This issue of the Financial Management Office Newsletter includes information about the following:
- Equipment – FY 2024 Annual Inventory Verification Report
- Payment Request (PREQ) Reminders
- Disbursement Voucher (DV) Reminders
- Research Participant Compensation Guidelines
- Prize Distribution Guidelines
- Third Party Payment Guidelines
- Reminder: How to Properly Disencumber a Pre-Encumbrance (PE)
- Resources
The Financial Management Office Newsletter is distributed monthly. Should you have any questions about this newsletter, contact Amy Kunz via email: amykunz@hawaii.edu.
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Equipment – FY 2024 Annual Inventory Verification Report
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Staff
The PDF files of the annual inventory verification reports have been posted to your FO folder in PageCenterX : KFS → CAM → CMT002-Annual_Inventory_Verification_Report.pdf. Import Date is 2024/07/02.
- Fiscal Administrators (FAs) should forward a copy of the annual report to each custodial department as well as a copy of the Annual Inventory Verification Report Instructions for performing the actual physical inventory verification in accordance with AP 8.540 – Physical Inventory. The custodial department should assign personnel other than the asset representative or principal investigator to conduct the physical inventory and certify the report.
- FAs should also forward a separate copy of the annual report to each asset representative (as applicable) for their information and review. As a reminder, asset representatives should not perform the physical inventory of property under their custody nor certify the report.
- Departments are reminded that property shall not be disposed, cannibalized, salvaged, or transferred until the appropriate KFS approvals have been obtained (ref. AP 8.543, Property and Equipment Transfer and Retirement).
The completed PDF copies of the annual reports (all pages per asset representative) and certification (digital signature accepted) should be e-mailed to caao@hawaii.edu no later than Friday, October 11, 2024.
Should you have any questions or would like to request for an Excel copy of your equipment inventory, please email caao@hawaii.edu.
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Payment Request (PREQ) Reminders
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
As we start the new fiscal year, here are a few reminders to help facilitate payments via PO:
- LABELING
- Label file name in proper format. (PO #_Invoice #_first 3 letters of vendor)
- Identify Contract Payments in email subject line. (PO #_Contract #_Invoice #_first 3 letters of vendor)
- Identify Wire Transfer Payments in email subject line. (WIRE_PO #_Invoice #_first three letters of the vendor)
- Identify Rent Payments in the email subject line. (RENT_PO #_Invoice #_first three letters of the vendor)
- Invoices must be saved, labeled and submitted as separate files.
- PURCHASE ORDERS
- PO is in OPEN status and has sufficient encumbrance.
- Vendor name on PO and invoice must match.
- Remit address is current on KFS vendor record.
- DO NOT use the additional charge lines on the PO. Tax, freight, etc, should be line items in the process items section.
- INVOICES
- Write or circle on the invoice the following: Invoice date, Invoice amount, Invoice number, PO Number, Remittance address, and Customer/account/reference number.
- Write PO #_Invoice #_First 3 letters of vendor on the invoice
- Include the aging start date on the invoice and write the date the invoice and goods/services were received.
- Provide breakdown for POs with multiple item line #s on the invoice.
- We do not short pay invoices – request for a revised invoice or provide an email from vendor authorizing short pay.
- Invoices dated over one year require a late payment memo (from the department).
- Invoices and credit memos must be attached to the same email.
- We cannot enter negative numbers on the PREQ. Discounts should be netted out from a line item.
- Invoices labeled as “duplicate,” “copy” or “reprint” must be certified as original.
- SSNs, credit card numbers, PPI, etc. must be redacted prior to submission.
- ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES
- On any forms requiring signatures, if the signature is in “script font”, validation of the electronic signature is required. Most common validation is the digital time stamp. EP 2.216 addresses acceptable electronic signatures. In order to be an acceptable approval/signature, the signature must meet all the requirements listed in III.M.3.
- DISBURSING FORMS
- Please ensure you are using the most current form(s) when submitting.
- Non-Employee Invoice (NEI) form must have original signature or signature audit log attached.
- DISB 37 Special Handle forms must be approved and signed by JR Kashiwamura, Director, prior to submission.
Invoices that do not meet the above criteria, will be returned for correction.
For questions, please call the Disbursing Office at (808) 956-5535.
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Disbursement Voucher (DV) Reminders
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
As we start the new fiscal year, here are a few reminders to help facilitate payments via DV:
- OVERTIME MILEAGE
- Mileage claims on a regular work day, please note in the DV whether the employee had two roundtrips home on that day to be eligible for the overtime mileage. Per AP 8.852, III, B, 1, c, 2 “…If the travel is due to overtime work on a normal work day, reimbursement for mileage may be allowed only for the miles in excess of one roundtrip between home and the regular place of business.”
