Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance
- Friday, 7/1 - Submit C&G deficit clearing waivers in BFS (RAs) (today)
- Wednesday, 7/6 - Process and approve online recharge financial journals
- Monday, 7/11 - Approve C&G deficit clearing waivers (DFLs)
- Wednesday, 7/13 - Review and post all online Financial Journals and Temporary Budget Journals
- Friday, 7/15 - Submit chartstring for deficit clearing to Financial Planning and Analysis
- Wednesday, 8/17 - Submit completed and approved org tree change requests
Budget Process
Budget process update
Thank you for all your hard work submitting your budgets. The CalPlanning planning tools are closed while the Financial Planning and Analysis team reviews submissions and finalizes the FY23 Operating Budget. If you have any questions, please contact the VCF Immediate Office at vcfinance@berkeley.edu.
Action Items
Submit Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waivers in BFS by Friday, July 1
Research Administrators (RAs) or other BFS departmental users should submit FY22 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms, for a waiver of deficit clearing on open awards, via the RA Grants WorkCenter no later than Friday, July 1, 2022. For the Year-End Deficit Clearing Process on open awards, BFS users can submit the C&G deficit clearing waiver request form through the RA Grants WorkCenter as of Wednesday, June 1. Refer to the action dots in the blue header row at the top of the screen in BFS for instructions. Access to the RA Grants WorkCenter is obtained by submitting a request via the SARA system. You can read more about the year-end deficit clearing process on the Deficit Clearing Process page.
Process and approve online recharge financial journals by Wednesday, July 6
Recharge units should process and approve all June online recharge entries by Wednesday, July 6. No recharge transaction for June should be posted after July 6. If your department receives recharges posted after July 6, contact the unit responsible for the posting to request reversal and posting in the next fiscal year. Contact the Budget and Financial Operations Team with questions at recharge@berkeley.edu.
Approve FY22 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms by Monday, July 11
The deadline for Divisional Finance Leaders (DFLs) to approve the C&G deficit clearing waiver requests in BFS is Monday, July 11, 2022. DFLs should navigate to the following page in BFS in order to approve waivers: Enterprise Components > Forms > Approve/Review a Form. Enter “CGADFCWVR” in the “Form” field.
As a reminder, the following are exempt from the Year-End C&G Deficit Clearing Process related to open awards. Please do not submit a waiver under these circumstances:
- Awards that have a final Financial Report due date after May 31 and before January 1.
- Awards with an Anticipated Funding Amount recorded in BFS that exceeds the total actual expenses as of June 30. The Anticipated Funding Amount for awards is found in the BFS fund panel on the "Award Info" page.
If you have further questions regarding the Contracts & Grants deficit clearing processes, please contact the Controller’s Office at cgahelp@berkeley.edu.
Review and post all online Financial Journals and Temporary Budget Journals by Wednesday, July 13
The final day for divisions to post all online financial journals and temporary budget journals in BFS is Wednesday, July 13. More information is on the Fiscal Close Information page. Please contact the BFS Help Desk with any questions at bfs@berkeley.edu.
Submit chartstring for deficit clearing to Financial Planning and Analysis by Friday, July 15
The deadline for divisions to submit deficit clearing chartstrings (DeptID and Fund) to the Budget and Financial Operations team is Friday, July 15. If there are deficits in the division that cannot be cleared by the automated process, we will use the chartstring provided to manually clear any remaining deficits. Submit chartstrings to dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu or contact the Budget and Financial Operations team with any questions.
Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Wednesday, August 17
If you would like to submit changes to the Org Tree, please submit your completed, Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) Committee approved request by Wednesday, August 17. As a reminder, the May 18 submission date was the last day that approved change requests could be submitted for entry to the May Master Org Tree. Allowable changes through May 31 included New DeptIDs, New Org Nodes, and Description Changes. The Org Tree is now closed to all changes through fiscal close. We recommend that you submit your change request form for review as soon as possible to allow time for the BFO team to review your request, follow up with you for any necessary clarification, approve your request, and allow you time to obtain all required signatures before the submission deadline. The time needed to review change requests will vary, depending on the complexity of the request. For more information:
- A high-level summary of the process to approve org tree changes is available on the DFL concierge webpage.
- An overview of the org tree change submission deadlines is available in the Org Tree Submission and Processing Timeline.
- Please review the Org Tree Calendar for the timeline of allowable org tree changes throughout the year.
