Financial Information System Instructions

Chapter 6030

Revised July 10, 2007

Table of Contents

.010 Introduction

.020 Responsibilities

.030 Overview of the Accounting Process

.040 Operations

.050 Multi-Segment FIS Account Structure

.060 Establishing FIS Projects

.065 Program Cost Account Codes

.070 Source Numbers

.080 Organization Numbers

.090 FIS Object Codes

.100 System Access

.110 Budget Procedures

.120 Cash Receipts Procedures

.130 Cash Disbursement Procedures

.140 FIS Restricted Use Accounts in Overdraft Status

.150 Encumbrance Procedures

.160 Sponsored Projects Accounting

.170 Purchasing

.180 Payroll

.190 Data Retrieval

.200 Monthly Reports

.210 Questions

ATTACHMENTS

.410 Program Cost Accounts

.420 New Project Request Form

.430 Budget Forms

.010 Introduction

The Financial Information System, referred to as FIS, is the official accounting system of Kansas State University. Through FIS individual financial transactions relating to budgets, receipts, disbursements, and transfers are accumulated to provide summary and detailed reports to assist in the financial management of the University. This financial information is also reformatted and submitted to the Statewide Accounting and Reporting System (STARS) for inclusion in statewide financial records. The goal of FIS is to provide accurate, useful financial information to assist managers in making decisions with respect to their fiduciary responsibilities while meeting state requirements. The system operates under the direction of the Controller though it relies on detailed information from many areas and individuals on campus. Hence it is critical that each area and individual understand responsibilities and the results of actions taken with respect to the accounting system. This guide is designed to provide general direction, recommendations, and minimum required controls to employees in utilization of FIS.

There are many features in addition to those discussed in this overview which make the system very flexible and usable. Departments are encouraged to utilize the system for their reporting needs rather than restructure, or reprocess the data through mini-unit automated systems. Through a thorough understanding of FIS, the user will derive the maximum benefit from the system. This understanding, combined with timely input of financial data, will result in more useful financial reports.

This revised chapter supersedes all previous financial information system chapters.

.020 Responsibilities

Department personnel are responsible for: accurate completion of all documents sent to the Controller's Office; carefully reviewing monthly reports; reporting errors to the Controller's Office in a timely manner; and, verifying errors are corrected as they anticipated.

The Controller's Office is responsible for: providing training and/or information to departmental personnel on document completion and report review; maintaining the accounting system; development and maintenance of controls in the system; and, correcting noted errors in a timely manner.

.030 Overview of the Accounting Process

Accounting Principles:

Kansas State University follows the fund accounting concept utilized by non-profit organizations. Following widely accepted standards for reporting allows consistency between KSU and other universities. These standards are established by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

The Financial Information System (FIS) is designed to follow these standards yet provide flexibility to meet the individual needs of most users.

.040 Operations

All information to update the accounting system is provided to either the Budget Office or Controller's Office. Standard documents have been developed to provide consistency in recurring actions. Copies of these documents and instructions on their completion are in PPM Chapter 6320.

Upon receipt of a document the Controller's Office General Accounting Section, scans it for compliance with any applicable regulations and obvious errors. The document is then entered into FIS and the accounting system is updated. Departments can review the system updates for their accounts through on-line access. See PPM 6030.190 Data Retrieval. Daily reports are generated for the Controller's Office use in verifying all data was entered.

FIS is designed to update daily. Any report program can be produced at any time, even on a daily basis, if desired.

.050 Multi-Segment FIS Account Structure

  The GL Account Structure as shown above is currently comprised of four component segments, each having a specific structure and purpose:

 1.  PROJECT:   The Project segment is 10 characters in length. 

       The first character must be either a “G” (Grant Accounts), an “M” (Matching Accounts), or an “N” for Non-Grant/Non-Matching accounts.

       The second through fourth character contains the Organization (Department) Alpha abbreviation.  This is the same 3 character alpha as used for HRIS.  An Excel document containing campus Alpha Organization codes is located on our web site.

       The fifth through tenth characters are free-form, alphanumeric, as determined by the individual department.  No special characters or spaces are allowed.

                  Examples (Spaces for instructional use only)

•         N UCO 481003

•         G UCO 00MISC

 2.  SOURCE (Index):  The Source segment is numeric and 4 characters in length. 

       Designated by the State, it is a higher level categorization that is defined by the state.  A table of the sources frequently used by campus departments is on our web site.

