Office of the Controller, Yale University

June 2007 Newsletter

The following newsletter 2 was sent on June 26, 2007

Record Retention Requirement for EMS
Under Procedure 3215 PR.01-Yale Purchasing Card and Expense Management System, Section 5- Record Retention requires that supporting paper receipts that are faxed and imaged into EMS should be collected by the business office and stamped "processed'. These paper receipts should be readily available upon request for 2 years following the year when the expenses were incurred. For example, paper receipts on expense reports processed in FY2005, should be retained until after the close for FY2007.

During FY2008, we will be reviewing and updating our Record Retention Policy 1105 and establishing a related record retention procedure to guide departments in this critical area. As a result, we ask that you retain paper receipts processed in EMS beyond the 2 year period until further notice. Procedure 3215 PR.01 has been updated to reflect this change.

Reimbursement for Business Meals
The business meal reimbursement section on both Policy 3310 Travel and Policy 3302 Business Meals and Entertainment has been revised as follows:
Reimbursement for business meals should not exceed $75 per person (including tax and tip).  When sound business reasons necessitate that business meals exceed $75 per person (up to $125 per person), the excess cost of the business meal must be approved by the Professional Schools' Dean's offices or the Provost office for faculty and by the Controller’s office for staff; however, some or all of the costs in excess of $75 per person could be disallowed.  Per meal expenses in excess of $125 per person will not be reimbursed except in unusual circumstances that are pre-approved.

New Employee Benefit Rates
Effective July 1, 2007, new employee benefit fringe rates will be used and can be viewed at the Controller's Office Fact Sheet web site..  These rates apply to faculty and staff salaries and are not applied to student wages and scholarly leaves. Refer to the University Chart of Accounts to see which salary expenditure types are subject to the fringe rates.

Vendor Set Up Reminder
It is critical that the department requesting vendor setup obtain the correct name and taxpayer identification number (TIN) for a vendor initially in order to minimize administrative time and expense and to avoid the need for withholding on payments to a vendor. Please refer to Payment to Vendors with Incorrect Name and/or TIN:  Required Federal Income Tax Withholding for more information.

Financial Support Services
On a quarterly basis, the Financial Support Services department will publish a listing of new expenditure types created by General Accounting Operations & Development.  This listing can be found on the Chart of Accounts web page (www.yale.edu/coa) under the Expenditure Type heading.  A listing of expenditure types from July 2004 through March 2007 is posted now.  Future updates will include the current fiscal year only.
Please note:  Upon their availability for use, expenditure types are immediately referenced in the Expenditure Type Locator and the List of Expenditure Types and Descriptions.

Review of Complex Transactions
The Controller’s Office is responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the University financial statements prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.  As part of preparing the financial statements we must understand many complex transactions and evaluate proper accounting and disclosure.  We ask that department administrators and business managers consider new transactions and activity initiated during the year and communicate those transactions and activities to the Controller’s Office for evaluation of proper accounting treatment and proper disclosure in the University's financial statements. 

Examples of transactions that might need evaluation by the Controller's Office include the establishment of new entities, purchasing investments, contracting with outside agencies or consultants, utilization of third party administrators and leasing agreements.  Please contact Bob Herr in Financial Reporting at bob.herr@yale.edu, or call 432-5527 to discuss significant or complex transactions that may require accounting and disclosure analysis.