1. Purchasing News
2. Year End
3. Benefit Rate
4. Budget Planning
5. Student Account Charges
6. Expense Reports – Agendas and Audits
7. Payments to Non US Citizens
8. Revenue Driven Budget Changes
Please see attached Purchasing News for a special sendoff to our Director of Purchasing (and some important notes about year end).
The fiscal year end memo has been posted here. In addition, the Finance Office will be hosting various Year End Seminars to review the year end process in more detail and answer questions. The same presentation will be given at all sessions so you only need to attend one unless there are additional questions. Visit Success at Wes to register for one of the sessions below.
Year End Seminar Dates:
Wednesday May 13th at 1p
Thursday May 21st at 11a
Tuesday June 2nd at 2p
Wednesday June 17th at 11a
Thursday June 25th at 1p
Slides from the Year End Seminar can be found here. For a quick reference, please review important year end deadlines here.
Wesleyan Funds For the 2026/27 fiscal year, the budgeted full benefit rate will be 40.15%, broken down as follows:
22.50% Medical, dental, and other
10.00% Retirement
7.65% FICA
These rates will apply to both unrestricted operating funds and restricted gift and endowment funds. Any variance between the budgeted and actual benefit rates will be centrally managed. Please note that temporary workers with an FTE of .8 FTE or greater will be charged the full benefit rate. Those with an FTE below .8 will be charged FICA only.
Grants
The federally negotiated fringe benefit rate for all full-time employees charged to grants is 32.2%. This rate does not apply to students, part-time employees or faculty summer salary, which are currently charged at lower rates due to the absence of medical and dental benefits.
The budget planning period for fiscal year 2026/27 will be open on June 1st through June 30, 2026 for the unrestricted operating fund (fund 100). This is an opportunity for departments to align next year’s budget with expected expenses.
Workday requires sufficient budget to be available before an expense can be submitted, so departments are encouraged to review historical spending and plan accordingly. Training materials will be provided to cost center budget specialists and managers in advance of the planning period and drop-in sessions will be scheduled.
Key dates: Original budget amendments will only be allowed during the first two weeks of budget planning, from June 1 to June 15. Adjustment budget amendments will be allowed after June 15.
As we approach the end of the semester, we ask that all departments that bill to student accounts submit any outstanding charges as soon as possible. Timely billing is especially critical this year for two reasons:
1. Diploma Pickup Deadline – For graduating seniors, please submit all charges no later than Friday, May 15. This gives our office time to notify students of outstanding balances and allows them the opportunity to resolve any amounts due before diploma pickup day on Friday, May 22.
2. SFIS to Workday Student Transition – As you may know, we are scheduled to transition our student financial system from SFIS to Workday Student on July 1. To ensure all activity is captured accurately in the current system before cutover, it is essential that student account billing is submitted promptly and not deferred.
When submitting charges, please be sure to use the Spring ’26 term code: 1261.
6. EXPENSE REPORTS – Agendas and Audits
Conference Documentation
When submitting conference fees, please remember to include the full conference agenda. This allows us to verify the business purpose and identify any meals already included in the registration. Per university policy, we do not reimburse individual meal expenses if those meals were provided by the event.
Audit Verifications
To ensure compliance, the Finance Office performs periodic random audits on expense and purchasing card activity. Our student worker, Kenji Kono, may reach out to you for supporting documentation. Given the rise in email phishing, we appreciate your diligence in verifying requests; please rest assured that Kenji is a member of our team and his inquiries are legitimate.
7. PAYMENTS TO NON US CITIZENS
This is a busy time of year for processing of prizes to students. All prizes are taxable to the students, however, a prize made to a Non US citizen requires a withholding of 30% for federal taxes. This percentage will default into the Default Withholding Tax Code section of the Supplier Invoice if the recipient is a Non US citizen. A requisition is not required. The Student Payment attachment should accompany the Workday Supplier Invoice.
8. REVENUE DRIVEN BUDGET CHANGES
If your cost center receives a new spendable gift, you will be able to see this as an increase to your budget in the BvA Gifts and Endowments report in your Financial Reporting Dashboard under the column heading Revenue Driven Budget Changes. The idea is that the new gift revenue has given you additional budget to spend.
Please note: to protect donor confidentiality, donor information is not visible when drilling into the amount.