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Journals are created to enter financial information into the General Ledger. Financial information includes deposits, payments, transfers, allocations, and other types of activity necessary to accurately describe the finances of the University.
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General Ledger (GL) verification is a key control of UCSF and is a requirement per Campus Administrative Policies.
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Sundry Debtor is an invoice billed to external customers (not affiliated with UC) for use of UCSF properties or services. Departments must first be established as a Sundry Debtor Customer before they can submit requests for invoices to be sent to external customers.
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Equipment Custodians are assigned by departments and are responsible for providing current equipment information including physical location, custody code, disposal, and sales.
UCOP and Federal Regulations require that campus departments perform a physical verification of all capitalized assets listed in the UCSF asset management database system every two years. This is essential for continued federal, state, and private donor funding of operations and research projects. Equipment custodians are charged with conducting the physical inventory on a biannually-scheduled basis.
Assigning or Changing Equipment Custodian Responsibility
When a new custodian is assigned responsibility by a department, the department must:
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The Asset Management Report can be found under the Transactional Reports tab in MyReports.
There are numerous ways to search for and filter data in MyReports to meet your needs. For inventory purposes it is easiest to search by Custodian Name or Custody Code. These fields are in the Report Specific Filters section on the bottom of the page:
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UCOP and Federal Regulations require that campus departments perform a physical verification of all capitalized assets listed in the UCSF asset management database system every two years. The Controller's Office schedules the inventory date for each department. Each department custodian is given 45 working days to:
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Article Contents
Capital Lease or Installment Purchase Lease
Other Types of Leases or Contracts
The recording and tracking of Capital and Operating Leases is somewhat complicated and the University is required to be in compliance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement No. 13 and Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). This guide is not intended to go through the entire behind-the-scenes analysis of how to record leases, but rather provide guidance on the day to day Department and Controller’s Office processes as it relates to equipment.
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Effective July 1, 2014 through 2030, California Department of Tax and Fee Administration's Regulation 1525.4 - Manufacturing and Research & Development Equipment allows “partial sales and use tax exemption” on certain manufacturing and research and development equipment purchases and leases.
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No property shall be removed from University custody without first obtaining the necessary approvals outlined in the procedures below.
Only equipment for which the University holds clear title can be disposed of without the written permission of the title holder. Departments are responsible for verifying title on all sponsored funded equipment.
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UCSF's chart of accounts (COA) is the coding structure that defines operations in financial terms. The COA serves as the foundation of the general ledger. The UCSF chartstring is a 38-character coding string that consists of 8 individual "blocks", or segments, called chartfields. The chartfields and resulting chartstring facilitate accounting, reporting, and budgeting.
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Establishing a New Petty Cash Custodian, Setting up a Petty Cash or Change Fund, Replenishing Petty Cash Funds, Change of Custodian for an Existing Fund, Decreasing Petty Cash or Change Funds, Terminating a Petty Cash or Change Fund
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Use the Combo Edit Guide to identify which chartfield combinations may or may not be used together. It is especially useful when planning or troubleshooting journals which have unusual combinations of chartfields.
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Cash and Credit Card journals in PeopleSoft are used to record payments received from third parties. Journal Preparers and Approvers are responsible for ensuring that all journal entries are reasonable and accurate based on the documentation, knowledge of the activity, and conformity to applicable UCSF Policies and outside agency requirements.
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The fiscal year-end close process is required to prepare the general ledger accounts for financial statement presentation and for the start of the next accounting process.
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UCSF Physical Inventory Custodian Schedule 2019 - 2021 Cycle
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Account
Description
51321
Spon proj equip >$5K, non-comp
51322
Spon proj computer >$5K
51323
Spon proj software >$5K
52303
MC USE-equipment less than $5K
52304
Computers less than $5K
52305
Software less than $5K
52315
Furniture
52601
Computers $5K and above
52602
Software $5K and above
52603
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Recharges and central costed activities occur when one unit of the University provides services which benefit other units internally. These activities may be specifically identifiable based on usage such as expenses for off-site storage, or generally in support of a shared resource such as information technology. Only units approved by Budget and Resource Management may use recharges and distribution of central costed activities.
Review the eLearning module on Recharges and Costed Central Activities in the UC Learning Center.
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To ensure transactions are correctly recorded in the General Ledger, financial administrators may establish SpeedTypes, which are 6-10 character shortcuts for commonly used chartfield combinations.
