Slide 1 FastFacts Feature Presentation 03/19/2014 To dial in, use this phone number and participant code… Phone number: Participant code: To participate via VoIP… You must have a sound card You must have headphones or computer speakers © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.
Slide 2 Today’s Topic We’ll be taking a look at… Electronic Account Reconciliation
Slide 3 Today’s Presenters Kyra VocciScott McGhee Financial ManagerSr. Administrative Manager Department of ChemistryHopkins Extreme Materials Inst. Contact: Contact:
Slide 4 Session Segments Presentation Kyra and Scott will talk about how to implement electronic account reconciliation in your department. This approach should work for every department with some adjustments to make this process best fit your needs. Electronic account reconciliation will help your department become more efficient and improve financial compliance. During Kyra and Scott’s presentation, your phone will be muted. Q&A After the presentation, we’ll hold a Q&A session. We’ll open up the phone lines, and you’ll be able to ask questions. Kyra, Scott, and John will answer as many of your questions as time allows.
Slide 5 Contact Us If you would like to submit a question during the presentation or if you’re having technical difficulties, you can us at: You can also send us an instant message! GoogleTalk – AOL Instant Messenger – HopkinsFastFacts MSN –
Slide 6 Survey At the end of this FastFacts session, we’ll ask you to complete a short survey. Your honest comments will help us to enhance and improve future FastFacts sessions.
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Slide 8 Electronic Account Reconciliation
Slide 9 Agenda After today’s presentation you will be able to: List the benefits of electronic account reconciliation Organize your files electronically in a shared drive List the steps in an electronic reconciliation process Initiate an electronic account reconciliation process in your department
Slide 10 How We Got Here Why Switch to Online Account Reconciliation? In line with university’s push towards a greener work environment Increased efficiency and compliance Remote access to files Multiple people can have access to the same files at the same time Time saving for locating and filing Versatility of organization – can easily categorize and group files by different features (i.e., date, faculty, purchaser, vendor, etc.) Saving and generating more office space
Slide 11 This Process Is Adaptable The process we are presenting works for us. The foundation of this process can be adapted to fit your department’s needs.
Slide 12 System Foundation The key components of this system are access to a shared drive and the file saving naming convention. Our Online Filing System is organized in folders by faculty members on a shared drive. All Research Service Analysts and Administrative Personnel involved in account reconciliation have access to this drive. The next few slides will describe our naming conventions and what each faculty member’s folder contains.
Slide 13 Folder Organization Example of a Faculty Member’s File Directory Within each faculty folder, there are folders for each of the faculty member’s Non Sponsored and Sponsored Accounts (IO/Cost Center), and folders for his or her Financial Statements, Proposals, Quarterlies, etc.
Slide 14 Folder Organization Within each folder, there are folders for various charges and award documentation.
Slide 15 Folder Organization The Reconciled folder has sub folders for each month. Each folder marked with an “R” has been completely reconciled.
Slide 16 Folder Organization In the Reconciled folder, all necessary documentation for a particular month’s expenses are saved.
Slide 17 Naming Conventions Purchase Orders The individual who places orders saves a PDF of the purchase orders in the appropriate Account folder as orders occur, and uses the following file naming convention: PO#_Vendor_FacultyInitials_EndUser_I/O# (We use 3 initials for all faculty members.)
Slide 18 Naming Conventions NON Purchase Orders The individual who processes reimbursements and online payment requests saves a PDF in the appropriate folders as transactions occur, and uses the following file naming conventions: Online Payment Requests: Doc#_ Vendor_ I/O# Reimbursements: Trip#_ Name_ I/O#
Slide 19 Naming Conventions Receiving Tickets (Packing Slips) Receiving tickets are scanned by the staff member receiving the shipment and saved in a central Receiving folder on the shared drive using the following file naming convention: PO#_Vendor_FacultyInitials
Slide 20 Naming Conventions P-card Charges P-card charges are allocated as part of the biweekly review and approval process. When saving a P-card charge, the backup must be scanned and saved in the P-card folder. Order#_Vendor_FacultyInitials_EndUser_I/O#
Slide 21 Reconciliation Process Step One: Retrieve the Financial Statements. Go to Launch Applications at and click Monthly Statements. Note: Statements are also ed to Administrators monthly.
