Financial Services Office

FSO Monthly Newsletter Archive
 

The University of Arizona


Feb/March, 2006

In this edition:
1. Compliance and Internal Control - Risk Assessment
2. New FRS and UIS Training
3. Direct Deposit Travel Advances
4. FSO Award Winning Employees
5. Frequently Asked Questions - Employee Tax Form Retention
6. Kuali Project Update
7. Business Community Open Forum
8. Biz.Comm - Best Practices
9. Introducing FSO's New Employees

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1. Compliance and Internal Control - This month's Internal Control feature is Risk Assessment, the process used to identify, analyze, and manage the potential risks that could hinder or prevent a college, school, or a department from achieving its objectives.
See http://bizcomm.arizona.edu/internalcontrol/

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2. New FRS and UIS Training - FRS training classes have been restructured. In addition, FSO is working with the Information Warehouse Office and AHSC to offer campus-wide UIS training. A UIS/FRS class will be scheduled for late March and UIS/SIS and UIS/PSOS classes will be available later in the Spring. For more information see:
http://bizcomm.arizona.edu/frs_uis.htm.

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3. Direct Deposit Travel Advances - Financial Services Office-Operations is pleased to announce that travel advances will be deposited into the traveler's bank account using Direct Deposit. When travel advances are deposited, a notification is emailed to the traveler. FSO has been using this process for the last three months and it has proven to be
beneficial to the traveler and their departments by eliminating trips to pick up advance checks and trips to the bank. If the traveler does not have Direct Deposit, advances will continue to be issued via check.

To enroll in Direct Deposit or to modify existing Direct Deposit information:
Log into Employee Link https://emplink.arizona.edu.
Click "Online Services" - left hand side.
Click "Direct Deposit Service Online."
Update your information and click "Save."

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4. FSO Award Winning Employees - FSO is happy to announce its award winning staff. Andrea Lee, Administrative Associate and Jenny Ruiz, Program Coordinator are both recipients of this year's Employee Award for Excellence. FSO is fortunate and proud to have employees like Andrea and Jenny represent us.

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5. Frequently Asked Questions

Your Question: For current employees, how long do we need to keep old federal and state tax withholding forms? For some long-term employees we may have 10 sets of old forms along with their current withholding election form.

Answer: Departments are not required to keep an employee's federal and state tax withholding form. FSO/Operations is the custodian of the University record copy of the tax withholding forms/records and apply the retention schedule as outlined by Arizona Revised Statutes. Please contact the Facilities Management Recycling Waste Management department at 621-3000 to request a Special Locked Container to have the forms
recycled since they contain confidential information.

FSO maintains a database of frequently asked questions. Visit our FAQ page at http://www.fso.arizona.edu/fso/fm/faq.asp to review previously asked questions, search by category or keyword, or ask a question of your own.

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6. Kuali Project Update - The Kuali Functional Council held in February resulted in more refined deliverables and timelines:

  • 3/31/06 - Kuali Test Drive (Phase IA - General Ledger, Chart of Accounts, Workflow, Basic Reports, 4 eDocs)
     

  • 3rd quarter 06 (Remaining Financial eDocs and a full Quality Assurance (QA) - ready for implementation by a small school)
     

  • 2nd quarter 07 (Contracts & Grants, AP/Purchasing, Budget Construction and Labor Ledger, possibly Endowments and a second Quality Assurance)
     

  • Mar 2008 (Capital Assets and Accounts Receivables and a third QA).  


Three updates to campus are wrapping up and will be held quarterly. Functional Council Meeting Minutes and Project update handouts and more information is available on the Kuali website: http://www.kuali.arizona.edu/

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7. Business Community Open Forum (BCOF) - The next open forum is April 19, 2006, 2:00-3:30 pm Student Union, South Ballroom. The tentative topic is "Internal Control". See http://bizcomm.arizona.edu/BCOF.html for information on previous open forums.

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8. Biz.Comm - Best Practices
A new section on "Best Practices" has been added to Biz.Comm, http://bizcomm.arizona.edu/, and includes examples of how some departments are addressing policy requirements. If you would like to add your "Best Practice" to this website, please contact us at mailto:fsocommunications@fso.arizona.edu.

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9. Introducing FSO's New Employees - The following employees have joined
FSO within the last month. Please welcome:
Sierra Abowitt, Accountant - Capital Finance, Property Management
Veronica Galaviz, Accountant, Associate - Financial Management,
Internal Compliance


 


Contact: Kymber Horn