Handbook
For MedicalSchool Accountants
DEAN’S COMMITMENTS
Last Date Reviewed:10/10/2016
Dean’s Commitments (DCs) are monetary commitments made by the Dean or Vice Dean of the MedicalSchool to faculty or a department for a specific purpose.Examples of commitments include:faculty recruitment, infrastructure (repairs/remodeling), equipment purchases, programmatic support (usually research), retention, bridge funding pending a grant renewal, and matching funds for new grant submissions.
(DCs are separate from the funds that flow through the Dean’s Allocation Model.)
DCs can be requested by many different individuals.The primary requestors are Department Heads, Program Directors or Principal Investigators (PI).Requests are usually given to the Dean, Vice Dean or Chief Financial Officer (CFO). There is no timing associated with requests – they are requested when there is a need or want.
After a DC has been approved for funding, the CFO is notified (if he has not gotten the request directly) and determines the funding source.Once this is decided, the Finance office assigns a four digit DC number and a chartstring for the new DC.Once a DC letter has been written, a copy is sent to the Department Head, PI (if applicable), Center Director and Finance Director.The DC letter contains details of the commitment, i.e. total dollar amount of DC, breakdown of annual funding (if more than one year), description of DC, and Department chartstring.
The funding source is dependent on the types of funding available at the time of the initial DC setup.Periodically, the funding source may be changed due to availability of funds.
Components of the DC chartstring:
- Fund:Corresponds to the funding source from the Dean’s Office
- Dept ID:Corresponds to the DC recipient’s Dept Admin Dept ID, unless the department requests another or it is obvious that it belongs to a specific area.
- Program:Corresponds to certain codes established specifically for Dean’s Initiatives (unless the department requests another)
- CF1:UCMED0xxxx is assigned to all DCs.(The xxxx corresponds to the actual DC number assigned).The CF1 must be used on all transactions for funding and tracking purposes.
- CF2:Only used if department requests.
- Empl ID:Only used if department requests, or if the Program Code requires its use.
A web based database is utilized to record and track DCs.It can be found by following the AHC link under Reports/Forms on the Finance website It is listed as MedSchool Dean’s Commitments.The database is comprised of Records and Reports.
Records:Allows user to search by DC#, Dept ID or Purpose.
Reports: Allows user to view a single DC or a single department.
If a DC has a faculty recruitment line, it is intended to only be a placeholder.As new recruits are identified, a new DC will be established and the original placeholder line will be decreased by the amount of the new DC.
Once a DC is funded by the Dean’s Office, the Department receiving the funds should spend off the special DC chartstring into which it received the funding.Funds should not be moved to another chartstring since all DCs are tracked by the CF1.If a Department could not wait for the DC chartstring to be set up and another chartstring was set up by the Department, then all expenses should be moved to the DC chartstring after it is established.
DCs are funded based on need at the time of review.DCs are reviewed multiple times per fiscal year, typically in August, January and June (P13).If a DC has a significant balance, additional committed funds likely will not be provided until the next round of funding.If a Dean’s Commitment has not been funded in its entirety in any given year, the amount that was not funded will be pushed out to a future year(s).The total Dean’s Commitment remains intact and will still be fully funded.
Anyone who works with DCs may request access to the database.To gain access to viewing rights for the DC database, send an e-mail to Anita Thielman() with your name, Empl ID, Dept ID and x500.