OUC News Archive

November 30, 2023

Financial Services & Solutions (FSS): Here to Help

Looking for advice regarding a financial or procurement system ... form ... or process?

We still field questions from departments about where they should go with specific technical and policy/procedural issues -- so the OUC's Help webpage includes contact information for other offices and not just our own.

Reminder: Don't Risk Being Taxed on Business Expenses

Don't risk being taxed on your business expenses!

The Finance Procedural Statement Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications explains the requirements for timely substantiation and submission of employee-incurred business expenses (Airfare Card, Travel Card, Procurement Card, out-of-pocket reimbursement requests, cash advances) in order to avoid having the expenses reported as part of the employee's own taxable income.

October 27, 2023

Kristina Mendez Wins UCSC Staff Excellence Award

Congratulations to OUC Learning Design Manager Kristina Mendez! Kristina is one of 10 staff members from across CU (two from each campus and two from System Administration) to be recognized by the University of Colorado Staff Council (UCSC) at their 2023 Staff Excellence Awards ceremony this month.

New Frequency Requirement for Information Security Awareness Training

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month so it's an appropriate time for CU to implement a new frequency requirement for its online (Skillsoft) Information Security Awareness training.

Official Functions: Your Feedback!

If you're planning events with meals or snacks, you'll want to review the Finance Procedural Statement (formerly PSC Procedural Statement) Official Functions.

October 2, 2023

Plan Ahead for System Outage: CU Data Center Move begins Friday, October 6 at Noon

With the beginning of the CU Data Center Move at noon on Friday, October 6, the Finance System (FIN), m-Fin reports in CU-Data, and other systemwide production applications will go offline. They will remain offline until 8:00 a.m. on Monday, October 9.

August 24, 2023

Fundraising Events and Cvent: Using New Designation Numbers

Does your organizational unit administer fundraising events? Do you use Cvent software for event registration and revenue collection purposes?

August 4, 2023

Finance Inquiry and Journal Entry Courses - Updated in Skillsoft

We recently updated two online courses in Skillsoft: PeopleSoft Finance System Inquiry and PeopleSoft Finance System Journal Entries.

Looking up your Grant Accountant

Our Financial Services & Solutions (FSS) Help team is often asked how to identify the grant accountant assigned to a sponsored project SpeedType. You can find this information in the Finance System, and on the header of certain m-Fin reports in CU-Data.

June 22, 2023

Additional Holiday on July 3 Impacts Some FYE Tasks

With the designation of an additional CU holiday on Monday, July 3, 2023, some fiscal year-end (FYE) tasks are being rescheduled.

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: Congratulations to the Winners!

We congratulate all the individuals and teams who successfully submitted innovative projects to this year's CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards Program!

May 31, 2023

Coming Soon: Gift Card Authorization Request Form

The Office of University Controller has been working with campus gift card experts and University Information Services (UIS) to migrate the Gift Card Authorization Request (GC) form from Excel to OnBase.

April 28, 2023

FYE 2023 Information on OUC Website

Looking for Fiscal Year-End dates and processing deadlines?

We've updated the Office of University Controller Accounting & Finance website with the following information.

CU Foundation Gift Data Freeze Period: May 12-May 30

As discussed in our April 17 OUC newsletter, the CU Foundation (Foundation) and CU Advancement are implementing a new fundraising system in May, resulting in a change to the automated wire transfer schedule for linked gift fund SpeedTypes. There will be a two-week freeze (May 12-30, 2023) on Advancement and Foundation data input/output in Advance and Advancement Intelligence (AI).

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: Celebrating our Semifinalists

The next round of voting has completed, and the semifinalists for this year's CU Innovation & Efficient Awards Program are announced!

April 17, 2023

CU Foundation Automated Transfer Schedule - Update

The CU Foundation Automated Transfer Schedule has recently been revised due to the Foundation undergoing a system update in May.

CPE Reminder: Upcoming Classes in Work-Life Balance, Excel, and JE Spreadsheets

Nurture your personal and professional performance ... polish your skills in Excel ... or learn how to upload large journal entries through spreadsheets.

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: This Year's Submissions Have a Lot to Share

The 2023 program year for the CU Innovation & Efficiency (CU I&E) Awards has concluded -- and we have an impressive group of submissions to share with you.

March 31, 2023

Don’t Risk Being Taxed on Business Expenses

In response to many requests, we've created a short explainer video, now available on the Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications website.

Final Days to Submit to CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards

Have you made CU work better? You have just three more days to tell us about it.

Professional Development Opportunities Next Week, Next Month

There's a lot you can learn starting next week, including fiscal roles, m-Fin report scheduling, Excel tips and formulas, work/life balance, and journal entry spreadsheets.

March 29, 2023

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: Last Week to Submit

This is your last week to submit your innovative practices for recognition, sharing, and a possible cash prize in the 2023 CU Innovation & Efficiency (CU I&E) Awards Program.

CPE Webinars Open for Registration

Want to learn more about Excel ... running m-Fin reports ... how fiscal roles impact financial management ... or how to improve your performance at work?

March 17, 2023

CU I&E Awards: There's Still Time to Share Your Innovation

Yes, there's still time. Perhaps even more time than you thought.

Coffee Card Contest: Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications

Thanks to all of you who reviewed the new Finance Procedural Statement Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications ... used the Feedback form to send us your thoughtful questions and comments ... and took the quiz to reinforce what you'd learned. You've shown such diligence in ensuring that you and your departments are ready for the revised procedures, and it's one of the reasons that it's such a pleasure to work with all of you. We appreciate you!

Continuing Professional Development: Ready to Learn Something New?

Here's an opportunity (actually - many opportunities) to learn something new. The Office of University Controller is scheduling a series of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) courses over the next several months.