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Fundamentals of Financial Management at UCSF is a three part course designed to introduce employees to basic accounting concepts at UCSF. The course includes a review of the UCSF chart of accounts structure and chartfield values, as well as an overview of MyReports, UCSF's financial reporting system. The courses are available from the UC Learning Center; you can take at them at your own pace and review as many times as you would like.
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Cash and Credit Card journals in PeopleSoft are used to record payments received from third parties. Journal Preparers and Journal Approvers are responsible for ensuring that all journal entries are reasonable and accurate based on the documentation, knowledge of the activity, and conformity to applicable UCSF Policies and outside agency requirements.
See Establishing Journal Preparers and Approvers in PeopleSoft for the steps and training required to assign the Journal Preparer and/or Journal Approver role to a UCSF staff member.
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The MyReports Transaction Detail Report contains a record of all cash transactions that have occurred and can be filtered for specific a department(s). The University defines cash as currency, coins, checks, money orders, Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), and e-commerce transactions such as credit card transactions.
The process of reconciliation confirms that the transactions on the ledgers represent activity that actually occurred (the department did receive the cash). During reconciliation, bank statements, credit card settlement tapes, departmental transaction systems, and/or source documents are used to match cash received to what appears on the ledger.
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In certain instances, the University may act as a fiscal agent for outside agencies such as student, faculty, staff, governmental, or private organizations or activities. An agency fund is used to record the administration of monies for the outside agency where the intended use is for a mutually beneficial and agreed-upon purpose that supports or enhances the mission of the University. Agency funds are not considered University monies or charitable contributions to the University.
Examples of appropriate agency funds include establishing funds for:
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UCSF Building Codes
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Outlines the reasons for requesting a new Chartfield, and how the set-up and request are coordinated.
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Dept ID Functional Roles identify employees who hold key operational functions within a Department or, in the case of the Payroll/Personnel Administrator and Computer Support Coordinator roles, support a Department.
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Source Codes identify the purpose of PeopleSoft journals. They are also a selection criterion for reporting in the MyReports Transaction Detail Report. Some source codes are limited to PeopleSoft Journal Preparers who are assigned a specific PeopleSoft role to use the source code. Several source codes have additional approval workflow connected with them.
Online Financial Journals
Campus Departments and Controller’s Office
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Establishing New Cash Handlers and Depositors, Handling Checks Other than for Gifts and Sponsored Projects, Handling Checks Received as Gifts, Handling Checks Received for Sponsored Projects, Incoming Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT)
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UCSF departments or units that accept credit or debit cards for payment become credit card merchants. As a credit card merchant, the department assumes the requirements and risks associated with accepting credit card payments.
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Article Contents
Introduction
Definitions
Scope
Purpose
Process Ownership
Life Cycle Outcomes
Procedures
Self-Assessment
Reference Documents
Introduction
The purpose of Capitalized Asset Management (CAM) is to:
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Inventorial equipment is defined as free-standing, non-expendable equipment (useful life over 1 year) acquired at a cost of $5,000 or more (including sales tax, freight, and installation needed to enable operability). The designated Equipment Custodian oversees the inventorial equipment assigned to the 4-digit custody code(s) for which they are responsible. This guide discusses the responsibilities of your role as an Equipment Custodian, and provides links to other resources available to help you.
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Establishing Journal Preparers and Approvers in PeopleSoft
Take the online course “Understanding PeopleSoft Journals” in the UC Learning Center. Completion of this course is required for access to PeopleSoft General Ledger and Journals.
Journal Preparers must complete Parts 1 and 2 of the online course
Journal Approvers must complete Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the online course
Notify your manager and department Access Administrator of the date you completed the training so that PeopleSoft access can be requested.
The Access Administrator submits the request for access to PeopleSoft Journals using the Access Management System available in MyAccess.
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This article explains how UCSF handles non-sponsored, incoming international and domestic funds received in the form of Automated Clearing House credits (ACH) and wire transfers. It also describes what departments should do to claim these funds and how to view the list of ACH/Wire payments.
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This job aid provides step-by-step instructions on preparing a recharge journal
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Financial Journals (source code 535) can be used for:
Correcting chartfields on previously recorded transactions
Recording non-payroll adjustments for non-sponsored Projects
Moving money for:
Revenue or UCSF Health support transfers
Expense transfers
External recharges or central costed activity
Assessments/Interdepartmental transfers
Support and other net position transfers
Net position transfers between different fund types
Do not use financial journals for:
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This guide explains Journal Approver responsibilities and how to approve or deny a journal in the PeopleSoft web application. See the Using the PeopleSoft Mobile Approvals Application job aid to learn how to approve journals using your tablet or smartphone.
