DFL Weekly Update - May 15, 2026

Action Items

Fiscal Close Dates

The combined list of VCF/VCA deadlines on the Fiscal Close Dates - FY2025-26 is available on the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) website. This year’s fiscal close steps are similar to those in previous years for Berkeley Regional Services (BRS) and the Finance Office. Please take a moment to review the information to ensure that all relevant steps are taken according to the deadlines.

Ensure schedulers check final Spring CSIR data by Friday, May 15

The last day for schedulers to make changes to the Spring 2026 semester is today. This is a hard deadline, meaning schedulers will not be able to make any edits, including error corrections, after this date. Schedulers can review their courses and check for errors in the CSIR reports. These reports are sent out twice each semester: once in the 6th week of instruction and again in the 15th week, just before the deadline. Schedulers can also pull these reports themselves throughout the semester. Instructions for pulling the CSIR reports, along with other scheduling tips/tricks, can be found on the OPA CSIR slide deck (slide 24). Additionally, schedulers are encouraged to reach out to the OPA-CSIR team at opa-csir@berkeley.edu if they have any questions or need help correcting any errors.

Submit completed and approved Org Tree change requests by Friday, May 22

To submit an Org Change request, please access the Organizational Tree Change Request Portal. For Org Tree changes to be processed in May, please complete your org change request form in the portal as early as possible to allow time for the Org Tree Change Committee to review and route for all required approvals by the May 22 deadline. Please review the Org Tree Change Request Portal Job Aid for more information on how to get started. Contact dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with questions. Note: May will be the last opportunity to submit approved org changes for processing this fiscal year.

Complete the DFL Newsletter Survey by Tuesday, May 26

Please complete a brief 7–10 minute newsletter survey by the end of the day Tuesday, May 26. This will help the Division of Finance better understand how the DFL Weekly is currently working and how it can better support your day-to-day responsibilities and decision-making. We are reviewing how we communicate with and engage the DFL community, including the DFL Weekly newsletter, as part of a broader effort to strengthen how information is shared across finance leaders. A summary of findings will be shared at the July DFL meeting.

Submit non-contract and grant deficit waiver request by Friday, May 29

The non-contract and grant (C&G) FY2025-26 Deficit Waiver request form is now available on the VC Finance website. If you are planning to submit a non-C&G waiver request, complete the form by Friday, May 29. As a reminder, all divisions are expected to meet their operating needs within their available funding; waivers should only be requested for exceptional circumstances. Deficits less than $25,000 are not eligible for a waiver request. To assist in this process, use the fund deficit report in CalAnswers: Dashboards>Finance>Fund Deficits Reporting>Deficits to be Cleared.

Note: You do not need to submit a new request for a previously approved multi-year deficit waiver unless you require a higher waiver amount. To view waivers that were approved as part of a prior multi-year request, use the waiver report in CalAnswers: Dashboards>Finance>Fund Deficits Reporting>Waivers and Tolerances.

More information about non-C&G deficit resolution policy and processes, including waiver eligibility thresholds, how to clear deficits, and what happens if a deficit is not cleared, is available on the Fiscal closing related webpage. If you have other questions regarding the non-C&G deficit clearing process, please contact the Financial Planning & Analysis team at dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu.

STAR/SPOT funding requests are due by Friday, May 29

The deadline for STAR/SPOT Award payment requests to BRS is Friday, May 29, 2026 for biweekly paid employees. The deadline for monthly paid employees was May 11. Note that requests for additional certificates or letters have earlier deadlines. Please contact your respective BRS HR Business Partner for details.

Complete External Audit Certification for Q4 by Friday, June 12

To ensure the completeness and accuracy of the quarterly Controller’s report to the UC Office of the President - Ethics, Compliance, and Audit Services, please help us identify the external audit activities on campus. The Controller’s Office is sending a separate email with additional information to DFLs with known external audit activities. By Friday, June 12, please submit the materials below to gao@berkeley.edu.

All DFLs: External Audit Confirmation Form - You must return the completed 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 final FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms in BFS by Tuesday, June 30

Research Administrators (RAs) or other BFS departmental users should submit FY26 Contracts & Grants deficit-clearing waiver request forms, for a waiver of deficit clearing on open awards, via the RA Grants WorkCenter no later than Tuesday, June 30, 2026. 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 2. 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 FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms by Tuesday, July 7

The deadline for Divisional Finance Leaders (DFLs) to approve the C&G deficit-clearing waiver requests in BFS is Tuesday, July 7. 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.

Queue commitments for Q4 requests by Tuesday, July 7

Please complete the commitment queue form by Tuesday, July 7 for commitments to be funded in June of FY2025-26. Please note that the following commitments do not need to be queued: Budget Decisions; EVCP TAS; Star Awards; Bear Grants; both Productivity Suite and Campus Data Network assessments, and endowment payouts for rotating chairs. Commitments are processed quarterly. You only need to use one commitment queue Google form to submit your requests for both faculty and non-faculty funding commitments. Faculty commitments are defined for this purpose as Start-up, Retention, ASMD, and Chancellor's Professorships. Chancellor’s Professorships are those that are offered via start-up or retention in lieu of an actual chair until one can be found and are funded by central resources. For more information about queueing commitments and the required documentation, visit the Commitments page. Please remember to log in through the VPN if you are working remotely for these forms to function properly. For questions, email dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu.