Happy Summer!
This issue of the newsletter includes information about the following:
* New Computer Cluster Policy!
* Great New Customizations in eProcurement!!!
* Financial Accounting Needs Your Help for Year End Reporting!
* New Payroll (Benefit) Load Rates are Now Available
* NSF Cost Sharing Changes!
* Effort for No-Cost Extensions
* Biennium Close 2005-2007 Webpage
* New Look and Feel to Financial Services Web Pages
* Financial Management Operational Dashboard
* eTravel Project Update
* FEC Form Changes Coming
*******************************************************************************
New Computer Cluster Policy!
Beginning July 1, 2007, the University will implement a Computer Cluster Policy,
which will allow a computer cluster to be treated as a single equipment asset.
This policy was developed by a team consisting of research faculty, Financial
Management's Equipment Inventory Office, the Office of Sponsored Programs, and
Management Accounting and Analysis.
As a result of this policy, components that comprise a cluster will, in essence,
be considered equipment, thus indirect charges will not apply.
Please visit the below links to view the policy, criteria and cluster object
codes:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finacct/eio/homepage/clusterpolicy.htm
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finacct/obcodes/#06
Please contact Erin Fay at erinc1@u.washington.edu with questions/concerns.
*******************************************************************************
Great New Customizations in eProcurement!!!
In the spirit of improving your ordering experience, eProcurement and the Office
of Information Management have been working together in order to provide the
following enhancements.
* Better visibility of budget information
* Phone numbers on packing slips
For more detailed information and additional changes, please visit
http://www.washington.edu/admin/stores/eprocurement/
*******************************************************************************
Financial Accounting Needs Your Help for Year End Reporting!
Every fiscal year-end, the Financial Accounting Office (FAO) sends surveys to
departments requesting inventory, accounts receivable, and deferred revenue
balances. We record these items on the University's balance sheet at June 30.
* Accounts receivable surveys were emailed on June 7 to those
departments that do not currently use the Invoice Receivable System
managed by Student Fiscal Services. Please return the surveys to the
Financial Accounting Office (FAO) no later than July 19, 2007.
* Inventory surveys have already been mailed, and are due back by
July 15.
* The deferred revenue surveys were mailed on June 8; they requested
amounts of any revenue received by a department on or before June 30
for a service, sale, or class that will not take place until July 1 or later.
Please return them to FAO by July 18, 2007.
Departments who have any of these items to report and did not receive surveys
should contact Nancy Treibel at treibel@u.washington.edu, or at 206-543-8803.
*******************************************************************************
New Payroll (Benefit) Load Rates are Now Available
The Benefit Load Rates that are effective for the July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008
fiscal year are now on the Web, along with prior years' rates. These rates
will be effective for the first pay period in July, and are available at the
following site:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finacct/loadrate.html
Also, as a result of customer feedback, we have added a link on the same page to
detailed load rates (by type of benefit).
*******************************************************************************
NSF Cost Sharing Changes!
National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced that it is phasing out both
program-specific cost sharing and the 1% statutory cost sharing requirement on
unsolicited proposals. These changes will be reflected in the terms and conditions
of new awards or supplements issued after June 1, 2007. Awards issued before June
1st will continue to carry the 1% requirement or may have program-specific cost
sharing requirements that must be met.
Contact RAA post award compliance at gcafco@u.washington.edu for additional
information.
*******************************************************************************
Effort for No-Cost Extensions
Two new questions have been added to the Office of Sponsored Projects web site that
addresses faculty effort during no cost extensions. (OSP no-cost extension web
site: http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/nocost.html).
These questions bring attention to the provision that awards with approved no-cost
extensions remain subject to the full terms and conditions of the award including
any effort commitments. If necessary, OSP will prompt campus customers for a GC-1
addendum to extend cost sharing commitments into the no-cost extension period
which GCA will enter into the Faculty Effort System as a cost sharing commitment.
Faculty effort continues to be an area of interest for federal auditors.
Contact RAA post award compliance at gcafco@u.washington.edu for additional
information.
*******************************************************************************
Biennium Close 2005-2007 Webpage
We are well into coordinating Biennium Close activities. Please note that as
deadlines approach, it is advisable to get your orders, invoices and journal
vouchers and other documents in now to ensure proper recording.
Information regarding the Biennium Close process, updated document processing
cut off dates and contact information is available on the UW Administrative
Gateway at:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/payables/bienniumclose.html
*******************************************************************************
New Look and Feel to Financial Services Web Pages
We heard you! In an effort to provide clear, concise and easily accessible
information, we have made a few modifications to our Financial Services web pages.
These improvements were inspired by valuable feedback from a series of campus
customer feedback sessions held by the Accounts Payable Customer Service
Improvement Team.
Please take a look and update your bookmarks to our new pages:
* Financial Services Portal:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/index.html
* Accounts Payable:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/payables/index.html
* Accounting & Banking Operations:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/bankops/index.html
* Procurement Card:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/procard/
* UW Travel:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/travel/
We will continue to update these pages to enhance and clarify information to
assist you in managing your payables activities.
If you have feedback or need other information, please contact Donna Andreason
at 206 685-0448, or donnaand@u.washington.edu.
*******************************************************************************
Financial Management Operational Dashboard
Do you know that Financial Management produces a quarterly report with real
data on performance for such activities as travel and student aid reimbursements,
creation of new grant budget accounts, and invoice payments? We call this our
Operational Dashboard and our latest performance report can be found at:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finmgmt/fmqi/dashboard.htm
*******************************************************************************
eTravel Project Update
The eTravel Project has recently reached two significant project milestones:
* The Process Improvement Team has completed the ARIBA Expense Report
screen design requirements. Campus feedback was critical in the
design development and the result will ultimately replace the manual Travel
Expense Voucher (TEV). Next steps will include technical
development, followed by campus customer testing.
* In late May we held several campus sessions to receive input from
customers regarding the pre-travel authorization form and to begin
work to develop ASTRA roles and authorizations.
For more details about the eTravel project, including more News and Updates,
please visit the project website at:
http://www.washington.edu/admin/finserv/travel/etravel.html
*******************************************************************************
FEC Form Changes Coming
In response to several customer requests, departments will see some changes to
the FEC form in July. For both the quarterly and semi-annual reports, the
information and layout will remain substantially the same. However, the sections
will be renumbered with a few minor changes in the labels. In addition, the
cost share section of the semi-annual reports will include the following revisions:
Instead of two columns, "% Pledged" and "6 Mo Avg" there will now be only one
column "Avg Monthly % Pledged". This column will reflect the average monthly
cost share commitment and form the basis for completion of the "Actual %" cost
share column.
Should you have questions or feedback concerning these changes please contact
Suzette Ashby at 685-7395.
*******************************************************************************
|
