In this Edition:
Accounts Payable (AP) and Travel
Target Audience: Individuals at UCSF who are responsible for preparing, submitting, or approving:
- Invoices and check requests (using BearBuy, P2P, or Speedcharts)
- Travel, entertainment and miscellaneous reimbursement requests in MyExpense
- Business travel arrangements
- Procurement Card and Human Study Debit Card transactions
MyExpense and Travel Policy Reminders
- When original receipts are required but cannot be obtained or have been lost and all measures to obtain a duplicate receipt have been exhausted, the traveler (payee) should complete the Declaration of Missing Receipts Form (located on the Travel and Entertainment Forms tab of the Controller's Office website) and include it with their reimbursement request.
- When entering address information for guest travelers, always use the correct state abbreviation or foreign country codes. Here are some useful links:
If you have questions regarding employee reimbursements, please contact the AP customer Center at APCustomerCenter@ucsf.edu.
 Whom to Contact about Accounts Payable (AP) and Travel
Capital Equipment and Accounting
Target Audience: Asset Custodians, Financial Managers
Asset Custodian Training Workshop
- Tuesday, April 19, 2012 –The next Department Asset Custodian Training Workshop is scheduled at Parnassus Campus-Dental Clinics Building, Room D-3209 from 10:00-11:00 AM. To sign up for the workshop, go to UC Learning Center. Search for "Asset," “Inventory,” or “Physical Inventory” and click Register; then select the class and click Submit.
BearBuy Equipment Purchasing
The BearBuy purchasing system, a joint collaboration between UC Berkeley and UCSF, is now in full swing. The online procurement tool provides an efficient and easy-to-use interface for acquisition of equipment, supplies and services. To order capitalized equipment in BearBuy, go to the Forms tab and in the left hand menu, click "Organization Forms" under Shared. Utilize one of the following two forms (note the links below only connect to the form if you are logged into BearBuy):
After receiving the form submitted by the shopper, the requestor will need to indicate the custody code to be assigned to the capitalized equipment. Requestors should contact the department’s asset custodian to determine the appropriate custody code,
Physical Inventory Corner: Down at the (Freezer) Farm
CLS Distribution & Storage Department (Distribution) operates a Bio-repository (“Freezer Farm”) at their warehouse facility at Oyster Point Industrial Park, South San Francisco. At this facility, Distribution maintains up to 77 freezer or refrigerator units purchased by participating UCSF laboratories. Custodial responsibility for the equipment remains with the lab's department.
An arrangement has been made for Capitalized Assets Management (CAM) to receive a quarterly list of all inventorial equipment located at the freezer farm. The location and “slot number” will be noted in the CAM property records. The building code will be 2418000 (612 Forbes Blvd., South San Francisco). Asset Custodians are still required to verify this information with Distribution during the Physical Inventory to insure the Distribution list is accurate and that the department knows the location of their equipment.
For further information concerning the Bio-repository operation, please contact Anthony Meno at 415.476.5907 or https://clsdsb2b.ucsf.edu/content/Contact.aspx.
Whom to Contact
For questions, please contact Stephen Lee, Physical Inventory Analyst, at 415.502.2657 or Stephen.Lee@ucsf.edu.
Cash Handling and Petty Cash Administration
Target Audience: Campus Cash Handlers and Petty Cash Administrators
 Human Study Debit Card (HSDC) Program and the Closure of Petty Cash Funds
The deadline for petty cash account closure has been extended until further notice while the Controller’s Office addresses certain concerns regarding the suitability of the debit card for some research programs. Although the closure of petty cash accounts is not mandatory at this point, no new petty cash requests will be accepted unless an exception is granted. Exception requests must include a valid reason as to why debit cards are not suitable for your study.
Departments are highly encouraged to transition to the HSDC program when they are setting up their new studies as this program offers many advantages.
For further information regarding the HSDC program, please contact either Nimfa Damm at Nimfa.Damm@ucsf.edu or 415.514.3731 or Ally Jalali at Alexandra.Jalali@ucsf.edu or 415.476.8461.
Whom to Contact about Cash Handling and Petty Cash Administration
For questions, please contact Kevin Leung, Supervisor Cash Reconciliation, at 415.476.8878 or Kevin.Leung2@ucsf.edu.
Extramural Funds
Target Audience: Department Managers, Financial Managers, Research Service Analysts (RSAs), and Post-Award Administrators who work with sponsored project funds
PET Deadline for Effort Report Release is February 15, 2012
Effort reports covering payroll expenditures for the period July 31, 2011 to December 31, 2011 will be released on March 1st. Please review your ledgers and submit any PETs for this reporting period by February 15th to the Controller’s Office, EMF Compliance, Box 0897, in order for the payroll changes to be reflected in the March 1st Effort Report release.
