FISCAL OFFICER Financial Policy I-1 Role of Fiscal Officer, Account Manager, and Account Supervisor

Fiscal Officer Duties & Responsibilities Provides daily oversight on how funds are spent and managed. Ensures funds are budgeted. Ensures funds are spent according to fiscal policies. Ensures funds are spent in alignment with specific account purposes (donor intent).

Fiscal Officer Duties & Responsibilities Ensures internal controls are in place. Ensures assets are safeguarded. Ensures transactions are recorded and reported properly. Ensures that accounts are reconciled on a monthly basis. Ensures that expenditures are in conformity with the budget, or appropriate budget changes have been made to reflect a change in the original budget.

Fiscal Officer Duties and Responsibilities Signature authority on all financial transactions rest with the Fiscal Officer. The Fiscal Officer is the only person who can delegate signature authority on an account. Fiscal Officers typically reside at the RC, Auxiliary Unit, or Support Unit. Complex RC may have multiple Fiscal Officers in order to accommodate the size and scale of the RC.

Fiscal Officer Duties and Responsibilities In instances at the RC level where there are multiple Fiscal Officers, there will be a primary Fiscal Officer who provides oversight to the other Fiscal Officers within the RC. Campus fiscal administration must approve the creation of all fiscal officers below the RC level.

Definition of Fiscal Officer The Fiscal Officer is a person who is trained and hired for the purpose of providing fiscal, policy, and internal control management of all funds in a unit. This person is responsible for ensuring that processes and related controls have been established to achieve the mission and objectives of the unit.

Fiscal Officer Approvals When approving documents, the Fiscal Officer is responsible for verifying or having processes in place that verify the following: –Charges correctly represent materials received or services rendered. –Charges represent activities which are established, and comply with the fiscal plan that is established for the specific account.

Fiscal Officer - Budget In concurrence with the Account Manger, the Fiscal Officer is responsible for establishing an annual budget. The budget, which provides orderly execution of the needs related to the account, serves as one of the control mechanisms to compare planned receipts and disbursements with the actual fiscal activities.

Fiscal Officer-Budget For Contract & Grant accounts, the budget is established through a proposal and award process, which should be a joint process between the Principal Investigator and the Fiscal Officer.

Fiscal Officer – Cash Accounts There are non-budgeted “cash control” accounts. In those specific cases, a Fiscal Officer and Account Manager must ensure that sufficient cash is always in the account to pay for anticipated expenditures.

Fiscal Officer - Compliance The Fiscal Officer is responsible for understanding and ensuring compliance with University, Federal, or Sponsoring Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

Fiscal Officer Financial Policy I-10: Ranking of Fiscal Officer, Account Supervisor, Account Manager, and Delegation of Signature Authority –Fiscal Officers, Account Supervisors and Account Managers must be exempt employees. –Delegates may be exempt or non-exempt employees.

Fiscal Officer Approvals Approving documents continued: –Funds are available in the account to cover authorized charges. –The transactions in the account must comply with all relevant internal or external regulations, policies, and procedures. –The transaction is accurate, timely, and completely recorded.

Fiscal Approver Policy IV-260 HRMS Approver (delegate of Fiscal Officer) Same person CANNOT be both Fiscal Approver and Personnel Approver. Can be the Fiscal Officer. Receives the Payroll Audit Reports. Identified by organization, not account.

Personnel Approver Approves HRMS e-docs. Can be the payroll processor. Should have HR knowledge.

Delegate of Signature Authority Policy I-10 Delegation – a person authorized to use their signature for approval of financial transactions on behalf of the Fiscal Officer. By account, by document. FIS, EPIC, Travel documents. Can be primary or non-primary. Employee may be exempt or non-exempt.