General Accounting

FISCAL YEAR END PROCESSING CUT-OFF DATES AND INFORMATION

Final purchase requisitions for purchases should be submitted to Financial Services by June 1 including those for computer related equipment. Any item ordered must be received prior to July 1 to be included in the current fiscal year. The date the goods are received will determine which year the order will be charged, even if there is a problem with an order being filled or delivered. Please plan ahead and take this into consideration when ordering near fiscal year-end.

Accounts payable will be recorded the same way as they have been in the past. Goods must be received and services must be performed prior to June 30 to be included in the current fiscal year. The payment or order date is not the key date. The key date is the date that the goods are received or service has been performed.

Please mark the date the goods are received on the green copy of your purchase order when submitted, and attach the packing slip. Return the signed and dated green receiving copy promptly to Accounts Payable.

For travel during the year, the expense reimbursement requests must be submitted with the proper documentation and signatures by July 12.

GENERAL LEDGER INQUIRIES

 

Please review your Fiscal Year departmental information on-line through Self Service.
General ledger questions regarding transactions reported through the end of the fiscal year and journal entry requests should be directed to Kerry McLaughlin, mclaughlink@hartwick.edu, by July 12. Please review and resolve any issues prior to July 12.
If you have any questions, please contact Karen Zuill (extension 4320).

SELF SERVICE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT BUDGET TO ACTUALS

Budget to Actuals on Self Service provides budget managers on-line access to their budget figures. Figures are updated daily and agree to the general ledger. There is a filtering option to limit the accounts in the view or if left blank all authorized accounts will be displayed with columns for Budget, Actuals, Encumbrances and Amount Remaining. Clicking on a number in a column will provide the details of the transactions.

Contact Kerry McLaughlin, mclaughlink@hartwick.edu,to request to be set up to view your budget figures on-line. If you are not a budget manager, the budget manager will need to submit the request along with his/her approval.

Endowed funds are funds that are held in perpetuity by the College to support the needs of the institution. Under current College guidelines, a fund must reach the $25,000 level before it can be designated as an endowment. Gifts for new endowment funds of $25,000 or more will be recorded in an endowment gift account. College Advancement will provide the Finance Office signed documentation from the donor designating the establishment of an endowed fund. This documentation will remain in a fireproof file in the Finance Office.

Gifts that are given with the intent of being an endowed fund but are not yet at the $25,000 funding level will be recorded as a temporarily restricted gift until the full funding level is achieved. The funds will reside in a separate holding account and be specifically identified for the intended purpose. Appropriate documentation from the donor designating the donor’s intent to establish an endowed fund will be used to establish the intended purpose. Donors can add to the account at any time. There will be a freeze on any spending until the endowed level is achieved. When the $25,000 level is reached the funds will be transferred to the endowment in accordance with the donor’s wishes.

The College’s endowment funds are managed by professional investment managers. Once the funds are included in the endowment, the endowed fund will then participate in appreciation of principal, earnings and annual expenditures. Additional gifts can be made to an existing endowed fund at any time

In most cases following policies will result in accurate accounting for expenditures. On occasion it is necessary to move actual expenditures that have been posted to an incorrect department or to transfer funds between departments in support of an activity or event.

These adjustments can be made between departments for amounts of $200 or more. Journal entries to move actual expenditures between object codes within a department will not be made regardless of the dollar amount.

To request a journal entry, budget managers can send an email to Kerry McLaughlin with a cc: to all departments concerned.

To transfer expenditures between departments include the vendor and the dollar amount of the expenditure, the department and object code that was originally charged and the department that should be charged.

To transfer funds in support of an event the department initiating the event should send an e-mail that includes a description of the event, the account it will be charged to, and a list of each department contributing funding and the amount of their contribution.