Office of Accounting Services Monthly Newsletter

204 Thomas Boyd Ha l l Ba ton Rouge , LA 70803 (225 ) 578 -3321 www. fas . l su .edu/Acc tSe rv ices

Issue 370 August 2015

Inside this Issue

Payroll 2

SPA 7

Procurement 8

LaCarte 9

Travel 10

LSU Acronyms 13

Financial Accounting & Reporting

Business

Managers’ Meeting

There will be no meeting held

during the month of August due

to fiscal yearend.

Meetings will resume in September

and are normally held in the

Atchafalaya Room of the

LSU Union (room 339) at

9:30 - 11:00 am.

Service Centers & Recharge Operations Fiscal year 2015-2016 Rate Development Worksheets were due to Budget and Planning by July 10, 2015. Internal Transaction (IT) billings will be held for those service centers who have not submitted the worksheet or who have not received an approved rate for FY 2016. Instructions and forms can be found on the Budget and Planning website at http://www.bgtplan.lsu.edu/recharge.htm. Reporting Tools Online ledgers/reports can be accessed by: Logging into myLSU

Selecting Financial Services

Selecting Reporting Tools Access to these reports is granted based on GLS authorization. To update or acquire access, an online Security Access Request must be submitted. Instructions for the Security Access Request system can be found at http://www.lsu.edu/administration/ofa/fss/docs/SAF.pdf. Important Notes Populate all parameters marked with an asterisk (*).

Verify the data being entered is in the proper parameter format – for example July 31 month end date should be entered as 20150731 (YYYYMMDD).

Verify mainframe access for that account, department or college.

Adjust the print area through the Print Preview toolbar functions when printing reports.

Helpful Hints Since GLS cutoff normally falls on the first working day of the

month, online ledgers for the entire month can be viewed on the second working day of the month. Note that some monthly cutoffs may be adjusted due to holidays or fiscal yearend.

Progress on the LSU Workday Project continues. We will go-live on July 1, 2016. For

additional information, see the LSU Workday website: www.lsu.edu/workday. Any questions or concerns may be directed to www.lsu.edu/wdfeedback.

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Payroll

Payroll website.

Graduate assistant appointments for the Fall semester

must be reviewed now to verify that the GA will be

reporting to work as indicated on the form. If the

appointment is current or in RPAY status, please notify

Payroll as soon as it is known that a Graduate Assistant

is not going to work so that the form can be cancelled

to prevent the employee from being overpaid. Please

contact Lorin Oliver at lolive7@lsu.edu or Mindy

Bergeron at mbergero@lsu.edu to have forms

cancelled.

Pay basis code of a graduate assistant determines how

the GA is paid. Please pay close attention when loading

the GA’s form in HRS.

The field is titled: Pay Basis. An explanation of the field

is as follows:

81 = Graduate Assistant/Academic/Monthly

83 = Grad Asst—Acad Fst Sem Only/ Mthly

84 = Grad Asst—Acad Sec Sem Only/ Mthly

85 = Grad Asst—Summer—POA

91 = Graduate Assistant/Fiscal/Monthly

Academic GAs with summer student appointments

must be terminated from the student appointment by

August 16, 2015, as the GA appointment begins with

the new academic year on August 17, 2015. Any

student payments made for work performed after

August 17, 2015 will be deducted from the GA salary.

Additional Compensation

The OV - Overload Teaching code should be used when

the add comp payment is for teaching a course that is

not part of the online program. During the academic

year, additional compensation for teaching additional

classes is paid in four equal payments with the

employee’s regularly scheduled payroll.

The OL - Online Degree Program Teaching code should

be used when the add comp payment is for teaching a

course that is part of the online program.

Academic Employees and Graduate Assistants

The first academic payday for the 15-16 academic year

is Monday, September 21. Academic paydays are on

the 21st of each month during the academic year. If the

21st occurs on a weekend, payday will be the preceding

Friday. Academic employees who elect to receive

twelve checks are paid on the last working day of the

month beginning in September.

