The first Finance Forum for FY08 was held Friday, September 14 and Thursday, September 20, 2007.

Judy Powell, Finance Office, presented on Signature Authority, a database that she updates and maintains. The Signature Authority database is used by many people on campus as a means to identify the Fiscal Contact, Authorized Signers, and Approving Authorities for a particular department. Two versions of the database exist – – one searchable by department and the other searchable by employee. Judy shared with the group that since the database is more than 600 pages, it takes awhile to load and may seem nothing is occurring when clicked to open. To find a particular person or department easily, “Ctrl+F” can be used to search. The most up-to-date Signature Authority document is posted online every other Friday. When a department needs to add, change, or delete an individual, a form needs to be completed and either sent to Judy via fax or campus mail. The Signature Authority webpage, which contains both the Signature Authority document and the Signature Authorization form, can be found at: http://www.jmu.edu/financeoffice/signature.shtml. Judy Powell can be contacted at x 86433 or powelljc.

Tish Leeth, Cash and Investments, presented an overview of Tracking and Reconciling Budgets. Although the fiscal contact for a department may reconcile the budget monthly, the Department Head or Approving Authority is ultimately responsible for ensuring that both accurate records are maintained as well as for controlling the financial activity of the department. Departments must reconcile their budgets monthly by comparing office documentation to PeopleSoft reports, including the Monthly Detail Report and the Summary Financial Report. All differences should be resolved and documented. Departments are expected to maintain their office documents at the time the transaction occurs. STAR, an Access database, is one method the department may use to track and reconcile the budget. A debit is an expenditure that reduces a budget balance whereas a credit is a recovery or revenue that increases a budget balance. Tish reminded the group that all budget revisions are done in whole dollars only by the Office of Budget Management. The Meal Voucher Usage Log should be utilized to track and record the purchase and usage of Aramark Meal Vouchers by the department. The log was recently updated to show beginning and ending voucher balances. The newest version of the log should now be used by all departments. The Duke Card Monthly Usage Log should be used to track and record transactions on the departmental Duke Card. Tish also gave many tips on how to successfully prepare an ATV. These tips include:

• Using the most up to date template located in the Financial Procedures Manual Forms Index.
• A separate line needs to be used for each DeptID being debited and credited.
• A brief one-line description of the transaction. This first line will be what shows on your PeopleSoft reports for all other lines on the ATV
• Recovery codes must be to the same account category as the expense account that was originally used.
• The original ATV needs to be sent to Financial Reporting MSC 5715.

Tish also spoke on the new procedures that governs the way departments can sell t-shirts or other merchandise that contain any type of references to JMU or the university’s logo. Tish can be contacted a x83205 or leethtc.

Shannon Huffman, Cash and Investments, and Beth Pease, Accounting Services Technology Manager, demonstrated the nVision Excel Format which allows PeopleSoft users to drill down in a saved excel file. Previously, drill downs could only be done in html. Shannon also demonstrated the new IIS.Finance Online Request Form which allows users to submit questions or research assistance to Cash and Investments online rather than via email. The online form can be found at: https://secureweb.jmu.edu/financeoffice/iisfinance_request_hs.html. For security, you will be prompted to enter you EID and password.

Announcements:

1. October Finance Forums will be held October 18, 2007 in nTelos Room (ISAT 259) at 10 am and October 19, 2007 in Transitions, Warren Hall at 10 am. Registration is done through J–Ess.
2. Three special October sessions will be held on October 25, 2007 in the Highlands Room of Festival from 8:30am–12noon. You will need to enroll in each of the 3 session separately in J–Ess. These sessions will provide credit for various AACP modules not offered during the year’s regularly scheduled Finance Forums.
3. To be included on the Finance Forum ListServ to receive the monthly handouts, please contact Shannon Huffman at x87908 or huffmasc.