DFL weekly update - June 7, 2024

Upcoming Deadlines at a Glance

  • Tuesday, 6/11 - Complete External Audit Certification for Q4
  • Friday, 6/14 - Enter Permanent Budget transfers involving revenue rebudgets
  • Wednesday, 6/19 - Approve salary cost transfers for FY24
  • Friday, 6/21 - Deliver gifts to UDAR Gift Services for inclusion in FY24 ledger
  • Thursday, 6/27 - Submit final C&G deficit clearing waivers in BFS
  • Friday, 7/5 - Approve FY24 C&G deficit clearing waiver request forms
  • Wednesday, 7/10 - Process and approve Online Recharge Financial Journals
  • Friday, 8/16 - Submit completed and approved org tree change requests

Budget Process

Budgets process update

Thank you for all your effort to complete and submit your budget materials. The CalPlanning planning tools (CalPlan, HCP) are closed so the Financial Planning & Analysis team can review the budget submissions. CalPlan and HCP will remain unavailable while the Operating Budget is finalized.

Action Items

Fiscal close deadlines available

The VC Administration and VC Finance fiscal close deadlines are posted to the CFO website on the Fiscal Close page. The BRS Fiscal Close deadlines are also posted on the Berkeley Regional Services website.

Complete External Audit Certification for Q4 by Tuesday, June 11

To ensure the completeness and accuracy of the quarterly Controller's report on the campus' external audit activities, please help us identify the campus' external audit activities. The Controller's Office is sending a separate email with additional information to DFLs with known external audit activity. By Tuesday, June 11, please submit the materials below to gao@berkeley.edu:

  • All DFLs: External Audit Confirmation Form (You must return the completed External Audit Confirmation Form even if you do not have any external audit activities so we can certify campus responses.)
  • DFLs with external audit activities: External Audit Confirmation Template (Include any related documentation with the template, i.e. notification of the commencement of the audit, audit report, etc.)

If you have questions, please contact gao@berkeley.edu.

Submit permanent budget transfers by Friday, June 14

Complete the Permanent Budget Journal Approval Request form to submit permanent budget transfers within your division by Friday, June 14. This includes any rebudgets to your revenue to fulfill these transfers. If you have questions, contact centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu with "permanent budget journal approval" in the subject line of your email.

Approve salary cost transfers for FY24 by Wednesday, June 19

The cut-off to approve salary cost transfers for posting in FY24 is June 19. Salary cost transfers processed and/or approved after that point will be posted in the general ledger for the month of July.

Deliver gifts to UDAR Gift Services for inclusion in FY24 ledger totals by Friday, June 21

Any last-minute gifts that need to be posted in order to clear fund-level deficits should be brought to the attention of Gift Services at gifthelp@berkeley.edu.

Submit final C&G deficit clearing waivers in BFS by Thursday, June 27

Research Administrators (RAs) or other BFS departmental users should submit FY24 Contracts & Grants deficit clearing waiver request forms, for a waiver of deficit clearing on open awards, via the RA Grants WorkCenter no later than Thursday, June 27, 2024. 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 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

Approve FY24 C&G deficit clearing waiver request forms by Friday, July 5

The deadline for Divisional Finance Leaders (DFLs) to approve the C&G deficit clearing waiver requests in BFS is Friday, July 5. 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 of this year and before January 1 of next year.

Awards with an Anticipated Funding Amount recorded in BFS that exceeds the total actual expenses as of June 30 this year. 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.

Submit completed and approved org tree change requests by Friday, August 16

If you would like to submit changes to the Org Tree, please submit your completed, Budget and Financial Operations (BFO) Committee approved request by Friday, August 16. 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. Allowable Org Changes through May 31, 2024, include New DeptIDs, New Org Nodes, and Description Changes. Approved DeptID and Org Node moves will resume after fiscal close.

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. Important: Please review the update on the estimated processing time for journal source configuration of new L4 org node codes. As a reminder, journal source configuration for new L4’s is required if there is a need to prepare and approve journals.
  • Please review the Org Tree Calendar for the timeline of allowable org tree changes throughout the year.
  • Please review the new Org Tree Lookup Tool This new tool replaces the monthly manually produced Master Org Tree and will provide the most current org tree data as of one business day before. Training materials and Job Aids are located on the CFO website.
  • There are updates coming soon to the Department Prefixes, and How to Create Visio files job aids located in the Tools and job aids section of the Organizational Tree web page.
  • 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

CalTime timecard approval compliance metrics

The CalTime team is monitoring compliance with our time recording policies and procedures and will begin reporting our compliance rates to supervisors and leaders across campus to mitigate future risks. For the monthly period ending March 2024, as measured across 23,399 employees, the review resulted in an approximate 50% error rate. It was noted that 2,464 supervisors did not approve 11,338 timesheets across the reporting period. In addition, we have no record of approval from 11,720 employees for their own timecards. Financially, this translates to approximately $90.0 million in salaries and benefits per month or over $1.0 billion annually.

Time recording controls are a critical component of our control environment. They ensure all evidence of service performed (e.g., timesheets, time clocks, etc.) is obtained, employee services are recorded in the correct period, evidence of the performance of service is obtained or approved, and fictitious time and attendance information are not entered into the system. This ensures we have complete, accurate, and valid records in place. When timecards are not approved there is a material risk to the university and the potential for under and overpayments. We will send details and compliance reports to department supervisors, managers, and leaders across campus in the near future.

BearBUY Scheduled Upgrade on Friday, July 12

BearBUY will be down at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 12 for scheduled maintenance and upgrades. The system will be open for use on Monday, July 15, 2024, at 7 a.m. Additional information about the release will be published in late June.

Travel and entertainment updates

The Travel team released the new lodging updates and some great travel tips in a recent email message to our travel and entertainment community. Read the full message to learn more.

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.

CalPlanning Training

The next series of CalPlanning and Smart View training classes begin Thursday, September 14. The curriculum uses a blended learning model. Courses begin with self-study using online “books” divided into chapters supplemented with practice exercises and short videos. Courses culminate with a group session using Zoom in which participants work on case studies in small teams to apply the material covered in the self-study. The self-study materials are available on the website for everyone to use; they can be a helpful resource for those that have already completed the training and are looking for a refresher. Review the CalPlanning Training page for schedules, links to enroll, and to access the self-study materials.

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