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FY2003 Year-End Closing Schedule
for Financial Transactions   top

Harvard's fiscal year 2003 will end on Monday, June 30. As in the past, we will close the books through a series of steps called "closings."

Please note this year's closing dates: The first closing will take place on Friday, July 11, the second closing on Friday, July 18, and the third on Friday, July 25.

In the paragraphs that follow, you will find closing deadline and submission information for the following financial transactions (click on a transaction to jump to that section of the e-News):

• Web Voucher vendor payments
  • Petty cash fund settlement
  • New vendor setup
• Credit vouchers (cash receipts)
• Massachusetts taxable sales deposits
• Foreign check deposits (credit vouchers)
• Voided checks
• Stopped and redeposited checks
• Foreign currency payments (drafts and wires)
• U.S. wire transfers
• Purchasing card transactions
• Web Voucher travel authorization forms (WV-TAFs)
• Webex reports
  • Webex reports with advance settlements
• General Accounts Receivable billings
• Manual journal entries
• Interdepartmental billings
• Cost transfer requests on Sponsored funds
• Chart of Accounts maintenance requests

The deadlines provided are the last allowable dates to submit transactions.

Note that these are the Office of Financial Services deadlines. Since some departments have internal deadlines that differ from these, you should check with your department's financial office to obtain any departmentally defined deadlines.

Reporting tips are also included in this e-News. We expect exceptional reporting demands during the year-end closings. Following our suggestions on reporting will reduce the time required to run your reports.

Web Voucher Vendor Payments    back  

To be included in FY2003, Web Voucher vendor payments must be entered and approved online and the related invoices must be received by the Accounts Payable office by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 30, except for foreign currency drafts and wires and US wire transfers (see below).

If you purchase items late in the fiscal year that you want charged in FY2003, be sure to request immediate billing from vendors so that you can meet these deadlines.

Petty Cash Fund Settlement
If you maintain a departmental petty cash fund, you must submit your petty cash log for reimbursement to Accounts Payable by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 30 if you want the charges to be included in FY2003.

New Vendor Setup
New vendors that need to be set up in the system in order to process June web vouchers will be accepted by the Vendor Hotline (617-495-2000) until Friday, June 27 at 5 p.m. When making a payment to a new University vendor or individual, you must obtain the required vendor information and call the Vendor Hotline at 5-2000 to set up the vendor / individual in the vendor file. To comply with IRS regulations, the Vendor Hotline must have required vendor information. To determine what information is required, refer to the guidelines published on ABLE.

Credit Vouchers (Cash Receipts)    back

Credit vouchers accompanied by cash or checks will be accepted by the Cash Receipts office, Holyoke 453, until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 27.

Massachusetts Taxable Sales Deposits    back

All Massachusetts Taxable Sales forms with a validated bank deposit ticket for deposits made in May or June must be delivered to Cash Management, Holyoke 451, by 5 p.m. Friday, June 20. In order to allow for sufficient processing time and to meet the deadline for FY03, the paperwork for all deposits made from June 23 through June 30 must be delivered on a daily basis to Cash Management. Deposit forms and validated bank deposit tickets for deposits made on June 30 must be delivered to Cash Management by 5 p.m. on June 30 in order to recognize the income in FY03. On June 30 Cash Management will not accept or process any deposits that were validated any other day.

Foreign Check Deposits (credit vouchers)    back

Credit vouchers accompanied by foreign checks that need to be sent to the bank for collection should be submitted to the Cash Receipts Office, Holyoke 453, by 5 p.m. Friday, June 6. Because each bank and country's collection times and processes are different, we cannot guarantee that we will receive credit from the bank for these checks before June 30.

The University has an agreement with Fleet bank to receive provisional credit on most common foreign currencies, and the June 6 deadline may be your best opportunity to collect these funds and recognize the income in FY2003. It is extremely important that you deposit these checks with Cash Receipts immediately upon receiving them.

Voided Checks    back

All checks that need to be voided and redeposited must be received by Cash Management, Holyoke 451, by 5 p.m. Friday, June 20 in order for the credit to be included in FY2003.

Stopped and Redeposited Checks    back

All checks that need to be stopped and redeposited must be received by Cash Management by 5 p.m. Friday, June 20 in order for the credit to be included in FY2003.

Foreign Currency Drafts and Wires    back

Web Voucher payments to be made in foreign currency must be entered and approved online and the related invoices must be received by Cash Management, Holyoke 451, no later than Friday, June 20 at 5 p.m. Note that these invoices must have a bank draft authorization form or a wire transfer authorization form attached to the front of the invoice.

U.S. Wire Transfers    back

Vendor payments to be wire transferred must be entered and approved online in the Web Voucher system with related invoices received by Cash Management no later than Monday, June 30 at 5 p.m. Note that these invoices must have a wire transfer authorization form attached to the front of the invoice.

Purchasing Card Transactions    back

In order to ensure that as many current PCard transactions as possible are swept in this fiscal year, there will be three PCard sweeps between Thursday, June 26 and Monday, June 30. For your convenience, here is a list of FY03 year-end sweeps:

PCard settlement system users will have until 4 p.m. on each sweep date to log onto the system and review transactions scheduled to be swept that day. However, users are encouraged to log onto the system the week of June 16 and early in the week of June 23 (on Monday and Tuesday) to review as many transactions as possible. Users should try to review all transactions to be swept on Thursday, June 26 and Friday, June 27 by Monday or Tuesday of that week.

Users should also review any transactions to be swept on Monday, June 30 as they appear on the system throughout the week. All transactions to be swept at 4 p.m. on June 30 will be on the system that Monday morning.

Please note that there is no way to determine a final day on which users can make PCard purchases and assure that those transactions will be swept in FY2003, since timing is dependent on vendors and other factors.

The first sweep in the new fiscal year will occur on Thursday, July 17.

Web Voucher Travel Authorization Forms (WV-TAFs)   back

WV-TAFs processed in the Web Voucher system by 5 p.m. on Friday, June 20 will be included in FY2003. The Travel Office recommends the use of the American Express credit card with the Harvard Travel Center after Friday, June 20 to ensure that charges appear in FY2003.

Webex Reports    back

Webex reports not requiring tax pre-audit will be accepted by the Holyoke Travel Office until 5 p.m. on Monday, June 30. Webex reports requiring tax pre-audit will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 26.

Webex Reports with Advance Settlements
Webex reports with advance settlements, when accompanied by unused funds (checks), will be accepted by the Harvard Travel Office until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 26. Advance settlements for zero balance or amounts due to the traveler will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, June 30.

General Accounts Receivable Billing    back

Invoices and credit memos processed by the tubs can be entered into the AR system until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1.

Accounts Receivable invoices and credit memos for nonstudent-related billings that are to be entered into the system by the AR Department will be accepted by that office until 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 26. As a reminder, the AR Department will process invoices for those departments that process fewer than ten invoices per month. Units that process more than ten per month are responsible for entering the invoices and credit memos themselves.

AR feeds to be included in FY2003 need to be entered into the Oracle AR system by 4 p.m. on Monday, June 30.

Manual Journal Entries    back

General Ledger journals are entered directly by users. Please keep in mind the following:

• For transactions that have occurred through the month of May, please make any necessary adjustments as early in June as possible.
  
  
• The University is closed on Friday, July 4 for the holiday. Therefore, there will be no journal vouchers posted to the General Ledger or recorded in the Data Warehouse on that day. Journals entered into the system after 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 3 until 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 7 will be posted to the General Ledger on Monday, July 7 and recorded in the Data Warehouse on Tuesday, July 8.
  
  
• For the first, second, and third closings, from Monday through Thursday, journals for the month of June will be posted to the General Ledger at 6:30 p.m. Therefore, journals must be entered by 6:30 p.m. in order to be posted and recorded in the Data Warehouse for the next day. Note that any June journals entered on Friday during the first, second, and third closings will not be posted until the following Monday at 6:30 p.m. and will be in the HDW on Tuesday.



• During the month of June, the period of July 2003 will also be open. Be careful to select the proper period (JUN-03 vs. JUL-03) when entering a journal.
  
  
• Entries may not be posted to account coding owned by another tub after the second closing without authorization from the financial office of the tub being charged. Individuals processing journals have personal responsibility to ensure that they follow this requirement.
  
  
• A journal should only be reversed by the person who created the journal, or with the permission of the person who created the journal.

Interdepartmental Billings    back

All interdepartmental billings -- whether on a journal or via a feed to the General Ledger -- must be processed by the end of the second closing. (GL billing feeds are generally submitted by service centers such as UIS and UOS.) An interdepartmental billing journal should be processed in the third closing only if permission has been obtained from the financial office of the tub being charged.

