FINANCE

FINANCE Making Financial Inquiries in CU's Finance System

WELCOMEThis course is part of a suite of courses required for Financial System access at CU. It complements the online Skill Soft course, Financial-Inquiry, but also offers trainees:

the opportunity to run financial reports in a practice database

the ability to ask questions specific to individual department environments

key policy overview and additional resources

You'll be able to view it online any time you need a refresher; you need not be at a campus computer.

Course OverviewThere's a lot to learn about CU's Financial System...don't worry about retaining all the information we go over today (see the chart below for a subject matter overview); just make sure you remember what documents and help resources are available for you...like this training course, which will always be in its most current status on the web!FISCAL CULTURE DATA STRUCTURE NAVIGATION REPORTING RESOURCES

Driving Forces

Policy Hierarchy

Security and Confidentiality

Chartfields

FOPPS and Speedtypes

Dictionary

Fund Groups

Account Codes

Practice Database

Step-by-Step Guides

Report Generation

Report Types

Report Parameters

Tutorials

Links

Fiscal CultureCU's operations are organized into Organizational Units that develop and execute plans to carry out the University's mission and achieve its objectives. These units obtain and utilize resources, the financial impact of which is accumulated and summarized in the University's financial records. Key elements of CU's fiscal culture are:

Public, tax-exempt institution -- creates greater public scrutiny subject to more laws and regulations subject to legislative oversight subject to State budget process

Elected governing board -- direction subject to political process. Decentralized accounting structure -- relies on many people with

diverse educational and experiential backgrounds for financial statement accuracy.

Federally funded research -- subjects CU to federal regulations. Confidentiality of sensitive personal information, including protected

patient data.

Driving Forces:Policy Hierarchy

The University has implemented policies at various levels to ensure compliance and accountability. Following are key elements of the policy structure.

Policy search page

Driving Forces: CU Regents and External Forces

The Regents of the University of Colorado sit atop our policy hierarchy, and create laws and policies that lower level policies, like APS, PPS, and campus-specific policies strive to support:

Laws of the Regents Policies of the Regents

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which defines best-practices in fiscal management (after the accounting and auditing misconduct that took place at the turn of the century - Enron, WorldCom, etc.) is the driving force behind many of CU's Administrative Policy Statements:

Fiscal Roles and Responsibilities Fiscal Code of Ethics Fiscal Certification Officer Disclosure of Interests

Driving Forces:Transparency and Accountability

Other factors, like the need for transparency and accountability in fiscal management, have impacted Administrative Policy Statements and PSC Procedural Statements:

Propriety of Expenses Sensitive Expenses Alcohol Purchase and Provision Campus Alcohol Policy Event with Alcohol Form CU Foundation Transfers Recognition and Training

Driving Forces:Sponsor and Campus PoliciesCU's sponsors, who provide much of our funding, have their own policies, such as: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide NIH Grants Policy Statement

It's not necessary for you to become an expert at interpreting sponsor policies - for UCD integrates them into our own campus policies in order to ensure compliance and consistency: UCD Fiscal Policies

Driving Forces: Security and Confidentiality

The University has implemented policies concerning the acceptable use of university IT resources, and the security and confidentiality of CU data:

Acceptable Use Use only authorized access Do no harm Limit personal use Comply with statutes, regulations, and policies Access is conditional upon agreement

Data Security and Confidentiality Practice Requirements

Use university data only for university business Protect personal data Maintain security of University data Protect HIPAA data

Driving Forces:Internal Controls

Separation of duties Three jobs▪ Handling money▪ Billing and booking▪ Reconciling

Split among at least two people Approval

Knowledgeable Authority to challenge

Review of financial reports monthly By person not handling money or entering transactions Detail and overview Correct errors Suspicious transactions. Fraud Hotline

Data Structure: Chartfields

Cu's financial data coding structure uses “chartfields", which consist of ten blocks (database fields) of information that tell the system precisely how to record a transaction. Some values are defaulted, some are optional, and the others are required to be entered by the system user:

Business Unit - Defaults to UCOLO. Fund - Identifies the source of the money being received and spent. You'll learn much more about funds as we go...Organization - Identifies the campus/department/school/reporting division spending or receiving the funds. Program - Identifies a fiscal-year based University activity. OR Project - Identifies a non-fiscal-year-based University activity.Sub-Classification - Optional - Allows financial tracking of related activities under a main activity. Account - Describes the asset, liability, revenue, expense or transfer in a transaction. This is another important term that we'll discuss quite a bit later in this course. Budget Year - Defaults to the current fiscal year. You'll learn more details about CU's fiscal year later in this course. Statistics Code - Optional - not used.Currency Code - Defaults to the US dollar (USD).

