[Plantsci] Business Office Update- Fabulous Friday

Fri Jan 19 14:39:32 MST 2024

Hello,

It has been a while since I have sent out a correspondence, so I wanted to get everyone caught up on business office issues.

The following is a list of things that I have been working on and is or will be implemented in the next week to address and correct the current backlog of transactions in the business office, as well as ensure we stay within our goal timelines:

  1.  One part time student worker has been hired.  (Devionn'Tae Williams)
  2.  In the process of hiring a second part time student worker.
  3.  DBS team is assisting in the following:

  1.  Catching up on all expense reimbursements up to current.
  2.  Reconciling complete and accurate Pcard Edoc transactions in UA Financials.
  3.  Identifying and correct all PCard auto-approvals.  (January 2023 to present)
  4.  Review all transactions on state and IDC accounts to identify and correct charges that have incorrectly been charged to those accounts.  (January 2023 to present)

  1.  New PCard reconciliation process has been implemented this month.
  2.  New PCard Auto Approval Policy will be introduced before January 31st to all SPLS employees and implemented February 1st.
  3.  Implement the process for ensuring account reports are sent out between the second and third week of the month.  The goal used to be at the beginning of the month but that is causing us to duplicate work because many times all charges haven't hit accounts until after the first week of the month, impacting account that close at the end of the month (as balances are incorrect).

The above list is not the entire list, but I wanted to cover the ones that I feel affect the faculty and staff the most.   I have been working with the team to correct previous fiscal year errors, make efficiencies, correct issues/bottlenecks since I started 6 months ago.  My critical goals nor my attempt to meet them has not waivered.  We have made progress, it's been slow and I have not yet reached the successful levels of those goals.  Implementing some of the items from the list will help us take a giant leap forward towards those goals.

In order to be able to process the incredible number of transactions that come through our office we require everyone's assistance by submitting timely, complete and correct documentation.  This is the number one bottleneck that impedes our process.  The time it takes to reach out for required information or documentation to complete transactions could be spent on processing transactions.  I would estimate that the transactions submitted to the business office for processing, that are correct and ready to process are at about 40%.  The other 60% don't meet all the requirements/policies of FSO and require some sort of back-and-forth communication.  Below are useful links for many of the most common issues we see.

Business Purpose https://financialservices.arizona.edu/accounting/business-purpose

Documentation Requirements specifically for PCard but they apply to expenses in an expense reimbursement as well.  https://financialservices.arizona.edu/payments/pcard/compliance_faq What information/documentation is required for PCard purchases? Information found in allowable and unallowable expenditures section.

Travel Reimbursement Information https://financialservices.arizona.edu/travel/faq

The business office staff will not enter in information related to your transaction based on previous information you have submitted.  This is against UA Policy.  If you don't include all relevant information and documentation, we won't assume we know the missing information and make notes or attach documentation.  Please ensure that when submitting documentation and requests for reimbursements that you give us all the information that we need.

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and I will be sending out more communications within the next week.

Sincerely,

[The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]
Leslie Bonilla
Manager, Finance and Administration
School of Plant Sciences
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Forbes, 303
1140 E South Campus Dr | TUCSON, AZ 85721
Remote Thursday and Friday
Office: 520-621-8689 |
lesliebonilla at .arizona.edu<mailto:lesliebonilla at .arizona.edu>
cals.arizona.edu/spls<https://cals.arizona.edu/spls>

[Integrity, Compassion, Exploration, Adaptation, Inclusion, Determination]<https://brand.arizona.edu/signature>

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