 3.  ORGANIZATION (Department):  The Organization segment is also numeric and is 5 characters in length. 

       Organization numbers are the same as the KSU Department number.  In order to obtain a department number, approval must be sought through the Budget Office to be designated as an official KSU department.

       The same table that has your Organization Alpha abbreviation also has your organization number.

 4.  Object Code (Object):  The Object segment is alphanumeric and 5 characters in length.

       Used to categorize assets, liabilities, fund balance, revenue, expense, and budget entries.

       The first character must be an Alpha character and defines type as a(n):

E (Expense)                  A (Assets)   

R (Revenue)                  L (Liabilities)

B (Budget)                     F (Fund Balance)

.060 Establishing FIS Projects

Individual FIS accounts are required for all major programs and operations.  Related activities within a department may be grouped together in a single FIS project, however, a separate accounting should be maintained by the department for each activity.  A miscellaneous restricted fee project may be established to group low-volume, low-dollar, or non-repetitive activities.

To request the establishment of a new FIS project, one copy of the "New Account Request Form" needs to be completed and submitted to the Controller's Office.  A copy of this form and instructions for completion are in PPM 6030.430.  Questions regarding the establishment of a new account for the completion of the form should be directed to the Financial Reporting and Inventory Section at (785) 532-1853.

NOTE: These instructions and form are NOT applicable when requesting a project number for a Sponsored Project.  Please contact Sponsored Projects Accounting at extension (785) 532-6207 regarding appropriate procedures.

.065 Program Cost Account Codes

Program Cost Account Codes (PCA) are used to identify the type of activity. Only one PCA can be used for each project. These PCA codes identify the project by functional classifications outlined by the National Association of College and University Business Administration. Examples include instruction, research, public service, academic support, student services, institutional support, operation and maintenance of plant, scholarships and fellowships, auxiliaries, and independent operations.

A detailed list of Program Cost Account Codes is in PPM 6030.410.

.070 Source Numbers

“FIS Sources (State Index Codes) are used to identify the type of funding affected through transacting business in FIS. Sources note the funding as being state appropriated, general fees, or restricted fees to name a few.

 A detailed list of Source Codes can be found at http://www.k-state.edu/controller/systems/fis/currentCofAccts.htm

under the reference “Source Listing”.

.080 Organization Numbers

Each department has been assigned a unique 5 digit number as an attribute in FRS and each account is identified to the appropriate department. The first two digits of the five digit number identifies the organizational unit (colleges or Vice Presidential area) with the last three digits identifying the specific department.

The Organization numbers list is available in the Financial Information Systems section of the Controller's Office website. The following link is a complete listing:   Organization Listing 

.090 FIS Object Codes

The Oracle Object Code Listing is available in the Financial Information Systems section of the Controller's Office website. The following link is a complete listing:   FIS Object Codes. 

.100 System Access

Entry into the Financial Information System is limited to those who have attended the formal training sessions and submitted the “Financial Information System Access Form”. The access form and instructions can be located at  Division of Human Resources Forms website, for further information contact the  Controller’s Systems Office at extension (785) 532- 1861.

Once you have entered the system you are free (within the limits of your system access security authorization) to move about the system through the menu screens.

.110 Budget Procedures

Interaction with FIS system will be in three categories: 

1.  Annual Budget:

Each fiscal year, the Budget Office completes the annual the annual operating budget for Kansas State University and its sub-agencies: Research and Extension and the College of Veterinary Medicine.  The annual operating budget is developed based on Legislative, Board of Regents, and KSU central administrative approval.  The annual operating budget consists of all university funds that are expended through the State.  The budget is used to allocate the appropriate funds to the campus and is reported to the Kansas Legislature and the Board of Regents each year in the budget request document.  The annual budget position listing provides detailed budget information of classified and unclassified positions, student and other operating expenditures by organization.  The detailed funding information includes project, source, and organization for each budget line.