March 10, 2023

Tell us What You've Done - Soon! CU I&E Awards Final Month

You still have time. Join your colleagues in telling us what you've done to make CU work better.

We continue to receive submissions to this year's CU Innovation & Efficiency (CU I&E) Awards Program - and our team is currently reviewing some great entries prior to posting them.

Process Pain Points - anyone? anyone?

We're ready for spring cleaning and maybe you are, too. So give us a few housecleaning tips as we look to prioritize policy, process, and form review this calendar year. We have our very handy OUC News Forum webform, it makes communicating your comments easy.

February 23, 2023

Journal Entry Attachments: New Options

This February, with the annual Finance System update, you have new ways to add attachments to journal entries (JEs).

Recognition Feels Good: Check out the CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards Program

Valentine’s Day may be a week ago, but we still love hearing about how you’ve improved your department business processes and saved CU time, money, and hassles.

February 8, 2023

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: 2023 Program Open for Submissions

The Office of University Controller has just opened up the 2023 CU I&E Program for submissions. Now is your chance to tell us how you’ve re-engineered operations, enhanced communication, built employee engagement, improved customer service, or otherwise made CU work better. You can inspire other employees to take a new look at their own procedures. You may even win a cash prize.

Business Expense Substantiation: Top Questions on Exceptions

With the revised Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications procedures taking effect last month, the top questions to the OUC's Financial Services & Solutions (FSS Help) team are: how has the business expense substantiation process changed, and how can an employee request an exception to a notice of taxable expenses.

December 22, 2022

FY2022 Annual Financial Report

The Office of University Controller (OUC) is pleased to announce that the University of Colorado FY2022 Annual Financial Report, and the University of Colorado FY2022 Financial and Compliance Report, are available on the OUC website.

December 21, 2022

Get Ready for Jan 1: Top Questions on Business Expense Substantiation

As employees get ready for the expanded impact of the new Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications procedures, the top questions we've received over the past several weeks are related to Procurement Card reassigned transactions ... pre-trip expenses on Procurement Cards and Travel Cards ... what needs to happen within 90 days to avoid taxation to the employee ... and what the January 1 effective date means in terms of processing.

December 14, 2022

Business Expense Substantiation: Don’t Risk Income Tax on your Procurement Card Transactions

With the revised Finance Procedural Statement Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications, effective January 1, 2023, requirements for timely substantiation/submission of business expenses apply to commercial credit card transactions – including Procurement Card – in addition to employee reimbursements.

Get Ready: Don’t Risk Income Tax on your Travel Expenses

Get ready for the revised Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications procedures. Effective January 1, 2023, requirements for timely substantiation/submission of business expenses apply to Travel Card and Airfare Card transactions, as well as to employee out-of-pocket reimbursements.

December 9, 2022

Capital Assets Procedures - Revised

Effective December 1, 2022, we’ve updated the Capital Assets chapter of the Accounting Handbook.

Get Ready: Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications

If you submit travel or other reimbursement expense reports in Concur, you may already be familiar with current requirements for substantiating/submitting business-related expenses that you've covered personally. With the revised procedures, requirements for timely substantiation/submission of business expenses apply to commercial credit card transactions (Procurement Card, Travel Card, Airfare Card) and to cash advances, in addition to employee reimbursements. Failure to comply with these requirements within 90 days of end of trip or (for non-travel expenses) within 90 days of date the expense was incurred, will result in the full amount being reported as taxable income to the employee.

December 1, 2022

Official Functions: Increased Per-Person Costs Requiring Officer Approval

Does your department purchase food/beverage for official functions – for example, staff appreciation, recognition, recruitment, donor cultivation, or similar events?

Business Expense Substantiation & Tax Implications

The University of Colorado has developed policies related to the processing of commercial credit card transactions (Procurement Card, Travel Card, Airfare Card), cash advances, and employee reimbursements that meet the IRS definition of an accountable plan.

November 1, 2022

Quarter 1 PIE - Calculations Corrected

We're pleased to announce that the problem previously reported with the Quarter 1 Pooled Investment Earnings (PIE) journals has been solved.

October 11, 2022

Quarter 1 PIE - Incorrect Calculations

We are seeing some issues with the Pooled Investment Earnings (PIE) calculations for first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.

May 27, 2022

Congratulations, CU Innovation & Efficiency Award Winners!

Every year, it’s a challenging job to select who will win prizes from the many CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards Program submissions.

May 20, 2022

CPE: Enhance Your Virtual Presentation Skills in June

In response to a number of inquiries: yes, we do have space available to register in our next Presenter Certification class!

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: Here are the Semifinalists

We’ve narrowed the pool to eight semifinalist teams who completed video interviews and responded to in-person questions as part of the final selection process to determine awards

Annual Financial Reports on the OUC Website

Did you know that you can access previous years’ reports online?

CU-Data Compensation Summary Report - Update

For those of you who run compensation reports in CU-Data, note that the m-Fin Compensation Summary was recently revised to include monthly percent columns.

April 29, 2022

CU-Data Scheduled Reports: Reminder

If you changed your network password in the last month or so, you may need to log into CU-Data and renew your credentials for your schedules to work.

CPE: May 2022 Professional Development Opportunities

Our upcoming Continuing Professional Education (CPE) webinars offer pathways to help you enhance your professional presentation skills.

CU Innovation & Efficiency Awards: Great Work on All Campuses

The 2022 CU I&E Program year submission period has closed and we've heard about a number of creative projects on all campuses.

Meet the OUC: Learn More about What We Do for You

You can learn more about what we do, and how you intersect with the OUC's teams as you fulfill your fiscal responsibilities, through our new short intro video, Meet the OUC.