Finance and Administration News
Booking Train Travel
The Travel Office has been receiving a few questions about booking train travel in Concur. There is some limited availability to book train travel in Concur. For domestic train travel, Amtrak provides very limited schedules through publicly available booking tools like Concur. If the schedules are made available by Amtrak, they will display in Concur and can be booked through Concur.
Booking international train and rail travel is a bit more complicated because international trains and railways can be owned by a locality (similar to a city, county or state in the U.S.), country, and even through private or independent companies. Due to this variance in ownership, there is limited participation in booking systems. This results in limited international train ticket results through Concur and Christopherson Business Travel (CBT). Some additional European trains have recently been added in Concur. If the train you are looking for is not available the traveler can book directly through https://www.raileurope.com/.
Concur Processing at Year-End
In the past Concur users have experienced 3-4 weeks of down time in Concur, during the month of July, while back office staff processed end of the year transactions. Beginning with FY2019 yearend close, campus users will no longer experience this delay during the month of July. Concur users can now process and approve Concur reports for both FY19 and FY20 transactions seamlessly.
Form Requirements for International Payees
It can be confusing to understand the necessary paperwork required when paying an international vendor. There are several different forms that are used for tax purposes, depending on the circumstances, to ensure compliance with federal tax requirements. All forms are available on the Finance site by selecting Resources on the top navigation bar, then selecting Forms from the drop down menu. Each form includes detailed instructions on when to use the form and how to complete the form. Below is information on when to use each form and examples to help guide you in determining which form should be used, based on the payment being made.
New Institutional Base Salary Policy
Institutional Base Salary Policy 41.005 establishes the definition of “Institutional Base Salary” (IBS) for the purposes of sponsored projects. The federal government requires that recipients of federal funding establish an institutional policy that documents the basis for all budgeting and expensing of salaries on sponsored projects and requires that all such costs be treated consistently regardless of the source of funds.
E-Verify Requirement for Grants
A Presidential Executive Order and subsequent Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule requires federal contractors to use E-Verify to electronically verify the employment eligibility of employees working under covered federal contracts. The order and the rule reinforce Federal government policy that the Federal government does business only with organizations that have a legal workforce.
Distributed Journal Entry
In mid-August Finance will begin rolling out a new distributed journal entry process to allow campus users to upload journal entries into Oracle Ebiz via the Journal Entry Tool (JET).
There will be two roles in the new distributed journal entry process:
- Preparer - Populates an Excel journal entry template with account numbers, dollar amounts, and line descriptions. The template will be available for download on the Finance Forms website.
- Processor – Inputs journal header descriptions, chooses the journal category, selects the accounting period & uploads the completed template into Oracle Ebiz via JET.
Each Planning unit will be responsible for deciding what employee(s) can be assigned these roles. There’s no limit to the number of preparers or processors a unit can have, and one person can perform both roles.
The new process will give campus users control of the timing of entries and users of JET the ability to monitor entries during the posting process. JET will automatically validate account numbers and will verify that journal entries are balanced. Staff in GAFR, Grants, OUF, Bursar, Student Orgn’s, etc., will audit entries after they are posted and will reach out with any questions or requests for additional information.
Two online training classes, one for preparers and one for processors, will be released in late July/early August. In order to gain access to the JET roles, users will be required to complete the training module(s). Once the rollout is complete departments will no longer email any entries to the Finance mailbox for entry as this will be done directly in the financial system.
Questions? Contact Kris Sano with any questions, sanok@ohio.edu.
New layout of the OHIO travel web pages
The OHIO Travel web pages on the Finance website now have a new look! The goal of this re-design was to simplify navigation for our customers by breaking out the content into more specific pages, and by providing quick access links and how-to videos.
Anthem to Mail New ID Cards
Anthem mailed new medical ID cards to enrolled members this week. Cards are effective beginning July 1, 2019.
Important PCard Address Reminder
When using your PCard online, you will generally be required to enter the billing address of the card. We have seen a slight increase in PCard declines because of the billing address provided. It is important to provide the proper address for transactions to process correctly.
All OHIO cards have 160 W Union St Athens, OH 45701 as the billing address. Using an improper billing address could result in your card being declined and your transaction will not go through.
Please contact financecustomercare@ohio.edu if you have any questions.
New Facilities Management & Safety website available June 14
The new and improved Facilities Management and Safety website will be available as of Friday, June 14 in the afternoon. The new site now includes the Architecture, Design and Construction website as well as the Risk Management and Safety website.