Business Officer Resource Page – Financial Administration at the University

This reference site was created to bring together documentation to help new and experienced Business Officers easily access resources related to financial administration at the University.

Specifically, this section draws from the FAST Team’s training material, reference guides, simulations, articles within the Financial Services Knowledge Center, GTFM Policy as well as some related RIS and Planning & Budget resources.

An Introduction to the University's Administrative Management System (AMS)

This section provides defines what SAP, AMS And FIS are, introduces you to the purpose and components of the FIS system and how to navigate within it.

Resources:

FIS Account Codes, Hierarchies and the Budgeting

Get familiar with common FIS codes, such as Funds Centers, Cost Center and Internal Orders, and learn how to locate your department’s hierarchies.

Relevant resources:

Best Practices for Accounts Payable Transactions (i.e. invoices, expense reimbursements)

These resources will help you keep track of your invoices, reimbursements and your accounts, as well as provide guidance on how to edit posted transactions.

Relevant articles:

ERDD Submissions

Staff who have personally incurred expenses while doing business on behalf of the University are eligible to be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses to ensure they neither gain nor lose funds. For these staff, if they choose to be reimbursed in Canadian dollars, the reimbursement can be deposited into the same bank account they get paid from the University.

Take a look at these resources to learn about the policies, receipt requirements, tax treatments and how to process and review claims using the ERDD – Web application (if you have access):

Tax Treatment and Applicable Tax Codes

The University of Toronto is a Broader Public Sector organization that receives a large part of its operating funding from the Provincial government. As a result, in certain circumstances, the University receives a rebate on the HST paid for expenses.

This section provides resources to help you get familiar with the University’s tax rebate, tax treatment of different scenarios and tax codes that apply the rebates so that your Funds Centers and Funds Center/Funds only get charged the after tax rebate amounts.

Resources:

Best Practices for Monthly Reconciliation

Month end reconciliation (as per the Administrative Accountability Report Forms) refers to the process of departments reviewing and comparing their source documents (e.g., invoices, forms, and quotations) to actual postings to their accounts during a particular month. It helps ensure the accuracy and integrity of financial postings, while also locating errors and identifying when source documents need to be retrieved (e.g., missing forms or vendor invoice).

This section provides resources that will assist in understanding the process, and ways to make the reconciliation process more efficient:

Resources:

Reconciliation Reports

 Reference Guides
1 ZFTR106 – Statement of Accounts Report  – Funds Centers and Non-Research
2 ZFTR094 – Monthly PI Report
3 ZHJR_ZHJR004 –  Payroll Distribution Report (and for Archived Data)
4 ZFTR055 – Budget Movement Report for Funds Centers

OR

ZFTR055_FUNDS – Budget Movement Report for Funds 
5 ZFVR019A: Facilities & Services Customer Statement – 2015 onwards
6 ZTC1: Telecom Billing: Extension Detail Statement
7 ZVC2: VoIP Recurring Service and Hardware Charges Report  (QRG     |     SIM)
8 ZVC3: VoIP Long Distance Call Report (QRG     |     SIM)
Management Reports – To be reviewed by Head of Department (e.g. Chair/Director/Manager/Principal or Dean)
 Reference Guides
1 ZFTR106 – Statement of Accounts Report  – Funds Centers and Non-Research
2 ZFTR076: Cheques payable to person processing payment
3 ZFTR075: Financial Transaction Exception Report
4 ZHMR_ZHMR042T: HR: New Hire/Termination Report by top level Funds Center
5 ZHJR_ZHMR048: HR: Payroll Exception Report by top level Funds Center
6 ZFPR004: List of payments

 

Additional Resources:

The Travel & Hospitality Card and Purchasing Card (PCard)

Administrative staff may encounter/use two credit cards for UofT business:

The Travel & Hospitality card is available for full-time appointed staff who incur travel related expenses regularly and want to take advantage of the longer payment terms (i.e. 60 days vs. 30 days) and travel related benefits inherent in this UofT administered credit.

NOTE: It can ONLY be used for travel related expenses, and the individual is personally responsible for any balance, interest or service charges.

For more information on how to request a card, administrative guidelines and restriction please visit this Procurement Services page.

The Purchasing Card (PCard) is a University authorized credit card assigned to authorized full-time faculty or staff for non-travel related purchases under $10,000 (before tax).

For more information on how to request a card, administrative guidelines and restriction please visit this Procurement Services page.

Additional Resources:

Understanding the University's Budget Cycle

The University’s Fiscal Year goes from May 1st to April 30th. As a result of this cycle, administrative departments are required to perform certain tasks to ensure their Operating budgets are accurate on May 1st, as well as address any Operating reserves/carryforward (i.e. budget surplus/deficit) are appropriately addressed and reported.

This section will focus on Operating budgets and is intended to help familiarize you with the University’s sources of funding, budget model and cycle, budget setup and how you fit in the picture.

Note: For questions related to research grants, please visit the Research & Innovation website (i.e., different types of grants, training, documentation and reporting).

Resources for a Broad Overview:

Training Resources:

Resources related to Reporting and Reserves:

Additional Resources:

Research Grants

Research grants are set-up centrally and administered by Research & Innovations.

Here are some relevant resources:

Forms