Data Structure:FOPPS & Speedtypes

The unique combination of the chart fields "fund + organization + program or project + subclass" (which you may recall is optional) describes a specific university entity, and is referred to as a FOPPS.

Each FOPPS, which could have up to 19 digits, has a shortcut for data entry, called a "speedtype". Speedtypes are 8 digit smart-numbers, that start with the campus code in the first digit position, followed by the fund in digit positions 2 and 3, followed by an auto generated five-digit number.

This diagram shows the relationship between a FOPP and a speedtype:

You'll recognize which campus a speedtype belongs to by its campus code (the first of the 8 speedtype digits):CAMPUS CODEBoulder 1Colorado Springs 4System Administration 5Denver and Anschutz 6

So, speedtype "13055555" is a Boulder speedtype in fund 30 (sponsored projects fund); speedtype "63412345" is a UC Denver speedtype in fund 34 (gift fund).

To learn more about the specific speedtypes you'll be working with, have your supervisor help you fill out "My Speedtypes - Sponsored Projects forms, and the Programs version.

Data Structure:Balance Sheet

99999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPER99999 – FINANCE OFFICE

61099999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPER MCMULLIN,

SHAUN

An asset is what you own; tangible or intangible property like cash, inventory, accounts receivable, etc.

A liability is what you owe, like payroll due or loan payments due

Net assets (AKA equity) are the difference between what you own and what you owe

The accounting equation (AKA the balance sheet equation states:Assets = Liabilities + Net Assets

Net assets (along with assets and/or liabilities) change as revenue is earned and as expenses are incurred.

Data Structure:Income Statement

61099999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPER10 – UNRESTRICTED GEN OPER99999 – FINANCE OFFICE99999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPERNO SUBCLASS

MCMULLIN, SHAUNMCMULLIN, SHAUN

Revenue results from the sale of goods or the rendering of services, and is recorded (and so increases net assets) when earned, not necessarily when payment is received.

An expenditure is a cost incurred in order to provide the goods or services an organization provides, and is recorded (and decreases net assets) at the time the cost is incurred, regardless of when payment is made.

Data Structure:Income Statement

Budget ledgers: a planned amount of revenue or expenditure. Some speedtypes don’t have budgets so this column would contain zeros.

61099999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPER10 – UNRESTRICTED GEN OPER99999 – FINANCE OFFICE99999 – FINANCE OFFICE OPERNO SUBCLASS

MCMULLIN, SHAUNMCMULLIN, SHAUN

Actual ledgers: a realized amount of revenue or expenditure. If no actual revenues or expenditures have occurred, the actuals column would contain zeros.

Encumbrance ledgers: a planned expenditure that commits University dollars but has not been realized yet. Examples of expenses that are encumbered are employees’ future salaries and benefits and purchase orders that have not been received.

Data Structure:Financial Statements

The balance sheet shows what an organization owns (assets) and what it owes (liabilities), and the difference (net assets) at a fixed point in time. The balance sheet changes as revenue and expenses are incurred.

The income statement shows how much money an organization made (revenue) and spent (expenditures) over a period of time. For the same reasons that we balance our checkbooks each month to ensure that the bank recorded our banking transactions correctly, it is imperative that financial managers at all levels review the financial statements related to their departmental activity, at least monthly, to ensure that transactions are recorded accurately and completely.

Data Structure:Journal Entries

Journal entries are used to record financial transactions in the general ledger – the repository of the debits and credits that is used to create financial statements. Some journal entries are performed manually by individual Finance System users, while other are uploaded through automated processes from subsystems.

Proper accounting practices seek to maintain the accounting equation – in other words, to balance the books. Each transaction has an equal amount of debits (recorded as positive numbers) and credits (recorded as negative numbers.) This convention is known as “double-entry accounting”, which helps prevent errors and ensures that each transaction keeps the organization’s accounting equation in balance.

