2021/22 Fiscal Year-End Close & Reminder, budgets due in BPS next Wednesday July 20
Dear Finance Colleagues,
Below is the annual memo outlining key dates for year-end close tasks. Reminder, budgets are due next Wednesday, July 20 in BPS.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Department & Program Administrators
FROM: Jim Henry, Chief Financial Officer
Blake Grenier, Associate Director of Finance
SUBJECT: 2021/22 Fiscal Year-End Close
DATE: July 11, 2022
We’re writing with this year’s plan for the 2021/22 fiscal year-end close. The year-end close process for the School of Humanities and Sciences has not changed from last year. This year we will continue to use the suite of reports provided on the H&S Financial Dashboard, including the OB and Non-OB reports. More details are included in the OB and Non-OB Close Tasks sections below.
Training Sessions
Year-end close process review sessions will be held on:
- Thursday, August 4, from 2:10 pm – 3:00 pm
- Wednesday, August 10, from 10:10 am – 11:00 am
We will review the basic close process, demonstrate how to use the year-end close reports and discuss how to communicate instructions for closing the operating budget and covering deficits in restricted funds. We’ll also provide reminders on how to download from the finance repository and upload to your WIP folder. Recently the finance repository moved from BOX to Google as a result, the Finance Repository web page has a new look and feel.
Key Dates
As in prior years, turn-around times are very tight. Key University dates are provided below and on Fingate:
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Wednesday, 08/03 |
Final day to clear aging P-Card, T-Card, & Advance Transactions from quarter 3. Force cleared transactions will be posted on Friday August 5. (If transactions are force cleared, click here to follow next steps). |
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Wednesday, 08/10 |
AP, Expense Request & T-Card transactions submitted by 5pm, approved by 11:00pm |
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Monday, 08/15 |
OSA (org suspense account): Labor Distribution Adjustments to clear OSA for pay periods thru 7/31 submittal and approval deadline (5pm) |
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Friday, 08/19 |
P-Card approval deadline (4pm) A/P invoice upload deadline (5pm) |
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Monday, 9/05 |
Labor Day Holiday |
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Tuesday, 09/06 |
Last day of Soft Close
Salary & A/P org suspense accounts clearing (OSA for pay periods thru 8/31)
Final LDA deadline for all salary corrections/reallocations (originate by 5pm and approve by 7pm)
iJournal deadline for non-salary expenditure corrections/reallocations submitted and approved (5pm) |
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Wednesday, 09/07 |
Soft close reports available in OBI (8am) |
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Wednesday 09/07- Tuesday 09/20 |
Finance Team completes final transactions for close. Your availability for questions is appreciated. Please hold all non-close-related questions until Wednesday September 21. |
Here are some key H&S dates to turn in your year-end close instructions to your Finance liaison. Details can be found in the sections below.
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Wednesday, 08/17 |
Confirm with your liaison all remaining HandSOn commitment transfer amounts and provide instructions to process or carryforward |
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Wednesday, 08/24 |
Provide your liaison with faculty salary grants and contracts saving transfer amounts and PTAs (only applies to departments) |
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Wednesday, 08/24 |
Provide your liaison with Cost Share Funding instructions for those Cost Share Awards still in overdraft (Use the Non-OB report to identify these Cost Share Awards in overdraft) |
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Wednesday, 08/31 |
Upload annotated year-end close OB and non-OB reports with remaining instructions for the close into your Finance Repository WIP folder |
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Wednesday, 09/07 |
Only if there is a significant change, upload revised year-end close OB and non-OB reports with updated instructions based on Soft Close balances |
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Wednesday, 09/07 |
Provide endowment capitalization and income exception instructions to your liaison |
Operating Budget Close Tasks
Review year-end close report; provide closing instructions
- Use the Fund Balance Review OB report with fiscal year-to-date actuals to review your year-end operating budget funding status. This report is available through the H&S Financial Dashboard in OBI. Export the report in Excel, project year-end numbers and create your year-end close plan with instructions for covering any anticipated deficits or for pulling back unused departmental funding. Upload your initial plan to your WIP folder in the Finance Repository by Wednesday August 31st.
- Instructions for running reports can be found here: Final Year-End OBI Reporting -Job Aid
- Run the same report on Wednesday September 7th with August soft close numbers. Compare these numbers to the projections you made on the earlier report. Only if the numbers differ materially, update your plan, inform your liaison, and upload the new plan to your WIP folder no later than end of the day Wednesday September 7th.
Budget savings
- As announced earlier this year, all budget savings will be kept by departments & programs. Units do not need to submit a request for budget savings. Please use this opportunity to maximize your use of restricted funds and release general funds to your Budget Savings award.
Non-Operating Budget Close Tasks
HandSOn summer ninth & other commitment transfers
- Your Finance liaison will upload a commitments report to your Finance Repository folder by Wednesday August 10. Annotate your report with any remaining transfers to be made for fiscal year-end and upload the completed report to your WIP folder by Wednesday August 17th.
- To run your own reports, follow the instructions here: HandSOn Commitment Reporting Job Aid
Funding instructions for restricted fund deficits
- Use the Fund Balance Review Non-OB report with fiscal year-to-date actuals to identify any non-sponsored funds in overdraft that you haven’t already cleared through appropriate expense iJournals. Export the OBI report in Excel, provide instructions for resolving overdrafts and upload your plan to the Finance Intranet WIP folder by Wednesday August 31st.
Please remember to factor in infrastructure charges where appropriate!
Faculty salary savings transfers
- A reminder and detailed instructions for this process will be sent separately. Verify grants and contracts salary savings and annotate your report with any corrections and projections. Upload annotated reports to your WIP folder by Wednesday August 24th.
Cost Share Accounts
- Funding transfers for cost share accounts are made by H&S, rather than by OSR.
- H&S Finance will take a first pass by funding applicable faculty salary charges by July close. Please review Cost Share Awards for remaining deficits after faculty salary funding transfers have posted.
- Funding instructions for the department’s portion of cost shares should be submitted to your H&S Finance liaison by Wednesday August 24th.
Capitalization & endowment exception instructions
- Provide instructions for payout reinvestment and endowment income exceptions to your finance Liaison no later than Wednesday September 7th (earlier is far better!). Capitalization requests will be reviewed by Steve Olson, Jim Henry and Development, and then forwarded to Fund Accounting by Finance.
The H&S Financial Dashboard, including the OB and Non-OB reports and the Faculty Salary G&C Savings report, is available as a link from the H&S Finance Website. Scroll to the Quick Links at the center of the page for the Dashboard and other helpful links.
As always, please contact your Finance liaison if you have questions about the close process. Tight University deadlines and the large number of H&S units make this annual process uniquely challenging. Many thanks in advance for your hard work and attentiveness to the year-end process and deadlines.
Best,
Blake Grenier
Associate Director of Finance
The School of Humanities and Sciences