As described above under the Manual Journal Entries deadlines, during the first three closings, activity for the month of June will be posted to the General Ledger at 6:30 p.m. from Monday through Thursday. (The one exception is July 4, when the University is closed. Any feeds entered in the system on that day will not be posted until Monday, July 7). Therefore, feeds must be entered by 5 p.m. and manual journals by 6:30 p.m. in order to be posted and recorded in the Data Warehouse for the next day. Note that any June journals or feeds entered on Friday will not be posted until the following Monday at 6:30 p.m.

A journal should only be reversed by the person who created the journal, or with the permission of the person who created the journal. Interdepartmental billings should provide a name and contact number on the journal for customer questions or concerns.

Cost Transfer Requests on Sponsored Funds    back

These dates apply to ALL requests for cost transfers to sponsored funds (funds in the range from 100000-199999). Note that these requests may require supporting documentation.

Cost transfer requests should be submitted directly to OSR. OSR will review the request and any necessary documentation for appropriateness. OSR will then enter the cost transfer journals into the General Ledger. Note that OSR only enters cost transfer journals during the year-end closing process.

Chart of Accounts Maintenance Requests    back

Disable Requests:
June 6 (MAY-03 close) is the last date that values will be disabled in FY2003. CSMA disable requests not disabled on June 6 will be held until the JUL-03 close on August 13.

Requests to disable CoA values that require approval should be submitted through CSMA before 5 p.m. on May 30. Disable requests that do not require approval should be submitted through CSMA before 10 a.m. on June 6.

Add / Modify / Re-enable Requests:
Requests to add, modify, or re-enable CoA values submitted through CSMA will be processed according to the normal daily schedule (7 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Friday) throughout year-end. CSMA requestors wishing to specifically designate for the JUN-03 period any CoA changes entered during the weeks between June 30 and the July close should enter 30-JUN-2003 as the effective date for their request.

Fiscal Year-End Reporting Tips   top

AWS2 and HUDINI offer the option of running reports immediately or at a later date. Please schedule your closing reports to run over the weekend whenever possible.

In AWS2, to run an individual report over the weekend, enter the following parameters under "Schedule Options" when submitting your report request:

• for RUN REPORT, choose WEEKLY
• for TIME PERIOD, enter SATURDAY or SUNDAY
• for START DATE , enter Friday's date
• for END DATE, enter Monday's date

In HUDINI, to run an individual report over the weekend, enter the following parameters under "Schedule Options" when submitting your report request:

• for RUN REPORT, choose DAILY
• for START DATE , enter Saturday's date
• for END DATE, enter Sunday's date

If you would like closing results, closing periods will be available as selections in the Detail Listing. You will be able to choose the specific close (First Close, Second Close, etc.) from the report period picklist. Note that the start and end dates populated for these periods will display July dates. For these closing periods only, these dates refer to the actual entry dates of fiscal month June entries. We strongly recommend that you take advantage of using the closing period parameter to narrow the scope of your data rather than requesting all of the Prior Fiscal Year data through the close periods.

For Fiscal Year 2003 the close start and end dates are:

First Close: Fiscal June entries from June 1 through July 10
Second Close: Fiscal June entries from July 11 through July 17
Third Close: Fiscal June entries from July 18 through July 24

Helpful tip: You can use the close date period options in conjunction with your scheduling features to set up your reports in advance. For instance, starting in mid-June you can create a Detail Listing using the first close date period and then schedule it to run on Saturday, July 12.

Enter all the chart segment parameters you can for a given report request to increase performance for yourself and the whole University. Never use your security view alone to filter your data. For example, let's say a user wants amounts for a range of objects within the tub and org for which they have a view. Because of their view limitation, the user will get the same result whether tub and org are entered as parameters or not. However, not including tub and org will make the query take much longer to run, tying up system resources and slowing things down for all users.

A modification will be made to the Detail Listing reports so that they cannot be submitted with all of the parameters being left at "ALL." The report will require that at least one chart value be entered.

You should only use transaction reports like the Detail Listing when you really need to see the transaction line detail. Summary level balances can be retrieved in reports like the Summary Actuals Listing Report, the PER (sponsored only), the Fund Summary Report, the Fund, Gift, & Unrestricted Unexpended Balance Report, and the Budget Variance Report.

Deleting unneeded reports will be a big help in keeping disk space available for report output. For reports you no longer need, you can use the functionality in AWS2 to delete multiple reports at once. This is especially important if you have report output that you know is large.

