Department Chair Handbook

Budget / Accounting Section

Below are details and policies for various areas dealing with Budget and other accounting matters. Click on any of the topics below to view details on that topic.

1. Budget Requests.
2. General Ledger Accounts.
   1. Department Accounts
   2. Other Accounts
3. Fiscal Year & Budget Matters.
   1. Fiscal Years.
   2. Purchase Order Cut-Off.
   3. Budget Transfers vs. Debit/Credit Slips
   4. Repair & Replacement Account Carry-over.
4. Requests for Payments / Purchase Orders.
   1. Why Purchase Orders?
   2. Blanket Purchase Orders.
   3. Paying for a purchase, speaker, etc.
      1. Requests for payment.
         1. Travel & Other Reimbursements.
         2. Cash Advances.
      2. MasterCard for Departments.
5. Receiving G/L Account Information.
   1. G/L Detail via "InfoServices".
   2. Monthly Reports.
      

Budget Requests

Departmental Budget Request forms are sent to department chairs in early January. The Vice President will usually indicate the level of budget support that chairs can expect. The previous year's budget request may be used

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General Ledger Accounts

Departmental Accounts

The budget accounts for each department are twelve digits long (xx-xxxxx-xxxxx). The first two numbers are "11" for all budget lines. The next five numbers in the account correspond to the department (e.g., 11101 is the department number for the Art Department).  For more detailed information on how numbering system works, contact the Controller.

The last five digits correspond to the type of expense of the "object". Below are listed the common "objects" and their numbers:

• 61100 Telephone
• 61300 Photocopy
• 61500 Postage
• 65000 General Supplies
• 66010 Equip. Repair & Replacement or
• 71010 Scientific Repair & Replacement.
  

Some departments charge a course fee and those additional funds are allocated to:

65003 Supplies (Course Fees)

Those departments that sell manuals to students have an additional account:

61605 Manual Sales.

It is very important to charge items to the account which best describes its type of expense. For example, don't charge a supply item to the photocopy line because the photocopy line has budget dollars remaining and the supply line doesn't. In this instance, you would charge the supply to the General Supplies line and transfer budget from the Photocopy line to the General Supplies line.

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Other Accounts

Each faculty member has a Individual Faculty Development line and a Faculty Development Committee line (for awards of the Faculty Development Committee).

The Individual Faculty Development numbers range from 11-480xx-64770 through 11-481xx-64770. The Faculty Development Committee numbers range from 11-488xx-64770 through 11-489xx-64770. If your individual number is 11-48001-64770, your faculty development committee number would be 11-48801-64770.

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Fiscal Year & Budget Matters

Fiscal Year

Nebraska Wesleyan University's fiscal year ends on May 31. Any item received, service performed, or event which takes place on or before May 31, is charged to the "old" fiscal year.  It doesn't matter when the invoice is received. Likewise, any item received after May 31 will be charged to the new year.

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Purchase Order Cut-Off

The cut-off date for processing purchase orders is set annually by the business office at or near April 15. The cut-off date is set to assure that all purchasing activity is completed before May 31.  Purchases and/or Request for Purchase Orders made after the cut-off date need to be approved in advance by the Controller or Assistant Controller.

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Budget Transfers vs. Debit/Credit Slips

There has been some confusion in knowing when to use a Budget Transfer form and when to use Debit/Credit slips. Budget Transfer forms should be used only when you are transferring budget dollars from one "11" account to another "11" account.  Also, this form is only for transferring excess budget dollars from one account to be used in another account.  All other corrections or adjustments need to be accomplished by using Debit/Credit slips.  If you are correcting a charge or you have changed your mind as to which account an item should be charged to, you need to use a Debit/Credit entry. If you are paying for part of an item that was charged to a different department's account, you need to use Debit/Credit slips.  If you are "moving" funds from a non-"11" account to an "11" account, use Debit/Credit slips. Call if you have questions.

Remember: If you are correcting an item or moving dollars between funds, use Debit/Credit Slips. Budget Transfer forms are only for moving Budget Dollars from one "11" account to another.

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Repair & Replacement Account Carry-over.

Accounts for Repair & Replacement (66010 & 71050) "carry over" from one budget year to the next. This has led to some confusion.  Excess funds from non R&R accounts can be transferred to accounts other than your Repair and Replacement line. You can not transfer excess funds from non R&R lines into your R&R account so they can be "carried over".  If you are over budget in your non Repair and Replacement lines, funds must be transferred from the R&R line to cover the shortage in the other lines.

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Why Purchase Orders?

It is the policy of Nebraska Wesleyan University that purchases be made with a Purchase Order document. It is up to the department to verify in advance that the vendor will accept a purchase order. If not, other arrangements must be made with the business office for payment to be made with the purchase. To obtain a purchase order, a pink "Request for Purchase Order" form must be filled out and turned in to the business office. At the bottom of the form, instructions should be given explaining if the purchase order should be sent to the supplier, faxed, or returned to the department. When the business office receives an invoice, it is forwarded to the department which made the purchase. This invoice must be attached to a blue "Request for Payment" form with the purchase order referenced on the front of the "Request for Payment" form. If all items from a purchase order are not on an invoice, be sure to mark the "Request for Payment" form accordingly.

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Blanket Purchase Orders

For suppliers from whom you purchase from consistently during the year, a blanket purchase order can be set up which allows you to purchase supplies throughout the year without getting a new purchase order each time. Call Sandy in the business office (x2120) if you think you may have a situation where this might work.

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Paying for a purchase, speaker, etc.

Requests for payment.

Payments for any purchase need to be processed by filling out a "Request for Payment" form. Proper documentation must accompany all requests. "Proper documentation" is the original invoice from the supplier. Packing slips or monthly statements are not acceptable.

Travel & Other Reimbursements

Reimbursement for travel and other business expenses must be requested by filling out either a "Request for Payment" form or a "Travel Reimbursement Form."   See N.W.U.'s plan document for reimbursements for details on what is required to receive reimbursement for travel or other expenditures.

Nebraska Wesleyan discourages personal purchases followed by requests for reimbursement. If this has to be done, it is important for all employees to identify the items purchased for Nebraska Wesleyan and inform the vendor that no sales tax should be charged on those items.

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Cash Advances

Cash advances are not available for charges to Individual faculty development accounts, Faculty Development Committee awards, or any other Faculty Development accounts or awards.

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MasterCard for Departments.

N.W.U. has set up a program which makes a MasterCard credit card available to departments for the purchase of small supply items.  See the Business office for details on this program.  Departments signing up for this program will incur an annual cost of $15.00 and be required to sign an agreement with the Business Office.

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Receiving G/L Account Information.

G/L Detail via "InfoServices".

General Ledger account information can be received via E-Mail from "InfoServices". Gavin LaRose has written an impressive WWW Page to request various information from the administrative computer (Mickey).  These programs, written by Mark Murphy in Computer Services, allow you to request certain lists and reports, account balances, etc.   Check out Gavin's page and give it a try.   To receive general ledger information for any account you are responsible for, you must first arrange with Greg Maschman(E-Mail) to get proper access to your accounts.

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Monthly Reports

Budget reports are currently send out monthly. As access to general ledger information via "InfoServices" becomes available to more departments, the business office will stop doing this.

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