Journal Best Practices October 25, 2018

FAS Journal Entry Best Practices October 25, 2018

Journal Entry Best Practices: Highlights Tubs/Schools and Central Units must perform a monthly review of all journal entries >=$100K and related documentation to validate that the backup is adequate, sufficient and supports the transaction. All Journals should meet the following criteria Re-performance Standard Complete and Accurate   Reasonable Appropriate Timely Preparation and approval of journals must be done by different ind ividuals, with different levels of seniority. Going forward, FAS Finance will reach out with monthly audit selections.

Tub/Department Procedures Journal entry prepared and uploaded locally Each person with journal upload responsibility runs Journals General Report monthly. Support with proof of review and signatures/date maintained locally Finance will reach out with monthly audit selections Within Tub/Dept. Responsibility Journal entry prepared and forwarded to FAS Finance Office Outside Tub/Dept. Responsibility

Documentation & Record Retention Explains the rationale and substantiates the amount Enable a reviewer to recreate the journal and understand its purpose Examples; Transactions Listings (preferably in TLX Format) System generated reports Spreadsheets with supporting calculations Emails Third party reports Record Retention Non-Sponsored documentation must be kept readily available on file for audit, either electronically or hardcopy, for four fiscal years. Sponsored documentation should be retained for a minimum of seven years after the project end date or as determined by the awarding sponsor. Record retention University Guidelines can be found at https://grs.harvard.edu.