Academic Withheld Employees Election Form

Attachment

The signed academic withheld election form must be

attached using the AW attachment code to the

personnel form for an academic employee electing to

be academic withheld. The correct pay type/pay basis

for academic withheld is 5/12. If a department has a

current academic employee wanting to change to

academic withheld a XPBC form can be loaded prior to

8/31/15 changing the employee from a pay type 4 to a

pay type 5 employee. The signed academic withheld

election form must be attached to the XPBC form using

the AW attachment code. The completed form should

be given to the Departmental HR Contact to load in the

HRS system. The form should not be sent to Human

Resource Management (HRM ) or Payroll to load in the

HRS system.

Academic withheld employees are academic employees

who have elected to receive paychecks for twelve

months by completing the Academic Withheld Election

form found on the payroll website at http://www.lsu.ed

u/administration/ofa/oas/pay/pdfs/as249.pdf. The

salary for academic withheld employees is paid over

nine months, September through May. A special

deduction is set up that accumulates approximately

25% of the net check from these nine checks. During

the summer months, June, July and August—the

accumulated special deduction is refunded in three

equal payments. The pay date for academic withheld

employees is the last working day of the month.

Calculating Salaries

The Excel spreadsheet which calculates salaries using

the completion tables is now available for the 2015-

2016 academic year. The spreadsheet may be

downloaded from the Completion Tables section of the

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Be sure to select the correct type when processing an

add comp form. For example, a 9 month academic

employee should never have the add comp type OU -

Other Administrative.

Academic employees working on a sponsored agree-

ment during the summer should be coded with the

type of RE-Research.

Employees can view their add comp, including the

scheduled pay dates through myLSU. To access, se-

lect Financial Services, HRS, then select the add comp

tab and input fiscal year to be viewed.

Change in Wage and Student Payroll Deadlines For

FY 2016

Beginning in FY 2015-2016, the deadline for wage and

student payrolls will move from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00

p.m. on the dates indicated on the payroll schedules.

Due to holidays, there are still a few early payroll

deadlines.

The deadline change is being made to reduce hours

worked estimations on ETA submitted to Payroll. De-

partments should not be submitting ETA prior to the

end of the pay period unless it is deemed necessary

due to a holiday period.

Wage ETA Deadline Changed

Payroll continued...

holiday hours paid should be prorated appropriately. ETA

timekeepers have the responsibility of checking daily

hours for each employee to ensure all are paid correctly.

When a wage employee transfers from one department

to another, the old/former department must enter on

ETA the number of hours that the employee is due for

their department. Allowing the standard work week

hours to stay on a wage employee’s record is not

appropriate if the employee transfers during a pay peri-

od. The new department must submit hours for their

department on a manual supplemental timesheet. There

should be a form loaded on HRS transferring the

employee to the new department.

When deleting a wage employee record from ETA

always remove standard work week hours before

performing the delete function. If this process is not

followed and the employee is re-hired at later date, the

new department will not be able to add the employee to

ETA.

Classified transfers to different account numbers should

be effective the first day of a pay period, if at all possible.

Retroactive transfers for student employees are not processed. Student funding should be in place prior to

hiring the student employee. When a change in source of

funds (XCSF) form is loaded for a student employee, the

account change will take place on the student’s next regular payroll cycle..

Supplemental Timesheets

Hours worked each day should be entered in the

appropriate section of the supplemental timesheet. The

sum of the hours indicated for each week must equal the

hours in the Total Hours column. Please verify totals to

ensure there are no discrepancies.

Time submitted via ETA should not be reported on the

supplemental timesheet. Only report additional hours

not submitted through ETA on the supplemental

timesheet when necessary.

WAE timesheets should include the hourly rate of pay

for hours worked.

Payroll Voucher # Timesheets Due

¨ Wage 035-15 Tuesday, September 8, 2015

at 10:00 a.m.

Wage and Student Employees

Load new wage, transient, and student employees

on ETA as soon as the employee’s personnel form is

current on the HRS System. Loading the employee in

ETA timely will prevent the department from having to prepare a supplemental timesheet to pay the new employee. However, work hours for any prior pay

period must still be submitted on a supplemental timesheet.

