Financial Services Office

FSO Monthly Newsletter Archive
 

The University of Arizona


September, 2005

In this month's edition:
1. UA Endowment Funds Donor Reports
2. Privately Owned Vehicle mileage reimbursement rate increased to 40.5
cents per mile effective 9/28/05

3. Changes to policy 9.10 regarding dual signature effective 10/1/05 - grace period for compliance extended until 10/31/05
4. Stop the Presses! Get your reports emailed from ISW
5. Jean Johnson Retirement Celebration - Friday, October 14th from 3pm - 5pm
6. NCURA 47th Annual Meeting - October 30-November 2, Washington DC
7. Kuali Project Update
8. Frequently Asked Question - "Has the Check cleared?"
9. Business Community Open Forum - "Business Office Nightmares!" 10/26, 2pm in the Student Union South Ballroom
10. Biz.Comm Website - Common University Acronyms
11. Positions Open in FSO
12. Introducing FSO's New Employees

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1. UA endowment Funds Donor Reports

For the eighth consecutive year, FSO's Endowments section has produced donor reports for 654 endowments at the University. The reports provide a summary of the financial activities of the endowment account and corresponding expendable account for FY05. In addition to providing information to the departments, these reports are intended to aid developmnt officers in soliciting additional funds, and in providing information to donors.

Due to the large volume of individual donor reports, they are available via the Information Services Web. The title of the electronic report is DONORRPTS - Donor Reports, and can be found under the Report Folder, UA Endowments Market Value Rpt. For additional information and instructions on retrieving your reports, please go to
http://bizcomm.fso.arizona.edu/endowment_rpts.htm.

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2. Privately Owned Vehicle mileage reimbursement rate increased to 40.5 cents per mile effective 9/28/05

We are pleased to announce that this afternoon, we received notification from the State of Arizona Accounting Office of a new mileage reimbursement rate of 40.5 cents per mile for employees using a privately owned vehicle on State business.

The new rate is effective as of Wednesday 9/28/05. Mileage reimbursements for trips prior to 9/28/05 will be reimbursed at the old rate.

The Travel Expense Reimbursement form will reflect the new rate on Monday, 10/3/05. Additional communication and related policies and procedures will be updated to reflect the new rate sometime next week.

If you have any questions, please contact FSO-Operations at 621-9097.


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3. Changes to policy 9.10 regarding dual signature effective 10/1/05 - grace period for compliance extended until 10/31/05

At the recommendation of the Authorized Signer Committee, FRS policy 9.10 has been revised to provide support for Dual Signature Authority. The revised policy can be reviewed at http://www.fso.arizona.edu/fso/deptman/drafts/910reimb_signers.html and
will be effective October 1, 2005. The month of October will serve as a grace period to allow departments time to implement the new policy requirements.

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4. Stop the Presses! Get your reports emailed from ISW

Did you know that, rather than wait for the paper copies to arrive, you can get your FRS month end reports, FBM090/091 - Summary/Detailed transactions by Account, emailed to you right after month end close? That's right, your FRS Reports can be waiting in your in-box first thing Monday morning.  For detailed instructions on how to receive your reports via email go to http://www.fso.arizona.edu/reports/help/preferences/report_notification.
htm.

If you no longer wish to receive your hard copy reports, please contact FSO at mailto:fso_operations@listserv.arizona.edu. If you have any questions about how to set this up, you can contact FSO Computing Support at 626-3072.

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5. Jean Johnson Retirement Celebration - Friday, October 14th from 3pm - 5pm

Please join Financial Services in honoring Jean Johnson's 28 years of service. During her tenure at the University, Jean championed many services that focused on improving and providing excellent student and administrative services. Jean has also been a mentor and cheerleader for her staff, and her loyalty and dedication has set a standard and
inspired us. Please join us as we celebrate Jean and her contributions on Friday, October 14th from 3pm - 5pm at the Jim Click Hall of Fame in the McKale Center. Please come by to congratulate Jean, sign her guest book, enjoy some light refreshment and visit with friends. There will be a brief presentation at 4pm. If you would like to contribute to a gift or send a note, please contact Nancy Casady at 626-4176
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6. NCURA 47th Annual Meeting - October 30-November 2, Washington DC

The National Council of University Research Administrators' (NCURA) 47 Annual Meeting, "In the Public Interest: Promoting and Supporting Research" October 30 - November 2, 2005, Washington Hilton. Washington, DC. Whether you work in central administration or in department, the NCURA Annual Meeting is a great place to train new grant administrators
and to polish veterans' knowledge in grant administration. It also provides opportunities to network with people from other institutions and to learn how they manage their grants and contracts. Please check the following web site for program and registration information.
http://www.ncura.edu/conferences/47/

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7. Kuali Update -

-Kuali Development continues and is still on track to release the baseline modules at the end of the first quarter 2006.

-eDoc Testing has begun with a small group of people and will be expanded to include the Finanacial Transacations/General Ledger and Workflow Subject Matter Experts and finally campus as the developers fine tune the eDocs.

-Another round of usability testing should be starting early October. IU is finishing up the mock screens and real users from each school will test under the supervision of the IU User Experience group via Breeze.

-Workflow is recognized to be an institutional application and CCIT has begun working on the details of adding this to their enterprise applications.

-A campus update on the status of Kuali including a demo of Kuali will take place late October, early November. Details to follow.

-More for information visit the newly revised Kuall Web site:
http://www.kuali.arizona.edu/

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8. Frequently Asked Question - "Has the Check cleared?"

FSO's Frequently asked Questions (FAQ) - FSO maintains a database of frequently asked questions. Go to our FAQ page at http://www.fso.arizona.edu/fso/fm/faq.asp to review all questions, search by category or keyword, or ask a question of your own. Each month
we will feature a recently asked question in our newsletter.

September's question follows - Has the check cleared?

Question: How can I find out if a particular check sent to a vendor has been cashed or deposited by the vendor? There is a contract associated with the check, and we want to make sure they have actually deposited the check.

Reply: There is an icon in ISW called Check Information where you can enter a check number to see if it's cleared and/or to request a copy. Log into ISW (http://www.fso.arizona.edu/isw/) Click Check Information, Enter the Check number, click Find. If the check number has been cashed, information about it will display. If not, you will receive a message indicating the check has not cleared.

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9. Business Community Open Forum - "Business Office Nightmares!" 10/26, 2pm in the Student Union South Ballroom


The Business community Open Forum is open to anyone who has an interest in the University's business policies and processes.

The next Open Forum will be held October 26th, at 2pm in the Student Union South Ballroom. The theme of October's meeting is "Business Office Nightmares" or "What do you mean it's against University Policy? It's been done, just take care of it!"

For information on previous forums go to http://bizcomm.arizona.edu/BCOF.html

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10. Biz.Comm Website - Common University Acronyms

Get your IBF to FM before FSO closes FRS or you may need an RBC!

Say What?

If you aren't fluent in "University-speak" check out the Biz.Comm website for a listing of common University acronyms. http://bizcomm.arizona.edu

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11. FSO Positions Open - FSO is currently recruiting for the following position:

Job Title: Office Supervisor
Department: Bursar's Office
Job Number: 33709

To review the postings, go to https://www.uacareertrack.com/, click "Search Postings" on the bar on the left, and search for Job Number 33709.

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12. Introducing FSO's New Employees - The following employee has joined FSO in the last month:

*Marilyn Overpeck joined FSO on September 19th as the Senior Accountant
for State Funds.

 


Contact: Kymber Horn