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PeopleSoft includes a mobile application for the review and the approval or denial of journals using Apple iOS or Android devices.
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The PeopleSoft Mobile Approvals application provides Journal Approvers with the added convenience of reviewing and taking action on pending journal transactions from a mobile device. See the Reviewing and Approving or Denying Journals job aid for specific review tasks required of a Journal Approver and to learn about how to approve a journal using the PeopleSoft web application.
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Control Point approval is required for all Net Position transfers, capital project and fiscal year-end journals at UCSF. Designated Control Point Approvers can access, review, Approve or Deny these types of journals from their PeopleSoft Worklist. Journals that do not require Control Point approval are routed to a single Approver based on the Journal Preparer. Journals requiring Control Point approval are routed to a group of Control Point Approvers (if the Control Point has established such a group). All members of the Control Point approval group will see the same journals on their Worklists and have access to these journals.
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As a Journal Approver, when an absence takes you out of the office, you have the ability to temporarily assign an alternate approver who can review and approve or deny your journals so they post as intended. Approval delegation is performed in the PeopleSoft My System Profile component.
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If you need to print or save a PDF of a PeopleSoft journal, you can do so using the Print Journal process from the journal’s Lines tab. The process creates a PDF that can be saved or printed. There is no requirement to save PDFs or print journals; PeopleSoft is the system of record.
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This document describes the process of preparing and submitting journal entries electronically via flat files.
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PeopleSoft Standard Journal Entries (SJEs) provide functionality to automate the scheduled recurring entry of similar or identical journals. This job aid explains how to define and review Standard Journals. This feature is inappropriate for time sensitive journals. If you require an urgently approved and posted journal, enter it using the Create/Update Journal Entries component.
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Departments are responsible for notifying the Controller's Office General Accounting Service Desk, when changes to this list are required. See the end of this page for detailed instructions on how to update this list.
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UCSF routinely conducts business with other campuses and with Office of the President (UCOP). This guide provides an overview of these transactions, describes how transactions are processed, and identifies resources for users who need assistance with related processing. These transactions are divided into the following categories:
Category
Source Code(s)
Interlocation Transfer of Funds (ITFs)
150, 574
Intercampus Orders & Charges (IOCs)
57X
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University of California Office of the President (UCOP) Risk Services manages a self-insurance program that provides coverage for loss of assets. All campuses and medical centers contribute to the fund annually. Valuation of loss is based on repair or replacement of damaged or destroyed property. Deductibles per occurrence:
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UCSF routinely conducts business with other campuses and with Office of the President (UCOP). These transactions are divided into four categories:
Interlocation Transfer of Funds (ITFs)
Intercampus Orders & Charges (IOCs)
Intercampus Appointments
Intercampus Subcontracts
Because of the variety of intercampus transactions, it may be difficult to determine the correct category for your transaction. If you need assistance determining the nature of your transaction, contact Cash Handling & Credit Cards. The Controller’s Office will also assist in routing transactions to the appropriate party for processing.
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Capital equipment has a value of $5,000 or more, or software with a per copy cost of $5,000 or more, with a normal life expectancy of more than one year, and is not "expendable". There are specific procedures for capital equipment purchases as well as special procedures applicable over the lifetime of the capital asset.
Before you make a purchase of capital equipment, be sure that you understand and follow the specific procedures:
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The gift should meet the criteria of a capital asset:
Tangible,
Freestanding,
Useful life of one year or longer, and
Estimated value of $5,000 or greater.
Donor, private individual, a corporation, or some other entity should provide a statement in writing that:
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Download this job aid for more details on how Net Position is calculated and displayed in MyReports.
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Moving Money
The method used to transfer money or balances (e.g., "move money") depends on the Account Type. Specific Accounts and Account Types must be used consistently to ensure that reporting is accurate, clear, and consistent. Refer to the Moving Money Quick Reference Guide for details on:
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The chart is this document summarizes the rules for account types that can be used for transferring money or balances. By using these types of accounts, reporting is clear and consistent.
The other pages highlight the accounts to use: Page 2 when transferring money within the Campus, and Page 3 between the Campus and UCSF Health.