Holiday hours for employees who should not receive

holiday pay for Labor Day must be zeroed out on Wage Voucher 035-15. For part-time employees,

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Helpful Tips to Prevent Payroll Fraud

Employee timesheets should be completed for

hours actually worked, including dates and times

of work.

Supervisors are required to approve employee

timesheets and should ensure the timesheets are

accurate.

Never return a completed and approved timesheet

back to the employee.

Do not accept a timesheet that is written in pencil

or erasable ink.

Changes to a timesheet should be initialed by the

employee and the supervisor.

Investigate unexplained variances in pay such as a

large increase in total pay for an employee or an

employee working on non-scheduled work days.

Reconcile University records such as payroll

distribution reports and ledgers on a timely basis and

investigate questionable items immediately.

Never load time for a previous pay period on ETA.

Process separation forms immediately for

terminated employees and remove them from ETA.

Call Payroll immediately for instructions regarding a

current appointment form, if a new employee does

not show up to work.

Duplicate LSUIDs for Employees

An employee can only be paid under one LSUID number.

The process to merge LSUID numbers is time consuming

and may delay an employee’s payment.

To prevent creating a second LSUID number for an

employee with an existing LSUID number in Directory,

always enter the employee’s SSN when loading the new

appointment form. If the employee already has a LSUID

number on file then that number will automatically be

populated.

Helpful Hint when Completing the electronic I-9 form

If students are having problems accessing the form:

Check the Pop-Up blocker setting and ensure it is set to

allow Pop-Ups. The I-9 form will bring up a new window.

JAVA and cookies should also be enabled.

Certification of Time Required

Civil Service Rule 15.2 requires that Civil Service

employees certify actual hours worked and hours of

leave.

The Civil Service Rules require certification by the

department head and the employee of the actual

number of hours of attendance on duty and the number

of hours of absence from duty for each employee.

For accomplishing this, the payroll timesheet must be

initialed by the employee or departments may

maintain separate supporting timesheets which are

signed by employees and department heads. Auditors

will be reviewing timesheets to determine compliance

with this requirement.

Louisiana Revised Statue 3311 A(3) requires

administrative, professional and academic personnel to

certify that they were either present or absent from

their usual duty posts during the usual working day.

All Academic, Professional employees and Research

Associates should certify their time and attendance

electronically. At the time of each monthly leave

accrual posting, an e-mail will be sent to notify

employees of the certification. The e-mail will contain

a quick link to the certification page on myLSU where

the employee can click “approved” for time

certification.

A list should be generated at the department level to

indicate those who are not in compliance. Leave

keepers may view the employees who are required to

certify time electronically by going to PF 15.

For student employee certification, University Policy

Statement 33 requires that time be certified by the

student employee and their supervisor.

These certification procedures should be performed

with each payroll for student and classified employees

and on a monthly basis for administrative, professional

and academic personnel. Leave slips should be signed

and approved as leave is taken.

Payroll continued...

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work beyond their assistantship would exceed the 20

hours per week limitation, and the student would be in

violation of their status in the United States. Any

questions about the work eligibility of international

students or Graduate Assistants should be directed to

International Services.

I-9 Form Procedures for International Student Workers

and GAs I-9 forms for international employees should be

completed online through the HRS Employee Information Page Process. The online system includes

edits to prevent the use of unacceptable documents

while completing the I-9.

In the rare case where it is necessary to attach the I-9 form departments should be sure to use acceptable documents to certify employment. This is especially

important for international students who have specific work authorization. For example, to use a Social Security

card for employment purposes there should be no restrictions listed on the card. A person in the U.S. on a

visa typically has a statement on their social security card “valid for work only with DHS approval”. This

statement prohibits the Social Security card from being used as a list C document.

Student employees in the U.S. on a visa will select the

“Alien Authorized to work until” option and then enter the earliest expiration date of either their I-20 form ,

DS-2019 form or passport. Next they will complete the information for item number 2. Once they submit the document the I-9 form will be routed to International

Services for approval. The student may be required by

International Services to bring their immigration documents for review by a Designated School Official (DSO) before the I-9 can be approved. The times for these status verifications can be found at

http://international.lsu.edu/IS/.