61099999 Finance Office July Unearned RevFinance Office Oper61099999 Finance Office July Unearned RevFinance Office Oper

To move Finance Office unearned revenue to A/R for July 2011

0000999999

1

2

10 99999 99999

10 99999 99999

DEBIT

CREDIT

Data Structure:Fiscal Years and Periods

A fiscal year is a one-year period in which financial activity occurs, is recorded in the general ledger, and is summarized on financial statements. It does not necessarily follow the calendar year. CU’s fiscal year begins July 1st and ends June 30th.

An accounting period refers to a single month in the fiscal year. Since CU’s fiscal year begins in July, July is known as “accounting period 1”, August is “accounting period 2”, and so on.

Data Structure:Fund Groups

Data Structure:Account Codes

Account codes describe the type of transaction being recorded: revenue, expense, etc. CU has over 5000 account codes!

You can search for account codes in the Finance system too; you'll learn how in the next section, "Navigation".

Reporting:Report Generation

Reports are created from the data in reporting databases, after the financial transactions in production databases are copied into them overnight.

Reporting:On Demand Reports

Can be run by authorized Finance System users and anyone in a fiscal role at any time once logged in to the system through the portal

Can be run for one or more speedtypes within a single report; by speedtype, project, program, org/org node, subclass, or FOPPS

Can be run in a variety of formats: .html, .pdf, .xls, .csv, depending on your preference

Can be run for a variety of date ranges. For example, detail reports can now be run for more than a 12 month period

Reporting: CU Data

To learn how to navigate in the Reporting System, we'll log in through the portal. CU Denver/Anschutz Access Portal

There are step-by-step videos available on the University Controller's website: CU Data Training Videos

M-Fin Blog: Resource for updates and changes. http://www.cu.edu/blog/m-fin

Navigation:Logging In to View Reports

Use your regular campus logon.

Portal

Navigation:Logging In

Step #1Step #2

Step #3

Step #5

Step #4

Navigation:Viewing On Demand Reports

You’ll be taken to Home section. Click ‘Team content’ then ‘Finance’ to view report listing.

Once you click the Finance link, you’ll see a list of reports, arranged alphabetically, that you can run using a variety of parameters:

Navigation:Viewing On Demand Reports

SAMPLE: TRIAL BALANCE SUMMARY

Reporting:Report Parameters

Fiscal Year

From Accounting Period

To Accounting Period

Through Accounting Period

Results for Program/Project

Single FY only 1 1 Month 1 transactions only for specified yearSingle FY only 1

1 through 12

All transactions in a specified fiscal year up to a selected period number

Single FY only 998 998

All year-end transactions in a specified fiscal year posted to period 998

Single FY only

1 through 12 998

All transactions in a specified fiscal year between selected period numbers, including 998

Single FY only, starting in period 0 0

Prior year roll forward balances as actuals this month and as actuals to date column

Single FY only, starting in period 0 1

Prior year roll forward balances (included in actuals to date column) plus all account code balances in specified fiscal year in period 1 (shown in actuals this month column and included in actuals to date column)

Single FY only, starting in period 0

1 through 12

Prior year roll forward balances (included in actuals to date column) plus all account code balances in specified fiscal year up to selected period number (included in actuals to date column.) Actuals this month include only actuals during the period chosen.

Once you’ve decided on the report you want to run, you’ll need to decide on your report parameters. For detail reports, you’ll select a fiscal year, a “from” and a “to” period, depending

on the information you want to see. For summary reports, you’ll choose the fiscal year and the “through” period value.

Det

ail

Repo

rts

Sum

mar

y Re

port

s

Key Reports

Trial Balance Speedtype Summary Operating Summary Financial Detail

Speedtype One-Liner Project Financial Status Payments Received BAE by Month

Summary reports versusTotal reports

Tracing Expenses

Marketplace transactions on financial reportsConcur transactions on financial reports

Resources UCD Finance Office (this site's homepage) Procurement Service Center Office of University Controller Finance FAQs Reporting Fraud Policies Signature Authority Policy Contract Signature Matrix Presenters:

[email protected] 303-724-2276; [email protected] 303-315-2286

Help:[email protected] [email protected] 303-837-2161