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Clearing Aging Transactions

Clearing Aging Transactions and SU Card Management

Job Aid

Purpose

To highlight specific policies in the Stanford University Admin Guide that govern aging P-Card, T-Card, out of pocket, and Advance transactions. 

Stanford University Admin Guide policies state that expenditure transactions are to be verified and processed within 60 days of when the expenditure occurred (e.g., when an item was purchased, travel took place, or a cash advance was utilized):

The School of Humanities and Sciences Finance Office encourages all management to review your outstanding PCard, TCard, Advance, and Expense Request transactions on a monthly basis and to take what actions you can to keep up-to-date with these transactions.  In addition, please review the SU Credit Card Custodian report periodically to be sure your unit’s credit card profiles are up-to-date; doing so will help ensure that you will be able to clear transactions successfully.

Financial Management Services will be introducing a new process to start in 2021/22 that force clear outstanding transactions quarterly. 

Aging Review Process

You can monitor aging transactions by using reports created by Financial Management Services and contained in the “Expense Requests and SU Card Activity” dashboard in OBI. 

 

The three Aging reports you should run and review are:

 

 

Note that for these three reports, no dates are required; reports should list all aging transactions according to how many days they have aged.  The recommended search criteria to complete is just your organization, though other criteria are available for more specific searching:

 

 

Clear transactions at least monthly if possible, and certainly before they age 60 days.   Fingate contains instructions on how to clear transactions for:

 

 

A number of circumstances can sometimes make the clearing of various transactions complicated.  See the list of Frequently Asked Questions at the end of this document for more details.

SU Card Management

In addition to reviewing Aging transactions, H&S Finance recommends regular review of SU Card profiles via the SU Credit Card Custodian report:

 

 

After reviewing the report, certain users may request updates to credit card profiles (e.g., Card Verifiers, Card Guarantee Accounts, Card Limits, and Card Status) by selecting the “Credit Card Profiles Change Request” module in Oracle Financials.  It is especially important to update card profiles when there is staff turnover, but a quarterly review is good practice in any event.  [NOTE:  Changes to Card Approvers (i.e., those individuals who may approve changes to the cards themselves) may only be requested via HelpSU.]

 

 

Specific instructions on how to manage Stanford Purchasing Card (PCard)/Travel Card(TCard) Account Profiles can be found on Fingate.

Because aged transactions assigned to inactive verifiers or approvers can still be in the accounting system in “limbo,” they can be particularly difficult to clear.  To avoid this issue, when updating verifiers in the Credit Card Profiles Change Request System, select the checkbox to “transfer pending transactions” to the new verifier.  This indicator lets the system know to transfer any existing transactions that may be currently in the old verifier’s queue to the new verifier making them visible so they can be cleared.

 

Clearing Aging Transactions and SU Card Management

Questions and Answers

Advances

Q1:  I have an Aging Advance transaction for someone who is no longer at the University.  How do I go about clearing it?

A1:  You must submit a HelpSU ticket.

Q2:  The OBI Aging Advances report shows that my Advance has aged beyond 120 days (based on Advance Expected Clearing Date), but when I checked with HelpSU, they showed me a screenshot that confirmed a Settlement Date in the future.  Which information do I trust?  And how can I run a report that shows my “truly” aging advances?

A2:  The settlement date rules in this instance.  FMS is working on improving the Aging Advances report to reflect the correct aging information; in the meantime, you should submit a HelpSU request for any aging advances on the OBI Aging Advances report that appear to have an incorrect Expected Clearing Date.

Q3:  Sometimes Human Subject studies can take longer than the quarterly force-clearing period, and we don’t want these to be force-cleared until after the study is complete.  How do you calculate the aging date for these?

A3:  For Advances, the Advance Expected Clearing Date drives the aging calculation.  Request changes to this date via a Service Support (HelpSU) request and include the business reason for the date extension.  Note:  There is a “known issue” with the Advance Expected Clearing Date in the OBI Advances-Aging report; please contact HelpSU if you have questions about the Advance Expected Clearing Date from this report.

PCards and TCards

Q4:  I have an Aging PCard transaction, which is pending approval by someone who no longer has approval authority for my organization.  What can I do to gain access to this transaction to finish processing/posting it?

A4:  You must contact HelpSU to have them “unstick” the transaction and return it to a verifier who can reroute it for approval.

Q5:  I am the verifier for a PCard that shows an aging transaction which is not in my queue.  What can I do to get the transaction into my queue so I can clear it?

A5:  You can utilize the Credit Card Profile Change Request system to update the verifier for these transactions.  After selecting that you wish to change the verifier, make sure that the selection for “Transfer Pending Transactions” is marked to “Yes” as well.

