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BUSINESS NOTES & NEWS
December 2007

In This Month's Issue:

 SPOTLIGHT
Mandatory Training Ending Soon
Mandatory Training Winners
Mandatory Training Minimum Grades
UHS Online Training Scheduled Maintenance
HUB Vendor of the Month
Search for HUB Vendors
Who's Who
December Calendar  

 FINANCE
Cost Center Action Form
Employee Reimbursement Direct Deposit
Maximize HUB Purchases
HUB Statistics
Endowment Forms Online
Mileage Rate Change
Purchases - Sam's Club
UH Foundation Policy

 HUMAN RESOURCES
Conducting Effective Interviews
New I-9 Form
 
 PAYROLL
ePAR Update

 

> PRINTABLE VERSION

If you have comments or would like to submit an article for the Spotlight, contact Sara Carter at scarter@uh.edu

Contents Edited by the Administration & Finance Customer Service Center
 

New Cost Center Action Form

The Cost Center Action Form has been revised as follows:
  • Departments can add/update the Cost Center Manager field.
  • Departments can indicate the existing cost center if a new cost center is requested that will replace it. Departments will be able to view this information in the Finance System within the next couple of months.
  • The form indicates that the following documentation is required for requests to inactivate a cost center:
    o Current period 1074.1 (Revenue and Expense – Budget Node Summary)
    o Current period 1074.6 (Balance Sheet)
  • The form indicates that all of the following criteria must be met to inactivate a cost center:
    o Original budget is zero (see 1074.1)
    o Open commitments are zero (see 1074.1)
    o Each asset and liability account balance is zero (see 1074.6)
    o Total of all fund equity accounts is zero (see 1074.6)
  • The form can be completed in Excel, emailed to the appropriate college/division administrator, who then emails it to the Budget Office. It is not necessary to print and sign the form, as long as the form is emailed to the Budget Office by the college/division administrator.
The new form is on the Finance Forms page under Chartfield Action Forms here.

Who is the Cost Center Manager?
The Cost Center Manager is the person primarily responsible for a particular cost center. For grants, this is normally a principle investigator or director of a research center. For cost centers in academic areas, it may be a professor, department chair, or dean. For administrative areas, it may be an administrative director, business administrator, or vice president. These are just examples. It could be anyone who has the primary authority to allocate or expend funds from a cost center.

What are the responsibilities of the Cost Center Manager?
The Cost Center Manager (or the person he/she designates in writing) is responsible for reviewing monthly cost center verification reports that have been prepared by someone else in the department. These reports indicate whether all transactions are appropriate for the cost center, whether any corrections are needed, and the balance available for future expenditures.

Why is it necessary to have a Cost Center Manager when we already have a Program Manager?
At UH, a Program (e.g., A0001) may be used on multiple cost centers with different Dept ID’s (e.g., H0001, H0002, etc.). Because these cost centers are in different departments, more than one person is likely responsible for these cost centers and a single Program Manager is not adequate. Since each cost center has its own Cost Center Manager field, a different Cost Center Manager can be assigned to each cost center.

Where can I see the Cost Center Manager for the cost centers in my department?
1. The Cost Center Definition page displays the Cost Center Manager.



2. Departments can run the following query in Finance:
UHS_CC_LOOKUP – displays all cost centers (active and inactive) for a Dept ID/Dept Node, Fund, Program, Project, Speedtype, and/or Cost Center Manager.

3. Within the next few weeks, the Cost Center Manager will also appear on the 1074 Report, instead of the Program or Project Manager.

Which cost centers must have a Cost Center Manager?
All active cost centers must have a Cost Center Manager. It is not necessary to assign a Cost Center Manager to inactive cost centers.

How can you tell which active cost centers don’t have a Cost Center Manager?
Run the UHS_CC_MGR_NONE query to identify which active cost centers are missing a Cost Center Manager. Submit a Cost Center Action Form to the Budget Office to add a Cost Center Manager.