Attached is the latest list of acceptable documents for

form I-9 verification. Use this list to find an appropriate document.

Payroll continued...

SSA Requirements for International Students

Any F-1 or J-1 student who will be employed by LSU

must apply for a social security number (SSN). The

procedures and requirements for international

employees to receive a SSN have recently been revised.

Detailed instructions for applying for a SSN can be

found at http://international.lsu.edu/IS/current/applyf

orssn.php.

Latest Version of AS Forms

Please be certain that you are using the most recent

version of all AS forms being submitted to Payroll. The

latest version of all forms can be found on the Payroll

website.

International Employees

International students and Graduate Assistants must

have a Work Permit approved by LSU’s International

Services Office before they can be employed on

campus. Newly appointed students will complete an

electronic work permit online through the HRS

Employee Information Page process. Once the work

permit is approved by International Services, it is part

of the employee’s online record and will update the

required fields in the payroll system.

International employees eligible for tax treaty

benefits for tax year 2015, but who are not currently

participating, may complete the appropriate forms to

apply for these benefits in 204 Thomas Boyd Hall. A

passport, visa, and I-20 or DS-2019 form are needed in

order to complete the forms. A listing of the eligible

countries can be found on the Payroll website.

International student employees, including GAs, must

not work over 20 hours per week while school is in

session. To ensure compliance with this federal

regulation, international Graduate Assistants are

typically not allowed to receive additional compensa-

tion. All additional compensation for international

Graduate Assistants must be approved by the Graduate

School BEFORE the work is performed. This is a formal

condition listed on the Work Permit. Violations

typically occur for International GAs who hold a 50%

effort assistantship. 50% effort assistantships are

formally considered 20 hours per week of employment

which is the maximum amount of hours allowed under

federal regulations. Providing them with additional

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Payroll continued...

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National Science Foundation (NSF)

All notifications and requests for approval from NSF

must be submitted electronically via Research.gov or

the NSF Fastlane System. This includes requests to

reallocate funds budgeted for participant support costs

which requires approval of the NSF Program Officer.

Below is a list of the notifications and requests that

have transitioned to Research.gov. All other

notifications and requests should be submitted via

Fastlane.

Long-term Disengagement of the PI (Principal

Investigator)/PD (Project Director) or co-PI/co-PD

(Over Three Months)

Pre-award Costs in Excess of 90 Days

Significant Changes in Methods/Procedures

Significant Changes/Delays or Events of Unusual

Interest

Changes in Objectives or Scope

Reallocation of Funds Provided for Participant

Support Costs

Change in Person-Months Devoted to Project

Withdrawal of PI/PD or co-PI/co-PD

Rearrangements/Alterations in excess of $25,000

(Construction)

Conflicts of Interest

Salaries of Administrative or Clerical Staff

Travel Costs for Dependents

Additional categories of participant support costs

other than those described in 2 CFR § 200.75 (such

as incentives, gifts, souvenirs, t-shirts and/or

memorabilia)

LA Board of Regents (BOR) graduate fellowship status

reports and invoices are due to BOR by October 1,

2015, for continuing LEQSF graduate fellowship and

doctoral contracts. Please submit the status reports to

Sponsored Program Accounting as they are required

for invoice preparation. If you have any questions,

please contact Brad Zimmerman at 578-4879 or

bradz@lsu.edu or Ashley Dugas at 578-2139 or

aduga28@lsu.edu. The SPA Contact can be found on

COASPA.