FAQs relating to effort reporting are available under Financial Compliance Tools on the Controller's Office website.
Questions regarding effort reporting should be directed to Rick Blair, Controller’s Office Compliance Manager at Rick.Blair@ucsf.edu.
Effort Reporting System Access through MyAccess
In order to improve the customer experience by reducing the number of logins and passwords that users of ERS need to remember, efforts are under way to integrate the Effort Reporting System through the MyAccess login page. Please stay tuned for any future system integration announcements. Please verify that you and your PIs have a MyAccess ID before March 1st. Go to the MyAccess home page and click on Get MyAccess to obtain your MyAccess ID.
RSA Town Hall Meeting
The next RSA Town Hall is scheduled for Thursday, March 15, from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at Parnassus Campus, HSW-300. There will be a live broadcast to Mission Bay's Genentech Hall, Byers Auditorium, and Room 135 at the Fresno Campus. Topics of discussion will be announced at a later date.
Whom to Contact
For questions regarding Extramural Funds, please contact Susan Lin, Assistant Controller-Extramural Funds, at 415.476.7007 or Susan.Lin@ucsf.edu. Please direct questions regarding cost transfers or effort reporting to EMFCompliance@ucsf.edu.
Payroll
Target Audience: Individuals at UCSF who are either responsible for processing Payroll forms and data entry into OLPPS, or responsible for the management of the process (including post-audit transaction review) within Departments
Information Regarding 2011 Form W-2
For employees who elected the secure online distribution method for their 2011 Form W-2, those forms were made available Thursday, January 19, 2012 on At Your Service Online (AYSO). An automatic email notification was sent out by AYSO notifying those employees that their W-2 form was ready for secure viewing and printing.
For employees who did not elect to receive an Online W-2, paper forms will be postmarked by January 31, 2012. The actual delivery date is subject to United States Postal Service delivery schedules. Paper forms were sent to their address of record in the Payroll/Personnel System.
Employees who don’t want to miss out next year can sign up now via AYSO to receive their 2012 W-2 electronically by electing the secure online distribution method. For W-2 questions, refer to the Payroll FAQs website to see if your question has already been addressed. Contact Campus Payroll Services if you still have questions.
January 2012 Employer Contribution Rates
UCSF Employer Contribution Rates for Benefits have changed, effective January, 2012. The information can be found in the Procedures & Job Aids section of the Payroll website under Payroll Administration References.
Employees Claiming Complete Exemption from Federal/State Withholding for 2012
Federal and state regulations require that employees who claim exemption from Federal and state tax withholding must recertify their claim each calendar year by completing a new W-4/DE4 form via the AYSO web site. If an employee filed a W-4/DE4 in 2011 for an exemption from Federal income tax withholding, it will expire automatically on February 15, 2012. If the exemption is not renewed, Payroll Services is required to withhold Federal tax at the single rate with maximum withholding for all pay days after February 15, 2012.
Notices have already been sent to affected employees’ home addresses. Should those employees seek assistance from you, please share the following information with them. There are 2 ways for an employee to continue to claim an exemption from federal or state withholding:
- The employee recertifies his/her exemption via AYSO. The deadline for entering information via AYSO is February 14, 2012 at 3:00pm. When W-4 information is entered online or via the web, a W-4 indicator will be set in the system confirming that a revised W-4 form was filed for exemption for 2012. Note: The indicator will only be set if the employee went into AYSO to recertify their exemption after December 31, 2011.
Payroll recommends that
employees retain a copy of the web confirmation for their records until they have confirmed that their earnings paid on the 02/29/12 biweekly or 03/01/21 monthly pay date properly reflects their exemptions.
OR
- The employee may obtain a paper UC W-4/DE4 form from their departmental payroll/HR coordinator, or by visiting the W-4 Instructions page of the Payroll web site. The employee must return the form to the department and the department must process the form no later than February 15, 2012 at 5:00pm.
As the department receives paper W-4 forms, the payroll/HR coordinator must be sure to enter information in the following fields for each employee:
- Federal marital status = see W-4 form
- Federal exemptions = 998
- State marital status = see W-4 form
- State exemption = 998
Important note: Departments must re-enter the exemption information and update the transaction even if that same information is currently showing on the screen. If you do not re-enter the information, the W-4 indicator will not be set and the employee's exempt status will expire.
Whom to Contact in Payroll
From the Controller’s Office is distributed monthly, with weekly updates when needed, to individuals on the following listservs: WebLinks, PeopleSoft, Online-L, Campus Administrators, and Control Points.
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