Division of Finance & Administration

Finance Matters, May 2023

Updates & Announcements

Year-end closing

It is time to begin fiscal year-end preparations. Budget managers are responsible for verifying that transactions on all funds are recorded accurately, timely, and in accordance with the chartstring’s established purpose and budget. Please carefully review your transactions and ensure that they are in order.

The FY23 Summary of Year End Deadlines (PDF) is a quick reference guide of key year-end dates. And the FY23 Year End User Guide (PDF) is a comprehensive guide to key year-end processes. Each section includes a header, the reason why the process is important, how to complete the process, key dates and deadlines, links to online resources, and a contact should you need help or have questions. It is important that you read each section that may pertain to your area and share this information with other key personnel that may be involved. Read more on purchasing and other year-end reminders and information.

If you have budget-checking errors on a sponsored project, it is important that you contact your SPA analyst in a timely manner so that the deadlines in the attachment can be met. Also, if your area works with a service center please contact them as they may have shorter deadlines in order to comply with the overall University deadlines.

Print & Mail Center Services - Did you know?

As a valued campus partner, the Print & Mail Center produced over 30,000 signs during the first few months of Covid! These included:

Hallway hanging signs
Floor decals
Window stickers
Wall stickers
Foam core signage
PVC signage
A-frame displays
Back-lit signs
Banners
Lawn signs
Many more items

If you have a need for printed materials, please visit our website, give us a call at 656-2960, or stop by at 118 Waterman for C106 Given. We’re available for your personal print and mail needs as well. No job is too big or too small. We specialize in quick turnarounds, excellent customer service and high-quality products that meet or exceed the UVM style guidelines.

Reminders & Helpful Tips

Finance-related forms

Our forms are updated often! To ensure you are using the most current versions please access them on the Division of Finance & Administration webpage. There is also a link to the forms in the UVM Business Manager WorkCenter on PeopleSoft FSCM under External Links.

Fraud avoidance tips

Scammers are experts at getting your information! The tips below can protect your data from attacks, both at work and at home.

Protect your information

Scammers often send links that look official, but direct you to a page that steals your data. Hover over a link with your mouse to see where it will really take you!
Who is that email really coming from? Check the address for spoofing or for similar-sounding names meant to trick you.
Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when you’re not on the UVM network.
Think twice before sharing any UVM information on the internet.
If someone pressures you to act quickly, don’t! They may be trying to keep you from noticing a scam.
Delete and shred documents according to UVM’s record retention schedule.
Use strong passwords that are not shared between accounts. A password manager can make this easier!
When in doubt, ask ETS!

Prevent fraudulent disbursements

Reconcile budget, purcard, and expense reports in a timely manner to catch fraudulent activity.
Get accurate receipts for all transactions.
Ensure there is a clear business purpose for every expense.
Use UVM File Transfer for sensitive information, instead of email.
Scammers love gift cards because they are hard to trace. Never buy gift cards for someone else except as approved for research and survey participants. Never ever read out a gift card number to someone on the phone.
Never loan out your purcard, even to co-workers.
Keep your purcard somewhere safe and secure.
When in doubt, ask Disbursement!

Protect our purchasing process

Check vendor emails for spoofing.
Check vendor invoices for changes, and reconcile to the authorized purchase order.
Forward all vendor requests for account changes to Disbursement.
Let Disbursement know if a supplier regularly sends duplicate invoices.
Think twice about suppliers that demand prompt payment! They may be trying to keep you from noticing a scam.
When in doubt, ask Purchasing Services!

Resources

University Costco Card

UVM’s Costco membership card can be reserved through email to the Disbursement Center, and is available by appointment only, typically Tuesdays-Thursdays, for a two- to three-hour time slot.

Please keep in mind:

Advance notice is advised to have better success at obtaining the time/date you wish to use the card.
There is only one Costco card to serve the entire University, so the card may be in use by another department which conflicts with your availability.
Costco opens around 10:00am and the card must be returned to the Disbursement Center by 4:00pm. The card is not allowed to be checked out overnight or on weekends.
The Disbursement Center may not be available to sign out the card if they’re working remotely on a given day due to inclement weather.
Hospitality expenses for faculty and staff activities are not allowable. Reasonable hospitality expenses associated with student programming are allowable.
The card is not intended for online use.
If there are no other suitable shopping locations that would work during your availability, arrangements may be possible if Disbursement staffing is available.

Once your reservation has been confirmed, the card can be signed out on the designated date/time at the Disbursement Center front desk, Waterman 205, 85 South Prospect Street (down one flight of stairs from main entrance, north end of building).
To reserve the Costco card please email the following information to the Disbursement Center:

Vendor Name: Costco
Product Description and Purpose:
Total Estimated Cost of Purchase:
Source of Funds (chartstring):
Method of payment - Purcard or Purchase Order (provide PO number):

Your UVM Purcard or a UVM purchase order is required to use along with the Costco card to process the transaction with UVM’s sales tax exemption. If you do not have your own UVM Purcard, you will need to obtain a purchase order in advance through Purchasing Services. (You may not use someone else's Purcard.)

If a purchase order is used:

Complete the appropriate paperwork at Costco’s customer service desk before doing your shopping.
Costco charges a 1.5% administrative fee when using a purchase order.
When you return the Costco card to the Disbursement Center, we will make a photocopy of the receipt and Costco paperwork and give those to you; we keep the originals to process payment.

PeopleSoft Finance - archived attachments

In an effort to save disk space EAS has started archiving attachments in PeopleSoft Finance. Only attachments on documents that are greater than seven (7) years old will be subject to archiving.

If you receive an “Attachment failed to download. File not found.” message when trying to view an attachment please submit a PeopleSoft Helpdesk Footprint requesting that the attachment be unzipped for you to view it. A footprint template for this request is available via PeopleSoft Help Desk.

Create a New Request
Select Unarchive Attachments from the template drop down
Click Use selected template
A popup message will appear asking you to confirm that you want to use the template.
Click the radio button in front of Yes
Click GO

The form will be refreshed with all of the fields completed except the subject/description, which should be FSCM Unarchive Attachment Request. Contact Tiffany Barker Cook.

Division of Finance & Administration org chart (PDF)