Sponsored Program Accounting

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requires approval of all professional services purchases (both subcontracts and vendor contracts for services) on their sponsored agreements. Note that if the subcontractor or vendor is specified in the proposal/award budget, this serves as DNR’s approval. Any subcontractor or professional services consultant not specified in the proposal/award budget will require DNR’s approval. University Foundation Accounts Refunds of credit balances on University Foundation accounts for LSU, Law Center, and Ag Center require approval of the Foundation and Sponsored Program Accounting. Refunds will only be processed to resolve overdrafts in the associated Foundation account or in extenuating circumstances. Questions regarding refunds of credit balances can be directed to Kate Spikes at 578-4165 or kspikes@lsufoundation.org or Keri Tweed at 578-2032 or ktweed@lsu.edu. Cost transfers from University BOR chair and professorship accounts (source 6 and 7 accounts) to another account # can only be made if the position is vacant or the Foundation project id # is overdrafted. Once the Foundation makes a “grant” to LSU, it cannot be returned. Tuition and Fees A breakdown of tuition and fees for the 2015 Fall Semester (1S/2016) is available at http://www.bgtplan. Lsu.edu/fees.htm on Budget & Planning’s website. Please use these figures in all future proposals to sponsors when applicable. Lump Sum Payments Lump Sum Payments for students and contin-gent/transient employees are normally not allowable on sponsored agreements. Lump sum payments should only be used if compensation cannot be derived from a calculation of an hourly rate of pay, or when standard timesheets are not an appropriate method of payment. Allowability of lump sum payments will be determined on a case by case basis. Procedures regarding lump sum payments can be found on Payroll’s website under Policies and Procedures http://www.fas/lsu.edu/AcctSer vices/pay/forms/studlumplsum.pdf.

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Reasonable efforts under the circumstances shall be made to obtain quotations from three or more vendors when goods or services are to be purchased on an emergency basis. Emergency procurement shall be limited to only those goods and services necessary to meet the emergency. LSU Procurement must be contacted when an emergency condition arises for approval from the Chief Procurement Officer (Director of Procurement). If an emergency condition arises after office hours and circumstances will not permit any delays, then the Department Head or an authorized department representative must attempt to follow purchasing guidelines as much as possible by obtaining competitive pricing (written, telephone, etc.) and proceeding with the purchase, using discretion. Written documentation explaining the nature of the emergency must then be signed by the Department Head or the authorized representative and attached to a requisition for the goods or services purchased. The requisition must be released to Procurement within two working days, with attached documentation of the competition that was obtained or attempted. Catastrophic Emergencies may be handled differently only when the Governor declares a State of Emergency and issues an Executive Order outlining the procedures to be followed.

POOR PLANNING DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY!

Procurement Reminders Please remember that if a vendor will be coming

onsite to provide a service, an insurance certificate meeting the University’s requirements must be furnished by the vendor prior to PO issuance, which sometimes results in delays in order issuance. Departments should release requisitions accordingly to allow time for such delays.

Decorative, unusual, personal, or any other items inconsistent with a department’s mission may not be purchased with University funds. This includes purchases of flower arrangements.

Photography—all photography services are considered Personal Services and require that a PSR requisition be released to Procurement for processing. To protect the ownership of LSU photographs, photography services will ALWAYS require a contract (regardless of the dollar amount). Note: Photography cannot be paid through LaCarte.

The monthly award reports for July 2015 should be available on the SPA webpage by August 15, 2015. If you have any questions regarding the reports, please contact Keri Tweed at 578-2032 or ktweed@lsu.edu. Fiscal year 2015 PARs Academic PAR 2 Due 08/13/2015 Wage PARs K & L Due 08/06/2015 Fiscal PAR 8 Due 08/13/2015 All certified PARs must be dated and returned to SPA. Also, please return all outstanding PARs. If applicable, please ensure cost sharing is documented before returning the PARs. PARs should be certified by the employee or someone having firsthand knowledge of the employee’s activities. Retroactive HRS Personnel Forms When loading personnel forms in HRS, the SPA Justification needed on the Attach tab should be documented on the AS227: Justification for Retroac-tive Personnel Form. Attached justifications that are not documented on the AS227 form will not be accepted because specific information is needed to process the cost transfer. If only changing the account number or account splits, use XCSF. By using XCSF, the approval process is faster.

Procurement

Sponsored Program Accounting continued...

EMERGENCY PROCUREMENTS An emergency condition is defined as “a situation that creates a threat to public health, welfare, safety, or public property, or conservation of public resources such as may arise by reason of floods, epidemics, riots, equipment failures, or such other reasons as may be determined by the Chief Procurement Officer.” An emergency purchase may be made when the existence of an emergency condition creates an immediate and serious need for goods or services that cannot be met through normal procurement methods. Emergency procurements shall be made using the most competitive process available consistent with the need for responding to the emergency.