- PERSONAL AUTOMOBILE MILEAGE VOUCHER – DISB 33
- Should be submitted after the end of each month rather than multiple times for the same month. Refer to AP 8.852, III, D, 2. The exception would be if the employee’s bargaining unit requires the need for multiple submissions.
- EXPIRED ACCOUNTS
- If the goods and services date is after the account expiration, approval to use the expired account needs to be obtained PRIOR to submitting the DV to Disbursing. For ORS accounts that start with 4, 5 or 6, send an ad hoc to ORS COMPLIANCE and obtain their approval before submitting the DV to Disbursing. For non-ORS accounts, the department needs to obtain appropriate approvals or use another account code.
- EMPLOYEE REIMBURSEMENTS OVER $500
- Add to the DV notes or attach support as to why the preferred method of payment by PO or PCard was not utilized.
- FORM 136
- Effective July 1, 2024, Manoa Office of Business and Finance, requires the use of the Kuali Build Form 136 for Manoa Units. https://manoa.hawaii.edu/uhmbf/2024/06/05/ma_kb_form_136/ .
If the purchase is for promotional items that is outlined in the attached memo dated 3/15/24, then a Form 136 is required.
- Effective July 1, 2024, Manoa Office of Business and Finance, requires the use of the Kuali Build Form 136 for Manoa Units. https://manoa.hawaii.edu/uhmbf/2024/06/05/ma_kb_form_136/ .
- FUTURE INVOICE DATES
- KFS does not allow us to process invoices with future dates. Please submit to Disbursing only current or past invoice dates.
- ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES
- On any forms requiring signatures, if the signature is in “script font”, validation of the electronic signature is required. Most common validation is the digital time stamp. EP 2.216 addresses acceptable electronic signatures. In order to be an acceptable approval/signature, the signature must meet all the requirements listed in III.M.3.
DVs that do not meet the above criteria, will be returned for correction.
For questions, please call the Disbursing Office at (808) 956-5535.
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Research Participant Compensation Guidelines
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
FAQs regarding research participant compensation have been added to the FMO website:
Payment/Reimbursement -> FAQs Disbursing -> Research Participant Compensation.
If a cash advance is being requested, instructions have also been added and are located in the Disbursing Forms section. Also added is the Sample List of Participants and a sample Cash Advance Promissory Note.
Payment/Reimbursement -> Forms – Disbursing -> Miscellaneous Forms
For questions, please call Jan Murakami at (808) 956-6874.
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Prize Distribution Guidelines
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
FAQs regarding Prize Distributions have been added to the FMO website:
Payment/Reimbursement -> FAQs Disbursing -> Prize Distribution
For questions, please call Jan Murakami at (808) 956-6874.
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Third Party Payment Guidelines
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
FAQs regarding Third Party Payments have been added to the FMO website:
Payment/Reimbursement -> FAQs Disbursing -> Third Party Payments
The third party payment forms for US Citizens & Resident Aliens and NRAs have also been added to the Disbursing Forms section.
Payment/Reimbursement -> Forms – Disbursing -> Miscellaneous Forms
For questions, please call Jan Murakami at (808) 956-6874.
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Reminder: How to Properly Disencumber a Pre-Encumbrance (PE)
Target Audience: KFS Users
At the end of Fiscal Year 2024, the Fiscal Services Office (FSO) received many requests to assist with clearing negative PE encumbrance balances. These negative balances resulted from incorrectly processed disencumbrance PEs.
Reminders for disencumbrance PEs:
- If an auto-reversal date was entered on the encumbrance PE, a manual disencumbrance PE is NOT needed.
- Only encumbrances for extramurally funded accounts administered by the Office of Research Services, otherwise known as Contracts and Grants (CG) accounts are carried forward to the next Fiscal Year. Do not disencumber amounts from prior Fiscal Years for non-CG accounts.
- Enter the information in the Disencumbrance section of the PE.
- The disencumbrance amount cannot exceed the encumbrance amount.
- The Reference Number should be the original PE document number.
- The accounting line information (account, sub-account, object code and sub-object code) must match the encumbrance PE accounting line information.
- A disencumbrance PE is tied to the original encumbrance PE (by the Reference Number field). Processing a new encumbrance PE will NOT offset a negative PE balance.
- Negative PE balances can only be cleared by a Journal Voucher (JV). Please submit a KFS Trouble Ticket to clear negative balances.
There are several FAQs on how to properly disencumber PEs on the Financial Systems FAQs page, in the Financial Processing section. There is also a Pre-Encumbrance User Guide. Please take the time to review the FAQs and User Guide to ensure your department is processing disencumbrance PEs properly. Please also share these resources with anyone in your department who submits or approves PEs.
Should you have any questions, please contact the Fiscal Services Office via email at fissrv@hawaii.edu.