Accounts Payable:

1. How do I get a travel advance?

After you submit your travel authorization form to purchasing, they will give you a yellow copy of that same form. To get a travel advance, that yellow copy will need to be submitted to the cashier's office. They will issue the travel advance the day before you depart.

2. How do I know the status of my travel payment?

Once the department has forwarded your TR-1 to Financial Services, the TR-1 will be audited, approved, and entered into BANNER. Once entered into BANNER it can be viewed using FAIVNDH. Go to FAIVNDH, enter in your social security number, and it will tell you if the TR-1 has been entered, and if a check exists.

3. How do I find the federal per diem rates?

Allowances for meals are the same amounts as the federal per diem rates for meals. Per diem rates can be found on the "Links" area of this menu.

4. How do I get reimbursed for meals?

UALR reimburses only for actual expenses. UALR does not automatically reimburse the traveler at the federal per diem rate. The allowance for meals is based on the federal per diem rate, but if less is spent then only what is spent is reimbursed. At the present time, UALR does not require receipts for meals.

5. How do I find TA (travel advance authorization) and TR-1 (reimbursement for travel expenses) forms?

There is a link on this web site for a TR-1. For a TA form contact purchasing at 569-3144

6. How do I find mileage information?

The first source is an Arkansas state map chart made by Rand. The next source is www.randmcnally.com

7. How do I figure mileage from UALR to the LR Airport?

Eleven miles. (Purchasing must set up an accounting line for reimbursement purposes) Check the Personal auto box in the estimated cost reimbursable. The rate for mileage is $.42/mi.

8. How do I get authorization for a rental car and for hotel expenses which exceed the amount allowed?

Rental cars must be approved prior to travel. The special authorization box is located in the middle of the travel authorization form. Indicate in this box that a rental will be needed and a travel administrator will need to sign for approval. (An accounting line must be set up by the Purchasing Dept. for the rental car charges.)

An explanation of why lodging that exceeds the allowance for lodging, must be approved by the travel administrator prior to travel. (An explanation of why the excess was necessary, and a signature is required by the travel administrator (in the box located in the middle of the page) for approval). UALR allows the rate to be exceeded if the lodging is required to be in the conference hotel by an agreement with the hotel, or money can be by using the higher priced hotel.

9. How do I know where my travel reimbursement check will be mailed?

Your reimbursement will be mailed to the address indicated on the TR-1. If no address is present, then the check will be routed to your department.

10. How do I know if my check is ready if I asked for it not to be mailed?

If you put a phone number and indicate on the TR-1 that you want your check held, the Cashiers are responsible for notifying you, when your check has been processed.

11. How do I get my TR-1 processed without an encumbrance or travel authorization number?

You cannot. Encumbrance or travel authorization numbers are required for processing.

12. How do I pay my travel in the new year if I have a blanket in the old year?

You cannot. A new travel blanket must be set up each fiscal year. A new number will assigned each year.

13. How do I convert foreign currency to U.S. Dollars?

www.x-rates.com has a currency converter.

14. How do I know the status of payment for an invoice?
How do I find out whether an invoice has been put into the system?
How do I use FOIDOCH to determine why a check has not printed?
How do I handle a vendor calling and saying they have not received a check?

If you know the purchase order number, then go to FOIDOCH and enter in PO as the document type and the purchase order number as the document number. In FOIDOCH you will notice a letter to the right of every invoice. This letter will indicate why a check has not been issued for a particular invoice. R- means the receiver document has not been received in Financial Services. A- means the invoice was recently entered and awaiting the next check process. If the status field is blank, either a technical or budget problem is present.

15. How do I find my encumbrance number?

If you do not know the purchase order number, then go to FGIOENC and enter in your ORGN FUND numbers. A list of your department's encumbrances will then be listed.

16. How do I pay a vendor in a foreign currency?

Foreign payments work best if made by wire transfer.
" First get the wire transfer information from the vendor.
" Estimate the cost in US dollars for the requisition.
" Indicate on the requisition that this is a wire transfer.
" Notify accounts payable of the need for special handling.

We can also order a foreign draft from the bank. There may be a 10 day delay for the draft to be delivered.
" Estimate the cost in US dollars for the requisition.
" Indicate on the requisition that a foreign draft is requested.
" Notify accounts payable of the need for special handling.
Accounts Payable will order the draft from Bank of America.