Procurement continued...

9

Accounts Payable & Travel

Procurement continued...

Closing LSU GeauxShop POs and Removing Encumbrance Balances An encumbrance balance can exist on an LSU GeauxShop purchase order (PO) for various reasons. The most common reasons are because the item(s) was returned/cancelled with the supplier but not in LSU GeauxShop or the item was billed less than the original price on the PO. When returning items ordered through LSU GeauxShop, the employee must first request to return the item(s) by contacting the supplier. Some suppliers offer this feature within their LSU GeauxShop catalog. If the item(s) will be replaced by the supplier with

an exact replacement, then no changes are needed in LSU GeauxShop.

If the item(s) will NOT be replaced by the supplier, then the supplier will cancel the item in their system and issue a credit memo invoice in LSU GeauxShop to offset the cost on the PO. The supplier will coordinate the return of the item via the delivery driver, if necessary. Upon receipt and approval of both the original invoice and the credit memo invoice, the process to remove encumbrance balance should be followed:

1. Add a comment to the PO in LSU GeauxShop requesting liquidation/cancellation of the item and specify the affected line item and the dollar encumbrance exists.

2. Attach any supporting documentation received from the supplier (e-mail indicating item can-celled/returned or on backorder). Select the LSU GeauxShop Help Desk (username: geauxshophelp) as the e-mail recipient of the comment to alert the Help Desk of the need to alter the PO.

An alteration will be entered by the LSU GeauxShop Help Desk to cancel the item and liquidate the encumbrance. Confirmation will be sent to the department once the alteration has been completed. PO alterations in which an item was billed less on the invoice than the original PO price will be processed per a report received from Accounts Payable. Departments do not need to request alterations to change price.

Encumbrance accruals on unrestricted accounts must be cleared within the 45-day grace period (August 15th) granted by the State of Louisiana. Accruals not cleared by this date will be refunded to the State and the department’s fiscal year budget for 2016 will absorb the cost of the invoice. It is imperative that the departmental expenditure account (where the accrual was charged) is monitored to ensure that the invoice has been paid. Please do not assume that Accounts Payable has received, from the vendor or department, the information necessary to clear the accruals. To view the status of invoices in APS using the Document Inquiry Menu, type V DCL for each purchase order number. Departments are encouraged to contact vendors and request them to fax the invoices needed to clear remaining accruals. For questions, please contact Valery Sonnier at vsonnier@lsu.edu or 578-1541. PRO Assistance Departments are encouraged to contact a member of the PO Invoice Processing staff to assist with questions regarding pending invoices, creating a receiving report in PRO and/or viewing attached vendor invoices: Angie Mann 578-1620 or amann7@lsu.edu Valery Sonnier 578-1541 or vsonnier@lsu.edu LSU GeauxShop Assistance Departments are encouraged to contact a member of the PO Invoice Processing staff to assist with questions regarding pending invoices and/or creating a receiving reports. All other questions should be submitted to geauxshophelp@lsu.edu. Jessica Hodgkins 578-1545 or jhodgkins@lsu.edu Valery Sonnier 578-1541 or vsonnier@lsu.edu

LaCarte LaCarte and CBA entries must be released to AP using the online PCARD system with complete cost documentation no later than 30 days from the date of the purchase/transaction. Please make sure all entries are released to AP (RAPS status) when the final approvals are made.

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Accounts Payable & Travel continued...

Supporting Cost Documentation All LaCarte transactions must have the appropriate supporting cost documentation that “tells the story”. It is important that the receipt is itemized with a detailed description of the item. If a detailed description is not provided, an explanation of the item should be provided. This will help the LaCarte/Travel auditor expedite the review and approval process. Insufficient supporting cost documentation will delay the audit process and may affect the cardholder’s privileges. For LaCarte related questions, please contact a

member of the LaCarte staff:

