Finance Resources

Account Certifications
The Expense Account Certification system finds financial activity in budget groups that requires certification for the previous month Each month the ledger sheet contact will receive a notification email, with a report of budget groups that need to be certified. To check your web certification, you can check the Account Balances page

Account Reconciliation
In *DEFINE, enter LP6 in the command line then press enter twice. This will pull in all provisional transactions under your current desk/view. You can review/accept each line individually or perform a Full Page Action. 

Budget Information 
A budget is an essential component of an organization’s financial structure, and budgets serve as financial planning tools for the fiscal year. The budgeting process involves planning, forecasting, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the financial health of the respective organization. CoLA Finance works with individual departments/units to assess their personnel and operating needs to adjust budget documents in order to appropriate the accurate spend authority on each account at the start of the fiscal year.

Cash Handling
University employees who deal with cash and/or checks, are required to take the Cashier Training course in UT Learn. It provides important information about UT policies and procedures. For more  Additional information on Cash Handling can be found in HBP 6.1. 

CLASP
The CLASP FileMaker database collects departmental financial data about funds released to the college through faculty leaves and separations, and funds requested for temporary faculty and AIs/ TAs. VPN must be running to access the database if off campus. 

Costing allocation
The Costing Allocation assignment process is used to indicate which accounts will be used when paying a worker’s compensation. Costing allocation segments identify the source (account and distribution percent) paid from that source for a given period, per job. Costing allocations may have one or more funding sources and may have multiple costing allocation segments.

To make a costing allocation change, departments should submit a request through this smartsheet form. The smartsheet form replaces the Stand-Alone Costing Request form, and you do not need to attach it to the smartsheet request. However, if you are experiencing any issues with the electronic form, you can still submit the COLA Stand-Alone Costing Request to COLA Finance via email.

Endowment Compliance
Endowed gifts (57-accounts) are those held for long-term investment for the purpose of generating income. The gift and related earnings are restricted by donor criteria. Generally, the principal of the fund is not expendable. Upon creation of the 57-account, a 30-account is linked to the 57-account to receive investment payout. VIP compliance training is required to maintain continuing access the information.

Electronic Office Management (EOM)
Electronic Office Management (EOM) is a Web-based application that mirrors Electronic Office Management (US1) in *DEFINE. Like US1, electronic office managers and delegates can use the EOM to view and change information such as descriptions, routing, desk assignments, command authorizations, and electronic signature authorizations for the electronic offices they own. WhereUS1relies on mainframe logon IDs, the EOM uses electronic IDs (EIDs)to assign individuals to desks and roles. The EOM and US1are connected, so changes made to one system will appear in the other. For more information, please see the Electronic Office Management webpage. 

Fund Types
Consult the Office of Accounting’s guide to "Fund Accounting” for account types, usage, and purpose restrictions

FRMS Transfers
The Transfer System, a subsystem of FRMS, is a Web-based system used to process requests for transfer of funds (RTFs). The Transfer System is found in FRMS under the Transfer tab.

Merit
This information is maintained in CLASP.

New Account Requests
There are two categories for which you can request a new account or budget group: Educational and General Accounts, and Non-Educational and General Accounts. Once they are signed in the department, the forms should be sent to the Finance Team in the Dean’s Office. They will be reviewed and signed by the dean’s staff and sent to the Office of Accounting.

New Subaccount Requests
Send an email to the Finance Team with the Chair/Director in CC and include the following details: the budget group, new subaccount(s) wanted, proposed subaccount title(s), and desired budget pooling. The requests will be reviewed and sent to the Office of Accounting.

Organizational Hierarchy System (OHS) Contacts System
This system identifies individuals in departments across campus that central offices wish to communicate with or to authorize to perform some action on the department's behalf. For more information on the system, please visit the OHS website. 

Scholarships/Fellowships
The Scholarship/Fellowship functionality in Financial Resource Management System (FRMS) is a web-based system used to process cash prizes and departmental scholarships and fellowships. For instructional videos on FRMS, please visit Financial Resource Management System (FRMS) Training Resources.

Signature Course Funding
Departments may use Signature Course funds for either non-tenure-track faculty salaries or teaching assistant/assistant instructor salaries. By provost ruling, in no case may these funds be used to enhance any tenured or tenure-track faculty salary directly. For more information, please see Signature Courses. This information is maintained in CLASP.

Soft Money
Soft Money Instructional Funds are one-time funds that are allocated to units each year and funded via the Dean’s Office. Funds available to the Dean’s Office vary from year-to-year based on monies generated by faculty leaves and separations. This information is maintained in CLASP.

Special Funding Requests
The Senior Staff for the office will  submit a Special Funding Request in BFC system, specifying the amount and purpose for funding request. For more information, please see the Commitments Funding Records website. 

Wire Transfers
In lieu of a check, The University of Texas at Austin can issue wire transfers and bank drafts to pay recipients who send an invoice to the university or have a contractual agreement with the university for services performed or goods received. When requesting a wire transfer or foreign draft, a State of Texas Manual Purchase Voucher should be completed as well the Wire Transfer Information Form.  Additional information on Wire Transfers can be found in HBP 9.3.2, and AFM has some training materials.