The Budget Office downloads only centrally allocated funds from the annual budget position listing into FIS.  See the Budget Office web site below for a list of Centrally Allocated Funds:

http://www.ksu.edu/budget

The Annual Budget amounts are downloaded into FIS by project, source, and organization (multi-segment account) using the object codes listed below:

            A.            Revenue          B0100

            B.            Classified        B1000

            C.            Unclassified      B1100

            D.            Student             B1200

            E.             OOE                B2000

Revenue is transferred into each account equal to the budget allocation for the centrally allocated funds.

 2. Benefit Pool Allocation:  

During the annual budget download process, unclassified benefits for sources 0003, 2000, 1020, 1030, and 1300 are deposited into a central benefit pool project.  Each month after payroll benefit expenses have posted, the budget and cash will be transferred from the benefit pool to each organization based on the actual unclassified benefit expense.  The transactions will post to each project, source, and organization where the expense was incurred. The benefit pool has several exceptions within the sources listed.  The Budget Office will exclude from the benefit pool:  KSU Salina, Targeted Excellence Projects, Summer School, and Federal Benefits.  These areas have the benefit amounts budgeted with each project at the beginning of the fiscal year.

3. Budget Tran-Type:

In the Discover Report, Transaction Detail Report, the column Tran-type will list one of the two following descriptions:

1.        Budget – Original: 

a.        This Tran-type is used when original budget is downloaded into FIS as described above.  All original budget entries occur in July at the beginning of the fiscal year except for the second allocation made to the Research and Extension federal funds.  The description in FIS reads “Budget-Original” without a document number.

2.        Budget - Transfer:

a.         In FIS the Tran-type shown as Budget-Transfer occurs with no document numbers when a benefit pool transfer is being made.  The benefit pool transfers will usually occur twice during a month.  The object code of B1100 will identify these entries.

b.       When all other budget transfers are being made, the type is Budget-Transfer with a document number present.  If there is a question, a document can be located through a document search.

Preparation and Processing:

The Budget Office is responsible for entering the original budget amounts and processing the Allocated Budget Transfer Forms on all non-grant projects.  The Allocated Budget Transfers will adjust the revised budget column on the FIS reports.

The Allocated Budget Transfer for is located on the Controller’s Office Website under http://www.ksu.edu/controller/eforms.  Instructions to complete the form are found on the Budget Office website below:

http://www.ksu.edu/budget/budgettransferguidelines.pdf

Departments will release and approve Allocated Budget Transfers to the Budget Office.  The Budget Office will then review all transfers and authorize them to be entered into FIS.  The Controller’s Office will upload them into the Financial Information System.

Instructions for preparing this form are found in PPM 6030.440.

.120 Cash Receipts Procedures

There are four basic cash receipt transactions: Standard Cash Receipts, Direct Deposit Receipts, Letter of Credit Receipts, and Refunds. Standard Cash Receipts are any collection of monies made by the university departments and deposited with the Cashier's Section of the Controller's Office. Direct Deposits and Letter of Credit Receipts are monies sent directly to the State Treasurer's Office without first being deposited locally and mainly concern the Controller's Office personnel. Refunds only involve Campus Enrollment Fees, KSU.  Housing and Continuing Education enrollment fees. Deposits should not be made to any Grant Projects or any allocated funds.

Standard Cash Receipts may be deposited to any project. The system recognizes cash receipts as a credit to the project indicated and automatically generates an offsetting debit to the claim on cash. Red deposits (negative cash receipts) and refunds are recorded as a debit to the account indicated and automatically generates an off-setting credit to the claim on cash. On all FIS transactions, a credit is indicated by a negative sign behind the figure.

Therefore, a standard cash receipt transaction will have a negative sign and any red deposit or refund will have a positive (no sign) behind it.

The procedure for preparing cash receipts for deposit are described in PPM 6100 of the Policy and Procedures Manual. If you have any additional questions about cash receipts, please contact the Cashier's Section, Room 212 Anderson Hall at (785) 532-6317.

.130 Cash Disbursement Procedures

Cash disbursements record money paid by the institution. 

The System recognizes cash disbursements as debits to the account on the transaction. The system automatically generates an offsetting credit to cash.

Detailed explanation on document preparation is explained in PPM Chapter 6320.

.140 Projects in Overdraft Status

After accounts are overdrawn for three consecutive months, vendor payments, which attempt to post charges against overdrawn restricted use, non-grant FIS accounts, will be returned to the paying departments.  The selection of another account, a transfer of payment, or a transfer of funds must occur before the payment will be processed.  It should be noted that encumbered amounts are not included in the calculation of the account balance when determining the overdraft status.