- Please submit questions and requests for changes to the Org Tree to dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu. Note: If you plan to request an Org Node change or Entity Hierarchy redesign, please contact dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu and explain what you would like to change before completing the request form because these changes are typically more complex and involve longer consultations.
Informational Updates
CDS users will no longer be able to post entries to 5xxxx expense accounts
Effective July 1, 2022, campus CDS users will no longer be able to post entries to 5xxxx expense accounts. An internal review demonstrated that some recorded transactions were processed as expenses rather than revenue. Please note that CDS users attempting to post incorrect expense entries to 5xxxx accounts will receive an error message and will not be able to complete the miscellaneous receipt until the account is corrected. In some instances, it’s appropriate to apply a cash receipt/deposit to an expense account. The Controller's Office will reach out to the departments with additional guidance on which account to use. For immediate support, or if a department believes an expense account is appropriate, regarding a deposit, please contact cashiers@berkeley.edu for assistance.
Delay in processing time for new suppliers
The Vendoring Team, part of the Controller’s department in the finance division is experiencing an extremely high level of requests for new supplier setups. We work on requests on a first in, first out basis and our goal is to add a new supplier and respond to questions by no later than 5 business days, preferably sooner. Currently, because of the volume of new requests, the processing time to add new suppliers is roughly 20 business days and the response time for questions has increased to over 30 business days. We apologize for the extended response time and acknowledge that it is well beyond the usual time period. We understand this is frustrating and are doing everything we can to address this issue, including adding additional resources to our team to process these requests. We appreciate your patience while we work to resolve the delay and meet your need to add new suppliers. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Beat the ConnexUC expert
The UC Berkeley Travel Office has long asserted that airfare you find in ConnexUC should always be equal to or better than prices you can find on any other airline booking site, including direct from the airlines with some minor exceptions. How would you like to put that to the test? If you think you can find airfare on a major airline that is cheaper than can be found in ConnexUC, contact us at travel@berkeley.edu and we will set up a 15-minute zoom slot where you can try to “beat the expert”. If you win, you will receive a $20 gift card and we will gain valuable information that we can then use to better understand why the UC negotiated rate was not the best available rate. If you can’t beat the expert, you still win because maybe it’ll change your opinion of ConnexUC and allow you to take full advantage of the many benefits that it offers for both business and personal travel. If you’re interested in participating, email us at travel@berkeley.edu and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
Computing, Data Science, and Society is hiring a new Divisional Finance Leader
The Computing, Data Science, and Society are hiring a new Divisional Finance Leader (Job ID: 36592). If you would like to apply or refer someone, contact Rebecca Miller at millerrebecca@berkeley.edu.
Updated report for System Access Review (SAR)
The BFS team has added a new related content query to the SAR report that will display all entries for a specific employee, regardless of which report the employee is on. We will update the SAR instructions to reflect this change on the System Access Review page.
Increase in IRS mileage reimbursement rate effective Friday, July 1
The Internal Revenue Service announced an increase in the standard mileage rate for the final 6 months of 2022 to 62.5 cents per mile for business travel, an increase of 4 cents from 58.5 cents per mile for the first 6 months of 2022. The new reimbursement rate becomes effective July 1, 2022.
IX settlement agreement - UCOP journal correction
The May journal (UCP1046373) posted by UCPath to account, among other elements, for the IX settlement agreement debited the department instead of debiting the central ledger. We are working on correcting this issue before fiscal close. Contact dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with any questions.
Office Hours for CalPlanning and Smart View
Office hours are available so that you can ask specific questions about CalPlanning and Smart View. Request office hours and indicate the topic for which you are requesting support. Office hours are an opportunity to get individual support for a specific challenge your unit is facing; they are not a replacement for training.
Cal Answers Training
Please review the self-service learning resources on the Cal Answers website, where Cal Answers users will find a complete course in basic navigation as well as short videos, job aids, wiki documentation, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Additionally, the two-hour instructor-led classes build on the basic navigation skills covered in the self-study. There are separate courses focusing on financial dashboards and student data dashboards. In the class, a subject matter expert will guide a deep dive into the reports and data available in the dashboards and answer specific questions.
Changes to the DFL in your division?
If the DFL role in your division is changing, email fpa@berkeley.edu to ensure our website, communications, and training plans are updated.
DFL Weekly Updates Page
As a reminder, these updates are regularly posted to the DFL Weekly Updates page so you can reference past updates at any time. Additionally, the Operational Deadlines page provides an overview of deliverables by quarter.
Thank you,
Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance