Finance and Administration News
OBI General Ledger Balances for FY20
During the months of July & August some of your accounts might reflect an incorrect balance. If you had a Beginning Balance loaded into your account for FY19, that FY19 Beginning Balance is currently loaded in your account in FY20. This is not the FY20 Beginning Fund Balance. This fund balance will not be changed to reflect correct FY20 Beginning Fund Balances until the rollforward of balances from FY19 to FY20 happens after we close June on August 9. One of the main areas that you will notice this incorrect balance on is within Foundation accounts that had Beginning Fund Balances in FY19. If you have questions on Foundation accounts please contact Candice Casto, castoc@ohio.edu, for other accounts please contact Kris Sano, sanok@ohio.edu.
Finalizing your Airline Ticket Purchase
When booking in Concur, you must continue through all the screens until you see the “Purchase Ticket” button as shown below:
Using the Central Travel Account (CTA) Card to Pay for Airline Tickets
Since the implementation of our new travel management provider, Finance has received frequent questions about paying for airline tickets.
Additional Airlines Available in Concur
Concur now offers University travelers access to book additional Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) and direct connect scheduled airlines. The following airlines are now accessible and can be booked in Concur:
Cashless Tolls - Buyer Beware
Transportation authorities are moving toward cashless tolls for many reasons. They reduce congestion and lower costs in different areas. While this is convenient in the areas that offer the service, unpredictable billing, and an inability to budget the cost of a rental car can be a disservice to the customer. In the last few weeks, Finance has noticed this trend for many of our Enterprise/National reservations. Areas offering an option to avoid stopping to pay tolls with a human, allows you to conveniently breeze through the toll booth and have your charges registered through an electronic device, most commonly called EZ-Pass or Fast-Pass. It sounds like a wonderful idea until the bill is generated and the toll you expected is higher due to administrative costs not disclosed in a transparent manner. The minimal $12.00 in toll charges now includes an additional $19.75 plus various other taxes and fees.
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.