Circumstances that warrant exception to this policy should be brought to the attention of the Controller through a letter explaining the extenuating circumstances.  Letters requesting exception must be signed by the dean or head of the administrative unit that is responsible for the overdrawn account.  Letters requesting exemption from this policy are valid for 24 months.  As exemption authorizations expire, new letters proposing a course of action to resolve the deficit must be submitted according to the guidance noted above.

Month End Reports indicate the status of cash in each account.  Additionally, the General Accounting Section of the Controller' s Office distributes on a quarterly basis reports to administrative unit and college level business managers that indicate restricted use accounts in overdraft status.   In addition to the hardcopy notification to the department, General Accounting Controller’s Office staff will monitor restricted use accounts and department staff will be contacted subsequent to the three-month grace period mentioned above.

General use accounts and grant accounts are excluded from this policy.  The Budget Division and the Sponsored Projects Accounting Division set policies that apply to these account types.

.150 Encumbrance Procedures

System users may recognize committed funds prior to the actual recognition when goods/services are received. This allows the institution to analyze the use and current status of budgeted funds. These commitments are entered into the system with an encumbrance transaction.

Encumbrances provide more comprehensive control of budgeted expenditures and more detailed reporting. Like budgets, encumbrances are memo notation items and are not treated as liabilities. An encumbrance reduces the project's budget availability and generates a commitment record on the Open Commitment File.

The State of Kansas defines encumbrances as obligations incurred in the form of orders, contracts, and other similar items that will become payable when goods are delivered or services rendered. Kansas State University must follow this criteria for encumbering payments, either internal or external to the University, at the end of each fiscal year. Generally this allows for encumbrance of payments only for:

1. goods or equipment ORDERED through non-cancelable purchase contracts prior to July 1, or
   
2. services completed prior to July 1, that have not been invoiced.

NOTE: IN REGARD TO TRAVEL, PAYMENTS ARE TO BE MADE IN THE FISCAL YEAR THAT THE TRAVEL ACTUALLY OCCURRED.

.160 Sponsored Projects Accounting

See PPM Chapter 7050 Topic .020.

.170 Purchasing

The processing of Purchase Requisitions (P.R.s) and Order Agency Purchase Order Vouchers (A.P.V.s) is handled in the usual manner as outlined in PPM Chapter 6310, Purchasing Procedures. If you have any questions or need assistance please contact the Controller's Office, Purchasing Section (785) 532-6214.

.180 Payroll

PAYROLL CHARGES

The Payroll System uses a batch feed to FIS which is run three to five times per month: first for supplementals paid between the 1st and 15th, second for adjustments, and third through fifth (as needed) for payrolls dated the first of the new month. 

For employees who are paid from multiple projects accounts, the fringe benefits are computed then allocated among the accounts in the same ratio as salary expense per account is to the gross total.

Some academic appointments are expensed in nine months but the employee is paid over 12 months. The difference between the amount expensed and the amount paid is recorded to a 9/12 accrued salary project and paid out to the employees in the months of June, July and August. The amount accrued each month is the annual salary divided by 12 x .33333. Associated fringe benefit charges are computed at .33333 x current month fringes except FICA which is computed based on the current FICA rates, wage limits and employee salary. Both the amounts paid and the amounts expensed are detailed on the Payroll Payments by Project reports and are summarized as separate transactions (one for paid amounts and one for accrued amounts) in FIS.

June payrolls dated July 1 through July 10 are charged to current year business (as opposed to new fiscal year) and are reflected on the June monthly reports and current fiscal year reports.

SOURCE OF SALARY CHANGES FOR SPONSORED PROJECTS ACCOUNTING PROJECTS

When a project year ends and a new project year begins and a new project number is assigned, a source of salary change (PER-39 or GST) must be prepared and submitted for each classified and unclassified employee currently paid on the grant. The funding does not automatically "roll over" into the new project. Funding sources for hourly students must be made on the time sheets.

COLLEGE WORK STUDY PROGRAM (CWSP)

Assessment of CWSP Administrative Expense to departments is accomplished via automatic (system-generated) journal entries. Department share (currently 25%, plus the Federal share (currently 75%) are used for the calculation. Subcode E2990 is used for the charges. CWSP Administrative Expense charges relating to federally sponsored projects are reflected in the departmental SRO projects. If no SRO projects exist, the charges are posted to General Fees projects, certain appropriated projects, or in special situations to another Restricted Fee project.

The Federal share of CWSP salaries is charged to special projects.. While departments receive statements and Payroll Payments by Project Reports for these accounts, the funds do not come out of departmental budgets. The statements and reports are for information only.  

PAYROLL PAYMENTS BY PROJECT REPORTS

Payroll Payments by Account Project are detailed listings of individual employees and the associated charges for the month for each KSU Project number. These reports are generated from the payroll system and support the payroll data summarized in the reports generated from the Financial Information System.

These reports are generated for any project to which payroll data are posted; however, if no payroll is charged for the month, no report will be generated.

.190 Data Retrieval

Reporting of Financial Information System Data or Data Retrieval deals with providing information for management decision. Data retrieval is represented as information displayed on a CRT (computer terminal screen) or as printed reports produced by the Financial Information System. This section of the manual is meant to acquaint the reader with accounting information available through accessing the Inquiry Screens that contain the latest information processed by the system and to provide a brief explanation of the daily, monthly and year-end reports printed out as a part of a closing process.

System screens are available for on-line inquiry and viewing. These screens show the project status, activity and reflect the most current status from all processes transacted against the projects. The system does not allow the user to change any of the inquiry data.

The inquiry screens and a brief description of content are as follows.  Additional screen information and training may be found at the Controller's Office, General Accounting web page in the Training Section under FIS Screen Information.

As the Financial Information System is updated on a daily basis and current day's transactions are merged into month-to-date and year-to-date history files, various reports can be run at virtually anytime through Discover reports. The information contained on the various reports, however, will be only as current and accurate as the input into the system. In other words, if a transaction has not been entered or has been entered incorrectly, the accuracy of reports that are generated will be reflected accordingly. The FIS System has the ability to provide a number of management reports on request. General use reports are generated monthly and distributed to users.

Local encumbrances which are outstanding at the end of the year will be converted to a state encumbrance and will be assigned an FIS order and line number. 

Encumbrances carry forward to the new year. Encumbrances consist of certain construction contracts and Sponsored Research Project Contracts when funds are not provided until after the expense is incurred. There can also be KSU. local contingent encumbrances for items which will not be included on a DA-118 and converted to a state encumbrance at the end of the year.

.200 Monthly Reports

Reports described in this section are run monthly on the system and distributed electronically by department number to authorized user ids.  The following indicates the monthly cycle report programs with a brief explanation of each report:

.210 Questions

Questions should be directed to one of the following Offices.

.410 Program Cost Accounts (PCA) Main Campus

.420 New Project Request Form

Take me to the New Project Request Form

The New Project Request Form is to be submitted to the Controller's Office.  Once a project number has been assigned, the bottom portion of the form will be completed and a copy returned to the department.  Questions regarding the completion of this form should be directed to the Financial Reporting & Inventory Section at (785) 532-1853.  The form is to be prepared as follows:  The referenced numbers also appear at the appropriate place on the sample form. 

.430 Budget Forms

Take me to the Allocated Budget Transfers

Take me to the Non-allocated Funds Transfer.

There are two forms that are used to correct or adjust previous budget entries.

Allocated Budget Transfer:

The Allocated Budget Transfers are completed using E-Forms which assigns a document number.  When a budget transfer is completed, in addition to the budget transfer entry, two other entries will also take place to reflect the cash movement:

1.       B0100 budget revenue entries follow the budget transfer entry for the increase and decrease of budget entries.

2.        The following revenue entries will occur each time a budget transfer is completed:

a.        R6641 is a revenue increase entry

b.       R6642 is a revenue decrease entry

  Non-Allocated Funds Transfer:

 The non-allocated funds transfer form looks nearly identical to the allocated budget transfer form.

1.        The non-allocated form is used to transfer cash for non-allocated funds.  Below is a link to the Budget Office website that has a list of non-allocated funds.

www.ksu.edu/budget

2.        The following revenue entries will occur when a non-allocated funds transfer is completed:

a.        R6651 is a revenue increase entry

b.       R6652 is a revenue decrease entry