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Credit card fraud and identity theft are major concerns of the Credit Card Industry. To prevent these occurrences the Credit Card Industry has instituted Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) as security measures to safeguard sensitive cardholder data on credit card transactions. Compliance with PCI DSS is mandatory for all merchants and is enforced by the major card brands who established the PCI Security Standards Council.
PCI Core Standards
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Commonly used codes and schedules for capital assets and equipment:
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Article Contents
Employee Tax Forms
Using GLACIER for Non-resident Alien Tax Compliance
Campus Tax Information
UCSF Foundation Tax Information
Sales and Use Tax
Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT)
Miscellaneous Income
City & County
Who to Contact
Employee Tax Forms
Form W-2
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Internal controls are divided into key and non-key controls. Key controls are the primary procedures relied upon to mitigate a risk or prevent fraud. Non-key controls are considered secondary or back up controls. All controls can be grouped into one of the five components of internal control:
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Departments that have been established as a Sundry Debtor Customer, can accept sundry debtor payments as an electronic transfer, either as a wire transfer or ACH (Automated Clearing House), or in the form of a check. ACH or wire transfer is the preferred method of payment.
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Function is a two-character chartfield in the UCSF Chart of Accounts that fulfills internal and external reporting requirements to track higher education function classifications. Function defines the mission/purpose of the transaction. Functions also determine how costs are treated in the Facilities & Administration (F&A), or indirect cost, calculation. Functions are designed for specific uses. Users should select the Function code that best reflects the mission associated with the transaction or activity.
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Download the attached quick reference guide for a complete explanation of the seven Funds consolidated into other existing Funds on July 1, 2015.
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PeopleSoft Journal Header - Input Record Definition
Field Name
Length
Column Positions
Comments/Issues
Record Type
1
1
'H' indicates a Journal Header record
Business Unit
5
2- 6
Required field; Input value of 'SFCMP' or ‘SFMED’ or ‘SFFDN’
Journal ID
10
7-16
Required field; assigned by Accounting Office
Journal Date
8
17-24
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Letter from Bank of America confirming bank information needed to accept incoming Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT).
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This job aid assists PeopleSoft users who have the Chartfield Approver role in identifying requests to approve new Projects and Flexfields.
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The Fund chartfield is a 4-character alphanumeric value which identifies source of money. Fund identifies the source of financial support and demonstrates restrictions imposed by the governing board or in accordance with regulations, restrictions, or limitations imposed by sources outside the institution. It is a required field on revenue, expense, and transfer transactions.
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The Account chartfield is a 5-character numeric value which identifies the nature or type of the transaction by classifying them into Assets, Liabilities, Equity (net position), Revenues, and Expenses. It is a required field on all transactions. The Accounts are organized into reporting levels using a PeopleSoft tree. The Accounts are designed to facilitate reporting and are generally used across the organization. The campus, foundation, and medical center will share the same list of Accounts. (See the Alternate Account section for additional information for medical center accounts). In other words, the Accounts do not have departmental ownership.
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Department (also referred to as Dept ID) chartfield is a 6-character alphanumeric value which identifies the organizational unit involved in transaction or responsible for resource. Departments are seen as “Cost Centers” whose managers are responsible for all its associated costs and for ensuring adherence to its budgets. It is a required field on revenue, expense, and transfer transactions.
A Department is defined as a distinctly identifiable department, division, or unit of an organization whose managers are responsible for all its associated costs and for ensuring adherence to its budgets
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The Activity Period chartfield is a 2-character alphanumeric value which identifies the activity period for projects with multiple periods. Activity period chartfield allows reporting in a unit of time within an overall project. Activity period is primarily intended for sponsored projects to allow reporting on multi-year awards with competitive renewals for different project periods. Nevertheless, it can also be used for non-sponsored projects across multiple periods where interim reporting is needed.
Values
Examples of Activity Period values are: 01, 02, 03, 04, etc. through to 99.
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The Project chartfield is a 7-character alphanumeric value which assists in uniquely identifying and tracking charges to a discrete set of activities, initiatives or projects. The focus of a Project is tracking an activity or a specified purpose. The Project is often associated with a person that is responsible or accountable for the activity. It is a required field on revenue, expense, and transfer transactions.
Projects should not be confused with Funds. The Fund chartfield identifies the source, whereas a Project allows tracking for a particular activity or purpose (how a department uses funds). A Project usually has a specific beginning and ending date.