Q6:  I need to make changes to the attributes for a PCard (e.g., Card Verifier, Card Limit, Default PTA), but it does not show up when I go to the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system.  Why not?  What can I do to gain access to the card to make changes?

A6:  You must be either the Card Approver, the Card Verifier, or the Card Custodian to request changes to a card in the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system.  If you are not one of these three individuals, you must contact one of the three to make changes or submit a HelpSU request.

Q7:  I have financial authority over the default PTA for a given card, but when I go into the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system, I can’t see the card in order to make changes to it.  Why not?

A7:  You must be either the Card Approver, the Card Verifier, or the Card Custodian to request changes to a card in the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system.  If you are not one of these three individuals, you must contact one of the three to make changes or submit a HelpSU request.

Q8:  What is the difference between Card Approver and Financial Approver?

A8:  The Card Approver is typically the individual who first approved an application for a card (sometimes the individual’s supervisor and sometimes the Financial Approver for a unit).  The Card Approver can make and approve changes to card attributes in the Credit Card Change Request system.  Because supervisors (especially faculty supervisors) would not want to go into the Credit Card Change Request system and make edits themselves, In April and May of 2020/21, H&S went through a massive review of Card Approvers to make sure that they were appropriate individuals to make future changes.  Financial Approval authority is based solely on Authority Manager records, and the Financial Approver is the individual responsible for reviewing individual card transactions in Oracle.

Q9:  I am a DFO or Program Manager.  Who should be the Card Approver for a card in my name?

A9:  The Card Approver for a card issued in the name of a Program Manager or DFO should typically be your H&S finance liaison or other appropriate Dean’s Office representative.  It should never be an individual who reports to you and it is not recommended that it be your Department Chair, because this individual should be able and willing to go into the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system and make edits.

Q10:  How do we clear items for employees separated from the University after we have closed their PCards?

A10:  Use the Credit Card Profiles Change Request system in Oracle to change the verifier on the card. Pending transactions on that card will move to the new verifier if you select the box for “Transfer Pending Transactions.”

Q11:  Are there controls on the Guarantee PTA for our cards?

A11:  Yes, there are controls on this.  Only non-sponsored, non-restricted (typically operating or general faculty support) PTAs should be used.

Q12:  If I am currently acting as temporary custodian for a department card (e.g., for a more prolonged period beyond a simple vacation), should I update the Card Custodian name on file?

A12:  Yes, definitely update the Card Custodian name on file via the Credit Card Change Request system.

Q13:  How will you calculate the aging date for TCard purchases related to travel that may span many months?

A13:  For TCards, the “Expense End Date” indicates when the travel should be completed and is therefore used to calculate the aging category; this can be as far as 2 years into the future (this used to be 1 year; but has now been extended to 2 years because of canceled travel related to the pandemic).

Q14:  How will you calculate the aging date for PCard purchases?

A14:  For PCards, the “SU Credit Card Transaction Posted Date” drives the aging category.

Expense Requests

Q15:  I have an airline voucher that is good for two years from the original date of travel, but the Expense Request system will only allow me to extend the date two years from the original date of purchase.  How should I proceed?

A15:  Answer still TBD.

Q16:  If a department wants to cancel an expense request rather than clear it, do they submit a HelpSU ticket?

A16:  The original preparer of the transaction can go into the expense request system, review the pending transaction list, and delete the appropriate transaction.  If the original preparer is no longer available, then submit a HelpSU ticket and FMS will move the transaction to another individual’s queue of your choosing.

General

Q17:  What if we don’t have receipts from a terminated employee to clear transactions?

A17:  Add a note in the business purpose that the originator is no longer here.  Also be sure to check the box for missing receipts in the PCard system, whereby you’re attesting that the purchases were made on behalf of the university, but no receipts are available.  Finally, please include language to the effect that every effort was made to obtain original documentation; the transaction is being cleared to avoid force-clearing; and the unit will maintain better control over future purchases.

Q18:  How far back does the Oracle Workbench of pending transactions go?  Does it just list current transactions or all pending transactions?  What transactions should we see there?

A18:  It lists all pending transactions regardless of the date.  The workbench is organized around individual originators, so you should see all of your own pending transactions.

Q19:  How do you suggest proceeding with change requests if the “change to be approved by” field only populates with your own name?

A19:  The system should display other names in that field; if you experience this system bug, please submit a Service Support (HelpSU) request.

Q20:  If there appear to be errors on the dates for an aging report, can the department change the dates?

A20:  Departments may update the Expense End Date on TCard transactions in the Expense Request system only when there is a valid reason to do so, such as when travel is expected to end at a future date or for COVID travel cancellations for which there is credit to be used in future.  Extending an Expense End Date without a valid reason or to gain more time to clear the transaction is not allowed.  Update this to change the aging calculation.

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