As of July 1, the Current Fiscal Year to Date option will reflect FY2004. To retrieve FY2003 year to date, you will need to select Prior Fiscal Year to Date from the period picklist.

Lastly, a new version of the Detail Listing was recently made available to users. The new Detail Listing - Heavy has the option for up to six sorts and subtotals (Detail Listing and Detail Listing - Lite have three).

Locations and Phone Numbers   top

Year-End Closing Summary Dateline   top

System Hours of Operation  top

A new page listing the hours of operation (and planned outages) for Harvard financial, human resources, and reporting systems is available at able.harvard.edu/other/hours.shtml. This page is intended to help you plan your schedule, particularly if you need to work outside the “normal” business week of Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

For information about unplanned outages and system problems, go to www.uis.harvard.edu/ system_status.

Upcoming System Outages: The next major release to the Oracle financial systems (Release 3.0.2) is planned for the weekend of June 21. Core financial systems will be unavailable from Friday, June 20 at 6 p.m. through Monday, June 23 at 6 a.m. As usual, a one- or two-day outage of the Harvard Data Warehouse systems (AWS2, HUDINI) is expected after the release to the financial systems is completed.

University Financial Policies Updated  top

University financial policies are developed by a cross-functional group in the Financial Administration, with input and approval from the financial deans. The policies in their entirety are available at http://vpf-web.harvard.edu/ documents.

Here are some recent revisions.

• Beginning July 1, per diems provided in advance of a trip (advance per diems) are not allowed.
  
  
• A recent revision to the University financial policy entitled Independent Contractor / Consultant - Classification and Procedures restates that that local units, rather than central, are responsible for properly classifying and documenting workers as either employees or independent contractors / consultants. Moreover, it is the responsibility of each tub to establish written criteria for documenting independent contractors / consultants. At a minimum, criteria should include a dollar amount, length of service, and significance to the operation. Please consult your tub financial office for questions regarding worker classification and the payment method.
  
  
• The University financial policy entitled Individual Independent Contractor / Consultant - Processing Payments makes explicit that travel expenses must be part of a consultant invoice for services. These expenses should not be processed as a reimbursement. If processed as a reimbursement, the Travel and Reimbursement Office will return the web voucher reimbursement for resubmission through Accounts Payable. Then, the preparer must:
  
  • cancel the Web Voucher reimbursement
  • resubmit the expense as a consultant invoice payment using Web Voucher
  • adjust the coding to reflect use of consultant services rather than travel object codes.
    Note: Travel object codes are not identified for 1099 reporting purposes. This results in significant under-reporting of payments to consultants and may result in penalties and fines to the University.
    
    
• The University Business Expense Policy clarifies what are appropriate business expenses. Please be reminded that there are specific procedures to follow regarding any exceptions. In general, exceptions may be made for items listed in Appendix B. Exception requests must be approved in writing by the tub’s Financial Dean (or equivalent). In the written approval, the exception must be explicitly documented and approved and must include a University business purpose. Blanket statements and phrases such as “Okay to pay” or “Approved” with a signature are not sufficient as documentation. Exception circumstances must meet the criteria listed in the grid and may include medical reasons, natural disasters, fund raising, development, and/or recruitment activities.
  
  
  

University Travel Moratorium Amended   top

As of May 6, the University lifted the SARS-related travel moratorium for Vietnam, Singapore, and Toronto, while maintaining the policy for China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. If you support faculty or staff who travel on University business, you can get the latest update by consulting http://www.emergency.harvard.edu.

e-News for Users of the HR and Payroll Systems   top

Please follow this link for additional news of interest to users of the PeopleSoft HR, Payroll, and Time and Labor applications. On this page you will find information about the next planned release and related systems outage of the HR applications.

 

About the e-News   top

The Financial Administration publishes this semimonthly electronic newsletter for users of Harvard University's financial, HR, and reporting systems, policies, and procedures. Generally, the e-News is published on or around the 12th and 26th of each month.

It contains:

• updates on projects underway to build or improve University administrative systems;
• information about new University policies, procedures, and forms;
• reminders about upcoming deadlines and cut-over dates;
• tips and tricks for working more easily or productively.

We welcome questions and suggestions for improvement from readers. If your questions are of general interest, we will answer them in future issues.

Please send comments, questions, or suggestions for improvement by email to us at: fad_communications@harvard.edu