Generally, a new Project may be established:
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The Function chartfield is a 2-character alphanumeric value which fulfills internal and external reporting requirements to track higher education functional classifications. Function code also determines how costs are treated in the research Facilities & Administrative (F&A) or indirect cost rate calculation. For this purpose, it is particularly important that costs are accurately coded and that it is consistent with OMB Circular A-21 (federal) functional definitions. Function also facilitates internal mission-based reporting.Purpose/Use
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Purpose
The Flexfield chartfield is an optional value for departmental use designed to track information not captured by other chartfields. Before creating a Flexfield, a department should determine whether or not it is possible to track the activity using the other chartfields, or combinations of chartfields, in the new COA such as Account, Fund, Department, Project, Activity Period, or Function.
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This letter can be used as a confirming statement that UCSF retains tax exempt status as described in the April 2014 letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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Letter from the State of California Franchise Tax Board confirming that the University of California and its affiliated organizations are considered part of the State of California and not subject to income tax.
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This table of Project Use, Project Name, and Project Descriptions indicates whether a user can add a non-shared Project.
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Details on the fields in the Sundry Debtor Invoice and instructions for different browsers.
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This job aid provides an overview of how Projects are set-up and general guidelines for the types of activities that should be tracked using Projects. Departments manage the request and set-up of Projects within PeopleSoft. Workflow moves requests through department and Control Point approval, before final approval by the Controller's Office.
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UCSF Custody Codes list.
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UCSF Capital Equipment & Accounting uses DocuSign to send Physical Inventory Certification Forms to Equipment Custodians. Custodians use DocuSign to sign, or “certify,” their forms and forward them to their Manager for approval.
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Use this quick-reference for easy access to the website references from the 2017-18 Fiscal Year-End presentation slide deck.
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This guide explains the difference between creating journals in foreign currency (in foreign Business Units only) and U.S. dollars.
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Use the following guidelines to ensure journal submissions include appropriate supporting documentation for the most commonly prepared journal types.
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This reference details a history of enhancements to the GL Verification tool.
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The General Ledger (GL) Verification Advisory Group's charter is to support the continuous improvement of the GL Verification Tool.
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The General Ledger (GL) Verification online tool streamlines the General Ledger Verification (GLV) process with the goal of ensuring overall reasonableness of department financials. The tool uses a risk and sampling approach rather than a full reconciliation.
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This guide explains how to delete journals in PeopleSoft. During the month-end close process, departments should review journals not yet submitted or approved for the current open period. Any journals not needed should be deleted by the original journal preparer. To aid departments in this process, department journal approvers can review worklists to identify journals not approved. Consult the Controller’s Office Financial Calendar for monthly reminders to review worklists and delete journals.
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It is the responsibility of each department to ensure that financial transactions recorded in the general ledger are in accordance with all relevant policies, regulations, and sponsor or donor terms and conditions. The following guidelines are provided for Verifiers and Approvers when using the GL Verification Tool for general ledger verification activities.
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This job aid contains instructions for running and working with the General Ledger (GL) Verification tool's reports.
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Use this quick-reference for easy access to the website references from the 2018-19 Fiscal Year-End presentation slide deck.
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The Asset Management WorkCenter enables Equipment Custodians and others with a role assignment in the Asset Management module (e.g., Custodial Delegate, Curator, Maintenance or RRP Admin) to quickly access pending transactions for review, equipment inventory modification requests in process, and other information related to equipment inventory maintenance.
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This guide demonstrates how to attach and maintain documents and photos related to an equipment record in PeopleSoft Asset Management.
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The Capital Equipment Internal Search page is a custom search page within PeopleSoft available to users with a role assignment in the Asset Management module (e.g., Custodian, Custodial Delegate, Curator, Maintenance or RRP Admin). The page enables users to add specific search criteria in order to narrow the search results returned. Clicking a hyperlinked equipment record in the search results will open the equipment Asset Information page for review or editing. Search criteria may be saved to rerun at a later date as needed.
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As a part of overall Equipment Custodian Responsibilities, this manual describes how to complete required duties in PeopleSoft Asset Management. For additional information on related procedures, see the Equipment Custodian Guide.
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The Employee and Position Roster Report displays Employee and Position details with default department funding in a list by HR Department, Employee, Reports To, Position, and/or specific chartstring.
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The Employee and Position Distribution Report displays current and future funding entries including additional pay in a list by HR Department, Employee, Reports To, Position, and/or specific chartstring.
What can I learn from the Employee and Position
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