17. How do I let Accounts Payable know that we have received an item?

Purchasing will give the departments a copy of the purchase order that has "RECEIVING COPY" on it. This is called the receiver. Submit the receiver to Financial Services as soon as you receive the items purchased.

18. How do I let accounts payable know that I have only received part of the goods received?

Make a copy of the receiver and send it to accounts payable with the items received noted. Initial and date the receiver. If only partial quantities of an item are received, please indicate how many you received.

19. How do I go about paying an invoice that I received in the mail?
How do I pay for something for which I have no purchase order?
Where do vendors send their invoices?

If the invoice has been encumbered, then forward it to Accounts Payable with the purchase order number written on it.

If the invoice is not encumbered, then you will need to do a purchase requisition for payment of the invoice. You can call Purchasing at 569-3144.

20. How do I get a purchase order number in order to buy something?

Contact Purchasing at 569-3144 for instructions on how to get a requisition.

21. How do I spend Foundation Funds?

Call Development at 569-3194. Allow extra lead time for payment. Checks are printed from Foundation funds in Fayetteville.

22. How do I get a check held instead of mailed?

If you need to hand carry/deliver a check for goods, services, or registration, please include this information on your requisition with a phone number to contact you. Also please indicate if you need papers, especially for registrations, to go with the check.

23. How do I purchase something from a grant fund?

You will need approval (a signature) from ORSP (Office of Research and Sponsored Programs) on your requisition or direct pay request.

 

Payroll:

1. How do I ensure I get a paycheck?

Make sure that the department has submitted a PAF to Human Resources by designated deadline.
Make sure all hiring paperwork is completed in Human Resources.
Make sure time sheet is submitted to payroll on time.
Make sure check is distributed to the correct department.
Make sure employee has an active PAF

2. How do I find out where my paycheck is?

The payroll checks are distributed out of the Cashier's Office. You must show picture identification before the check is released on payday. Direct deposit statements are no longer printed. You must check your bank account or you may go to "BOSS" (http://www.boss.ualr.edu/) to access your paycheck information for direct deposits and for paper checks. If your paycheck information is not showing in BOSS, you must call Payroll at 569-3136 to make sure that a check was processed.

3. How do I return a payroll check that does not belong to my department?

If your department received a payroll check for an employee that did not belong or work in your Department, please call or return the check to the Payroll Office immediately.

4. How do I report a lost check?

• Report the lost check to Payroll.
  
• Complete a "Check Lost Request Form.
  
• Payroll will issue a stop payment on check.
  
• Payroll must receive a confirmation from the bank that "stop pay" has been
  processed (may take up to 3 to 5 business days)
  
• Manual check will be issued.
  

5. How do I sign up for direct deposit?

New Hire: Complete Direct Deposit Form in Human Resources (HRS), then HRS will submit to Payroll.
Current Employees: Complete Direct Deposit Form in the Payroll Office or form may be printed from the HRS web site or Financial Services - Payroll website. DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR PAYROLL CANNOT BE SET-UP, CHANGED, OR UPDATED THROUGH BOSS.

6. How do I know what information is required to sign up for direct deposit?

You are required to have a checking or savings account.
You must attach a copy of a blank check or approved documentation from your bank with your account number listed and bank routing number. Some bank routing numbers may already be in our direct deposit database.

7. How do I cancel or change my direct deposit?

Direct deposit is mandatory for all new hires, reappointments,
Employees signed up are required to remain on direct deposit.
Employees may change/update direct deposit by contacting the Payroll Office or by sending an authorization form with the change(s) through the mail or by fax.

8. How do I change federal and state tax withholdings?

For Federal tax withholdings, complete form W-4 in the Payroll Office.
For State tax withholdings, complete form AR4EC in the Payroll Office.
Both Federal and State tax forms may be mailed directly to our office or faxed to 683-7263.

9. How do I find help in completing my federal W-4 form (or how many exemptions to claim)?

You may go to the website: www.paycheckcity.com and click on the W-4 assistant.

10. How do I estimate the amount of taxes that will be deducted from my paycheck or estimate my take home pay?

You may go to: www.paycheckcity.com to get an estimation of the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck according to your filing status and the number of exemptions you are claiming.
You can also plug in other payroll deductions such as medical insurance, dental, parking, etc. to get an estimate of your take home pay.

11. How do I estimate if I have enough taxes withheld from my paycheck(s) so I will not have to pay in a large amount to the IRS when I file my tax return?

