a screenshot of your columns prior to June if you have made any customizations as you will need to customize again after the changes have gone through.
6. WFS TIPS AND TRICKS – Comments
Having trouble with comments disappearing or Adobe crashes when viewing comments? Make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Flash. A mismatch in Flash and browser versions could crash the comments. If you continue to have problems, or need help getting newer versions of browsers or Adobe Flash, please send a request to IT through ServiceNow.
7. PCARDS
All departments should be up-to-date on PCard reconciliations through the billing cycle ending March 2015. If you have not fully reconciled your PCard vouchers through March, please complete as soon as possible and submit into workflow to allow sufficient time for approvals. All FY15 PCard vouchers must be fully submitted and approved by departments no later than July 10, 2015. Please plan accordingly.
8. AP DEADLINES
On Monday May 25th, the University will observe the Memorial Day Holiday. All Accounts Payable Vouchers that must be processed for Friday, May 29th, must be received in the Accounts Payable Inbox no later than Friday, May 22nd, at 4:00pm. Keep in mind that Wesleyan’s net terms determine the payment date.
Please contact Tamara Harley at extension #2843 or Crystal Flores at extension #2842 with any questions.
Your cooperation is appreciated.
9. PURCHASING NEWS
Please see the May Purchasing News attached.