Slide 22 *PLEASE NOTE That access to the monthly statements is for sponsored cost objects only. For non-sponsored cost objects, please run the preformatted reports at:
Slide 23 Reconciliation Process Step Two: Retrieve the Financial Statements. Enter Sponsored Program Number and click Submit.
Slide 24 Reconciliation Process Step Three: Find appropriate month’s Financial Statement and click View PDF. Each statement is listed by fiscal year/period (i.e., in this statement, “1407” is interpreted as January 2014). Step Four: Save Financial Statement PDF into appropriate month’s reconciled folder.
Slide 25 Reconciliation Process Step Five: Search the shared drive for purchase orders (POs) and receiving tickets by typing the PO# in the Windows search field (see Figure 1). After the search completes (because of our naming conventions), all items related to the PO# are displayed. Combine all documents into one PDF and save the file in the monthly reconciled folder with an “r” at the beginning of the original saved PO (see Figure 2). Figure 1. Search for Backup Docs Figure 2. Saving Backup Docs
Slide 26 Reconciliation Process Step Six: Search the shared drive by PO#, Trip# (for reimbursements), Doc# (for online payments), etc. as referenced on detailed Financial Statement. Continue this process until all backup documentation for expenses listed have been retrieved. Save in reconciled folder for the month. Reimbursements Purchase Orders Service Centers Online Payments
Slide 27 Reconciliation Process Step Seven: Once backup documentation has been retrieved and reviewed, highlight the associated lines to show that it’s been reconciled.
Slide 28 Please Note Internally, we have a color coding system that denotes the type of expense, and that we’ve reviewed for accuracy and proper allocation: Payroll Salary and Fringe are reviewed for accuracy and proper distribution, and marked RED on the financial statement. It is important to note that they are also reconciled as part of the Quarterly budget review process. Tuition and Health Insurance are reviewed and reconciled during our monthly reconciliation and also reconciled again as part of the Quarterly budget review process – also marked RED on the financial statement. We use Distributed Graduate Aid (DGA) on the Homewood campus as a source to review these charges. Purchase Orders are highlighted YELLOW. Service Centers (doc numbers that begin with 14) are marked with GREEN. Note that for each cost category, we assign a color.
Slide 29 Reconciliation Process Step Eight: Sign and date the Financial Statement electronically when reconciling is complete. Once complete, mark folder with an “R.”
Slide 30 Audit Review Any additional questions, please contact The Office of Internal Audits: Hopkins Internal Audit Links of Interest
Slide 31 Conclusion This works! In use for 4 years Has been endorsed by JHU Office of Internal Audits It’s adaptable! It has proven to be effective in both a large department with centralized purchasing and receiving as well as a smaller institute. While each department center and institute has different needs, the foundation of this process can be adapted to fit those needs.
Slide 32 Resources This page contains links to the various resources mentioned throughout this presentation. You can click on the links or copy and paste the links into your web browser. Account Reconciliation Guide: ation_Guide.pdf SAP Document Numbers Job Aid Dashboards Sponsored Research: (for access, contact Monthly Statements: (for access, contact Document Management System: (for access, contact
Slide 33 We’re going to open the phone lines now! There will be a slight pause, and then a recorded voice will provide instructions on how to ask questions over this conference call line. We’ll be answering questions in the order that we receive them. We’ll also be answering the questions that were ed to us during the presentation. If there’s a question that we can’t answer, we’ll do some research after this session, and then the answer to all participants. Q&A
Slide 34 Thank You! Thank you for participating! We would love to hear from you. Are there certain topics that you would like us to cover in future FastFacts sessions? Would you like to be a FastFacts presenter? Please us at:
Slide 35 Survey Before we close, please take the time to complete a short survey. Your feedback will help us as we plan future FastFacts sessions. Click this link to access the survey… Thanks again!