You may go to the IRS website to get help with this. Scroll down to "Withholding Calculator" and click on it. This website requires specific information and you should be as accurate as possible when inputting the required information.

12. How do I know what supplemental earnings are included in my paycheck?

Supplemental earnings are payments that are not included in your regular salary.
Supplemental earnings are defined as: bonuses, overtime payments, extra compensation, and termination vacation payments.
No retirement benefits are included on these earnings.

13. How do I know the tax rates that my supplemental earnings are taxed?

Federal Tax Rate 25.0 %
AR Tax Rate 7.0 %
FICA 6.2 %
MQFE 1.45%
__________
TOTAL 39.65%

14. How do I change encumbrances for hourly employees?

To change encumbrances on HOURLY PAFs ONLY, please submit a new PAF to Human Resources reflecting the increase of decrease in encumbrances.

15. How do I change redistribtion and/or move expenses from one foapal to another?

Labor Redistribution must be reflected on a PAF or call Linda Johnson
in Payroll at 569-3136 or email ljjohnson@ualr.edu for additional information.
All Grant related labor redistribution (cost) must be submitted on a PAF to Grants Accounting for approval before submitting to Human Resources or before changed in Payroll.

16. How do I find out how much leave time I have?

• Leave Reports are submitted through "ARGOS" each payday to your department with the leave balance of all employees in that department. Remember, the leave report is a pay period behind. In order to get an update balance, subtract the amount of leave used during the current pay period from the leave balance(s) shown on the department's leave report from ARGOS or from the leave balances on BOSS.
  
• Call the Payroll Office at 569-3136.
  

17. How do I find out about the 9/12 deduction plan?

• The 9/12 "Summer Saver" Plan is an option offered by the University through the payroll deduction to 9- and 10.5-month faculty. It allows the faculty member to be paid over a twelve-month period. This amount paid into the plan will be held in an account for disbursement during the summer months through a Credit Union, bank or other financial institution of the employee's choice.
  
• The faculty member must establish a "Summer Saver" account with their financial institution. A direct deposit authorization form must be submitted to the Payroll Office after the account has been established. To get full benefit of the 9/12 plan, the direct deposit authorization form must be in the Payroll Office no later than seven business days before the July 15th or August 31st payroll. For more information, please call the Payroll Office at 569-3136.
  
  

General Accounting:

1. How do I obtain a new FOAPAL element?

Complete the appropriate form for the FOAPAL element you are requesting, such as FTMFUND for requesting a new fund code, or FTMACTV for requesting a new activity code. Complete Section A if you are requesting a new code, or Section B if you are requesting changes to an existing FOAPAL element. Have the form approved by the levels designated on the form and forward the form to the Office of Finance and Administration. After their approval, it will be forwarded to Financial Services to assign and establish the appropriate request.

2. How do I get security to Banner Finance?

Navigation training is required before security will be granted for any Banner module. In order to obtain Finance security, users must attend the Finance Inquiry Training session, given by Financial Services and Purchasing. After training, complete the General security form, have it approved and forward it to Computing Services. They will verify that you have attended the appropriate training and grant Inquiry security for Finance. That form is then forwarded to Financial Services to establish the fund and organization security.

If security to additional funds and organizations is needed after you have been granted initial access, you may send an e-mail message to Janan Abernathy in Financial Services at jmabernathyl@ualr.edu to update your security.

3. How do I find out if a check has cleared the bank or not?

When determining if a check has cleared the bank, we need the following information: Whether it was a Payroll check or a General Fund check, the check number, the date the check was issued, who the check was cut to, and the amount of the check.

We normally have updated bank information by the 15th of each month. If the check cleared in a previous month, we can produce a front and back copy of the cleared check immediately. If the check cleared within the current month, we will have to request a copy of the cleared check from the bank, which usually takes a week to receive.

If for some reason a check has not cleared and you need to have a replacement check cut, then (immediately after confirming that the original check has not yet cleared the bank) contact the Payroll office regarding a payroll check or Accounts Payable regarding a general fund check. They will authorize a "stop-payment" on the original check first, and then issue a replacement check.

4. How do I know the difference between the four types of transfers?

There are four basic types of transfers: budget transfers, funds transfers, expense transfers, and internal income transfers. The Budget Office is generally responsible for budget transfers and Financial Services is generally responsible for the remaining three types of transfers. However, ORSP is responsible for any transfer occurring on a restricted fund (grant or contract).

