SECTION 1: Fiscal Officer Responsibility: Accounts and Transactions

Last updated: December 14, 2017
Last reviewed: December 14, 2017
Policy Owner: Office of the Controller
Policy Owner Contact: Accounting Office, 355-5000
Purpose of Policy: Proper stewardship of MSU funds.

1. Policy
2. Daily Accounting Activity

I. Policy

University policy requires every fiscal officer to maintain consistent oversight of every account for which s/he is responsible. This responsibility may be delegated only to an officially appointed Fiscal Officer Delegate on the account. This responsibility may not be delegated to any other employee, including student employees. A timely and consistent review of account activity will allow the department to know the balance in its accounts at all times and provide information to meet reporting requirements. The university accounting system is the official financial record for Michigan State University and therefore, fiscal officers are required to review account activity in the financial system in a timely fashion.

Monthly operating reports can be generated from the Business Intelligence (BI) system for each account. Fiscal officers may choose one of several reports (Activity Review report – FIN500, Operating Statement - FIN049, Cash Account Activity Statement – FIN110, etc.) to use for monthly review. The report used for monthly review must include the transaction detail for the account.

On a monthly basis, all budget, revenue, and expense transactions per the monthly operating report must be verified with supporting documentation to ensure the amounts are correct and all transactions have posted to the correct account number. In the event that errors are discovered in this review process, it is the account Fiscal Officer’s responsibility to correct any errors by either 1) contacting the department that originated the error and requesting correction; or 2) processing an e-doc to correct the transaction(s). All corrections should be made in a timely manner (typically within 90 days). During periods of Fiscal Officer transition, it is important for there to be continued oversight of transactions, including accounting and payroll. In all cases, the College/Major Administrative Unit’s Budget Officer is responsible for ensuring these controls are maintained.

Each business day, updated general ledger activity is posted in the financial system so that the BI reports noted above can be run on demand. Fiscal officers are encouraged to run reports and review account activity frequently and not wait for the monthly statement. This frequent review will allow for the possibility of the correction of errors prior to the processing of the monthly statement. See the “Account Review FAQs" and the "Account Review Checklist” for further information.

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II. Daily Accounting Activity

Selected e-docs include:

Review and approval of transactions is the responsibility of the account’s Fiscal Officer or Fiscal Officer Delegate. Financial System access and responsibility to review and approve transactions may not be assigned to other employees, including students. It is against policy for a Fiscal Officer or Fiscal Officer Delegate to log into the Financial System and then assign unauthorized users to perform functions and approvals.

Monthly cut-off: Financial processing transactions will usually be reviewed and processed by Accounting in the order received. Excluding June (fiscal year-end), there are no specific central monthly cut-off dates or policies for transactions. To ensure that transactions are fully approved and therefore are recorded in a specific month, please process documents well before the end of the month. Generally, transactions that are fully approved and awaiting Accounting approval will be recorded that month if received no later than seven (7) business days before month end.

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