Date: March 16, 2017
To: Financial Managers Council Members
From: Rachelle Armstrong (DCF), Co-Chairperson
Jim Behrend (SCO), Co-Chairperson
RE: March 14, 2017 FMC Meeting
The next Financial Managers Council meeting is scheduled for 8:00 AM in room 751 at 1. W. Wilson St.
The agenda is as follows:
I. Approval of minutes from the February 14, 2017 meeting.
There were no comments and the minutes were approved.
II. Announcements: State Controller’s Office
A. Year End Compliance Calendar
Jeff Anderson, State Controller, discussed the new “SCO Compliance Calendar” which is now posted on the Department of Administration – “Information for State Agencies” website. The calendar lists all of the dates throughout the fiscal year payroll, accounting, reconciliation, checklist, and closing dates. The calendar lists whether or not the item is informational or action needed. The date the item was updated. The list is able to be sorted by business function. Jeff highlighted several key dates and discussed those for the group. First Due Date: May 19, 2017 is the date that third quarter trial balance reconciliation will be due. Reconciliation will be as of March 31, 2017. Agencies are encouraged to go through as much as they can; this is required so that Agencies will not wait until the end of the fiscal year to try to reconcile all at once. SCO will be providing more information on the Benefits Reconciliation. Second Due Date: July 21, 2017 is the last day to process payments for Fiscal Year 2017. Third Due Date: August 18, 2017 is the closing date for the General Ledger. The State cannot afford to take as long as it did last year to close the fiscal year books. The August 18 date CANNOT be adjusted. There will be other deadlines added and highlighted as needed. Contact Jeff if there are any additions or corrections.
B. Status of KK to GL Reconciliation
SCO is working on queries and they are running into some limitations. They are working to get issues resolved. SCO will be working on the entries to clear transactions out. SCO will be looking at other options different than what was done last year. SCO will be working to determine what is causing the differences between the General Ledger and the Commitment Control (KK) and they will notify agencies regarding their findings. Agencies will not have to deal with this. Agencies will have to perform all of the other reconciliations, journal entries, verifying balances, reversals, payroll, etc.
C. FMC Sub-Committee on Reconciliations – Benefits
There will be a Benefits Reconciliation sub-committee meeting on Friday, March 17, 2017. The group is trying to determine the best way to streamline the benefits reconciliation. They are trying to develop tools to do some of the work for the agency reps. They are hoping to provide spreadsheets that can be copied into a journal uploader. There are about five agencies participating on the team. SCO hopes to get the tools distributed to the agencies as soon as possible.
III. Other Business
DOA is working to distribute Shared Services Billings earlier this year. They should be coming out within the next couple of weeks – much earlier than last year.
In response to a question regarding reconciliation instructions and resources, Jeff responded that checklists will be distributed hopefully by the end of March.
In response to another question regarding the availability of SCO personnel resources to assist with the close process, Jeff responded that this was a good idea, this along with the labs that were available last year, will be valuable at the onset of the close process, perhaps mid-June, where the SCO can sit down with agencies and start looking at the data and begin to identify where there might be some issues. The SCO plans to provide similar support this year.
IV. ERP
A. STAR Update
Scott Thornton presented an update via PowerPoint presentation. (Please see link.)
March 14, 2017 Financial Managers Council meeting are posted on SharePoint.
Items of particular note: Decision Council meeting on March 14, 2017 to discuss “Invoice Received Date” and changes to the interface. User Group Updates: AP Batch update times added in addition to the 7pm batch; PC project status controls, defaults to GL Analysis Type, restrictions to Analysis Types by Account Types – currently in the UAT environment, scheduled into production May 1, 2017; GL Business Intelligence Dashboard reports. Update regarding Revenue Commitment Control Accounting. Update regarding the Public Sector User Alliance Conference. Update on eSupplier Configuration – self-service website so that suppliers can view their purchase orders, payments, and contact information. There is an Agency Task 106.01 Agency Contact for Payment Questions that is due April 7, 2017.
B. Accounts Payable Processing
Accounts Payable Check Processing special request: AP Processors should make sure detail is provided on the check stubs so that suppliers are able to match checks to their receivables – currently SCO receiving far too many inquiries from suppliers (vendors) because the suppliers do not know where to apply the check payments they are receiving.
V. Future Meeting Dates (all meetings scheduled for 8:00 AM).
April 11, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
May 9, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
June 13, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
July 11, 2017- 1 W. Wilson RM 751
August 8, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
Sept. 12, 2017- 1 W. Wilson RM 751
October 10, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
November 14, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751
December 12, 2017 - 1 W. Wilson RM 751