Budgets and Other Financial Services
Use of Institutional Funds: As a not for profit organization, the college is required to allocate resources in a prudent manner that best supports its mission. Faculty and staff are expected to exercise care and good judgment when procuring goods and services and ensure the expenditure is necessary and reasonable to support the mission of the college. A cost is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person under the circumstance prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost.
Accounting basics at Reed
Reed uses a fund accounting system that uses fund, organization (orgn), account, and program codes to record financial transactions. Nonprofit organizations, governments, and institutions of higher education use fund accounting because it emphasizes accountability on how money is spent.
Organization (orgn) numbers are five digits in length and are assigned to departments (e.g. biology or student engagement) or special funds (e.g. faculty research funds, conferences etc). Account numbers are four or five digits in length and are used in recording transactions.
Reed’s accounting cycle is a fiscal year and it starts July 1 of one year and ends June 30 of the next year.
Funds Disbursement Authority (FDA)
Finance managers are those designated by VP's to have authority over the budgets within their department/s. Finance managers have authority to both view and sign for expenses within those ORGN's designated by their VP's. This authority includes, but is not limited to: signing for the disbursement of funds via disbursement/reimbursement request forms, invoice payment request forms, or cash advances.
Finance managers also have the authority to allow similar access to others based on the needs of their department.
The business office tracks those who have FDA for each ORGN. The full policy can be seen on our website, under policies and guidance.
IRIS budget information
IRIS is the application the College uses to allow viewing access of budget and expense activity. If someone is in need of access, the finance manager both approves and determines the type of access an individual may have. The business office requires written approval prior to being granted access. The mechanism for these requests is the Etrieve Budget Access Form.
Instructions for using the form can be found on our policies page.
How to view your Operating Budget Status
- Log in to IRIS
- Click on “Departmental Budgets” under the Departments heading on the home page.
- Select Fiscal Year Search.
- Leave the account code blank and click “Search.”
On this screen, you can sort by any of the four column headings simply by clicking on the header. If you click on any of the hyperlinked amounts, you will be redirected to the Detail Transaction Activity Screen, which outlines every transaction made to this line item.
- Documents that start with I are invoices paid.
- Documents that start with F are cash transactions, accounts receivable transactions, and payroll transactions.
- Documents that start with J are journal vouchers, or manual entries by the business office in Banner.
If you click on the document numbers that begin with I, it will take you to the Invoice/Credit Memo screen. This detail will show the invoice date of the transactions and the actual date the check was written to the vendor.
3050 BALANCE FORWARD FR PRIOR YEAR
Restricted organizations will show a line item of 3050 Balance Forward For Prior Year, which is the amount of funds you have at the beginning of the fiscal year. If this number is in brackets, this is money available to spend. If it is not in brackets, then you have a deficit balance.
Do not use the account code 3050 on transactions. If the Annual Budget column is showing all zeros, then you can use any appropriate account code for expenditures, such as 5210 for Supplies, 5310 for Fees and Services, and 5410 for Travel.
Budget transfers and transaction corrections
Budget transfers move funds within an office or department’s individual budget. Transfers of funds move money between separate offices and departments. Transaction corrections fix incorrect transfers.
SUBMIT A TRANSFER/CORRECTION REQUEST
Budget Transfers (Intradepartmental)
Budget transfers are to move or reallocate budget dollars from one account to another. Budget transfers are processed at end of each month. Multiple budget transfer requests can be submitted per month, but amounts are summed by orgn-account. On the budget transfer request form, enter
- the amount;
- the orgn-account that will be transferring funds (“from”);
- and the orgn-account that will be receiving funds (“to”).
Transfer of Funds (Interdepartmental)
Transfers of funds move actual dollars from one department to another. Fund transfers include paying for goods or services provided by another office or sponsoring an event organized by other departments.
Requests to transfer funds should originate from the department that is paying or transferring funds from their budget. Departments receiving funds may send the request if written or email approval from the other department is obtained. Departments are not required to request fund transfers for purchases from, or services provided by the bookstore, mailroom, print shop and the computer store.
On the transfer of funds request form, enter
- the amount;
- the orgn-account that will be transferring funds (“from”);
- the orgn-account that will be receiving funds (“to”);
- and the reason for the transfer (“description”).
Transaction Corrections
Transaction corrections are to move or correct transactions that got recorded to the wrong account (e.g. a travel expense that got charged to supplies). On the transaction correction form, enter
- the amount;
- the current orgn-account where the transaction is erroneously recorded (“from”);
- the correct orgn-account (“to”);
- and the document code and description of the original transaction (“description”).
Faculty research grant services
Erica Nukaya, assistant controller of students and grants, provides post-award grant support for faculty and staff who receive outside funding. Upon receipt of an award letter and copy of the proposal, Erica will set up an organization number and budget for your award (if applicable). Throughout the grant’s life, she can assist with payroll related issues, the creation of financial reports, or any other issue that may arise. For more information, contact her at 503-788-6616 or Erica Nukaya.