Recharge Billing Policies and Procedures

Effective date of policy, June 1, 2020

A. Billing and Posting Recharges to the General Ledger
B. Statement Format and Content Requirements
C. Financial Journal Requirements
D. Mediation - Handling Disputes Between Recharge Unit and Campus Departments
E. Sample Billing Statement

Recharge centers subject to these policies and procedures are approved campus recharge centers. These units provide specific, ongoing services to a number of campus units or projects, and recover the cost of these services from the units served. See the section of this website entitled Current Campus Recharge Rates by Recharge Unit.

Recharge units creating invoices for external customers (including affiliated entities) will record the transaction in the BFS Billing/AR (BFS:AR) system. An “invoice”’ is an official demand for payment that may only be issued from the central BFS:AR system. The transaction should be entered within three (3) business days of recognition that a receivable situation has occurred. The receivable is an asset to the campus and must be reflected accurately and timely on the University’s financial records. More information on invoicing external customers (including affiliated entities) in the central BFS:AR system can be found on the Controller’s Office website.

A. Billing and Posting Recharges to the General Ledger

A recharge unit must post recharges to the General Ledger for goods and services provided in a timely manner.

The recharge unit must use the correct chartstring for the transaction including ChartField1 and ChartField2 codes provided by the customer. The recharge unit assumes any risk associated with nonpayment of recharge goods and services when goods and services are provided in advance of receiving valid customer billing information.

No recharges can post to the General Ledger after the later of two ledger cycles after the goods have been delivered, service has been performed, or project complete.

For example, a recharge unit provides service in October. It must post any recharges for that service no later than the December ledger.

A recharge unit must not bill in advance of providing the goods or services to a campus customer.

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B. Statement Format and Content Requirements

Statement (or invoice if appropriate) must be available online or sent to the department within 5 working days of the billing period.

Statement or invoices must contain the following information:

  1. Name of unit
  2. Full chartstring - All fields should be shown even if blank. Each field should be clearly defined in a separate block.
  3. Period posted to General Ledger
  4. Description in the General Ledger
  5. Order number/work order number/reference number
  6. Detailed description of the goods or services
  7. Date of service
  8. Amount charged/liened to the ledger
  9. Recharge contact name, phone number, e-mail address. (Recommended but not required: contact name in department that requested service)

For recharge units that lien charges (currently Capital Projects and Physical Plant), statements or invoices containing the relevant information above should be provided to support any lien entries to the General Ledger.

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C. Financial Journal Requirements

Require at the line level in the journal:

  1. Name of recharge unit
  2. Date of service
  3. What is the service (where this is not explicit from the nature of the recharge unit)?

The following units should submit for posting to the General Ledger, information at the line level and not summarize. The reference field should be used to identify the service order number, work order number, reference number or other unique identifier for the service.

  1. Capital Projects
  2. Physical Plant
  3. Printing and Copy
  4. Scholar's Workstation

(This information is posted in detail to the accounting line table, but summarized in the ledger - BAIRS reports off the Accounting Line Table)

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D. Mediation - Handling Disputes Between Recharge Units and Campus Departments

Both parties agree to mediation by the Budget Office for items in dispute where the department and the recharge unit and respective control authorities (Vice Chancellor or Dean) cannot come to an agreement. Items in dispute will be forwarded to the Budget Office, recharge_certification@berkeley.edu for resolution.

E. Sample Billing Statement

View a sample billing statement.

If you have further questions regarding these policies and procedures, please contact the Recharge Committee at recharge_certification@berkeley.edu.

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