Funds Transfer:
a. Transfer of money between different fund codes.
b. Transfer usually before item or project is committed.
c. Account codes must be transfer codes. Use "81%" for transfers in and "82%" for transfers out.
d. Program code must also be a transfer code , usually "900000".
e. Complete form "FIN001"

Expense Transfer:
a. Expense has occurred and been paid for.
b. Fund and organization codes may be different
c. Account code for both the top and bottom sections should be the same expense account, those starting with a "7".
d. Complete form "FIN001"

Internal Income:
a. Used when one organization has rendered a service for another
organization.
b. Fund and organization codes may be different
c. Account codes should be an expense account on top and an internal income account (562100) with the appropriate program code, usually "150000" on the bottom.
d. Complete form "FIN001"

5. How do I know how much budget I have available?

Use Banner form FGIBDSR and enter the fund and organization code. Be sure and uncheck the "Include Revenue Accounts" box on the upper-left hand side to get an accurate available balance. You may also enter account type "70" in the header if you want to get the available balance only for your maintenance budget. Your available budget balance will be the amount in the bottom right-hand side of the form in the Net Total line.

You can also look on FGIBAVL for your budget availability. The balance shown on this form at times will be different due to any documents that have not yet posted.

6. How do I know if a back charge has been posted?

Use form FGIBDSR or FGIBDST. Enter the fund and organization code that you want to view. Charges will be posted to expenditure accounts, those starting with a "7". Click on the account code you want more detail for under the YTD Activity column. Then click on Transaction Detail Information in the top left-hand side of the form. All document codes for back charges begin with a dollar sign "$". If you want more information, you can scroll over to see the description used to indicate what type of back charge it is.

If you want to see the ticket number used by the back charging department, you can select the transaction you want to examine, and click on Query Document in the top left-hand corner. The ticket number will be displayed in the Document Reference field. This should coincide with the reference number issued by the charging department.

 

 

Property Accounting:

1. How do I dispose of an asset?

According to Arkansas state law, all state property must be disposed of through Marketing and Redistribution. To have items removed, fill out the Marketing & Redistribution Form at http://financialservices.ualr.edu/forms.html . Then send the form to the Property Accountant which will verify the property and approve the reassignment. The Property Accountant will then forward the form to the Physical Plant in order for them to collect the equipment. The pickup of property and delivery to the Physical Plant warehouse is not acceptable unless signed by both the Organization Head and the Property Accountant.

2. How do I transfer property to another department?

Any transfers of property to another UALR organization, building, or on-campus facility must be processed by Property Accounting. When property is reassigned to another on-campus location or to another UALR organization, an On-Campus Property Reassignment Form must be completed. BOTH the transferring and receiving organization must sign the form before it can be processed. Upon receipt of the signed and dated form, Property Accounting will update each organization's inventory records. You may find the Reassignment form on the Financial Services website at http://financialservices.ualr.edu/forms.html.

Any transfer to another state agency must be approved in advance by the Department of Finance & Administration. Before transferring the property, contact Property Accounting at 569-8630 regarding the appropriate procedures for these types of transfers or reassignments.

3. How do I conduct the annual inventory process?

To conduct the annual physical inventory process, you should retrieve your inventory report from e-Print and physically locate each item on your inventory report. Verify the information provided, including description, location, serial number, and custodian. If you note discrepancies on any of the items mentioned above, you should mark them directly on the Property Report. Use the Banner Fixed Assets forms to make any other adjustments to your inventory. You can find all of our forms on our website at http://financialservices.ualr.edu/forms.html under the Property Forms section.
For further instructions on how to retrieve your e-Print report or how to complete the inventory report, you may review the Yearly Inventory Memo distributed this year which includes step-by-step instructions.

4. How do I look up information on an asset in Banner?

Log on to Banner, type in form FFIMAST and press ENTER. You will see "Asset Tag:" and a box with a flashing cursor. In the box, type the tag number with an "N" and leading zeroes before the actual printed tag number.

Example: If you are looking for information on tag # 000100100, type "N00100100" in the Asset Tag box and click "Next Block". If you are looking for information on tag # 50100, type "N00050100" in the Asset Tag box and click "Next Block".

You may navigate through the form using "Next Block" to find information on the asset such as the description, acquisition date, serial number, department, location, and custodian of that equipment. You may contact Property Accounting if you find any information that you feel is incorrect or that needs to be updated.