Kathleen Elders 578-8593 or kelder1@lsu.edu

DeAnna Landry 578-1544 or deannal@lsu.edu

Theresa Oubre 578-1543 or talber3@lsu.edu

TRAVEL

State Colleges and Universities under the Management Authority of the Board of Supervisors are not subject to the General Travel Regulations (i.e., PPM-49) governed by the Division of Administration Commissioner of Administration. Effective July 1, 2015, LSU will be exercising autonomy from PPM-49, General Travel Regulations except for the state contracts, lodging rates and meal per diems. Through a collaborative effort of all LSU entities, the University Travel Regulations have been consolidated into one single policy PM-13, “University Travel Regulations”. PM-13 has been updated to reflect the changes to the travel policy effective July 1, 2015. In addition, PM-13 now includes Appendices to better serve the travelers, departments and all LSU entities. Appendix A is a Summary of Travel Rates (i.e., mileage rate per mile, meal per diem, lodging allowances, and other travel expenses), and Appendix B is a Summary of Approval Authority specific to each campus for certain travel expenses. The University Travel Regulations, PM-13 has been

revised to reflect the changes to the travel policy

effective July 1, 2015. A summary of changes is as

follows:

1. Traveler’s supervisor (or his/her designee) or the

person with fiscal responsibility unless the Campus

and/or Department requires a higher level of

approval is the approval authority for the following:

Authorizes an individual to travel on official

University business, regardless at University

expense;

Travel Expense Reimbursement Requests;

International Travel excluding High Risk Travel

destinations;

U.S. Department of State Rates for International Travel;

Purchase of a preferred seat when in the best interest of the University;

Airline charges for the first checked bag for a business trip for 5 days or less and for the second checked bag for a 6-10 business day trip and/or additional baggage which is business related and required by the Department;

Certification of the requirement for the change or cancellation;

Actual mileage from the employee’s residence if an employee is leaving on a non-work day or leaving significantly before or after work hours;

Approval for an employee to be reimbursed lodging expenses within an employee’s domicile with proper justification as to necessity and why it is in the best interest of the University and not for the convenience of the person;

Actual cost of conference lodging, for single occupancy, when staying at designated conference hotel;

Actual hotel cost, not to exceed conference lodging rate, when the designated hotel has no rooms available;

Actual routing lodging provisions, on a case by case basis not to exceed 50% over PM-13 current listed rates;

Rental vehicles; rental of a larger size vehicle above the intermediate size category with written justification; and pre-paid fuel options;

Auto Tow Protection for rental vehicles; Navigation equipment (GPS Systems) rented from a

rental car company when the employee justifies the need for such equipment; and

Insurance Costs to be reimbursed for travel outside the 50 United States only.

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Accounts Payable & Travel continued...

10. Allowance of Single Day Meals is at the discretion of each Campus Head. Refer to Appendix A for the single day meal rates.

11. The routine lodging rate for Baton Rouge decreased to $94. Refer to Appendix A for all other lodging rate changes.

12. Tier IV meal per diem for dinner increased to $36. All other meal per diems remained the same.

13. Centrally Billed Accounts expire every three years. 14. Definition section was updated to include

Department Head, Fiscal Authority, Supervisor, University Official, preferred seats and to further clarify per diems.

In addition, Short’s Travel Management was awarded the State of LA State Travel Agency Services for the period FY16 - FY19. The Short’s Travel Online booking rate has been reduced to $2 and the service fee is $19.50 for domestic airfare. Please see the AP & Travel website for a complete listing of all the negotiated rates. Travel Agency Contact Information:

SHORT’S TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

Toll Free - (888) 846-6810 Fax - (319) 433-084

E-mail: state@shortstravel.com Website: www.shortstravel.com/lsu

Also, the following are key travel reminders: 1. Enterprise Rent-A-Car remains the state contract

vendor and use is mandatory for in-state travel.

Please refer to the Accounts Payable & Travel

website for updated contract rates.

2. Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz and National remain

the state contract vendors and use is mandatory for

out-of-state travel. It is at the traveler’s discretion

which rental company is utilized.

3. Personal travel destinations should not be included

in business travel airfare. Refer to PM-13 for

reimbursement limitations.

4. Travelers/departments should always monitor

unused tickets and take them into consideration

when making travel arrangements.

The AS forms have been updated to reflect changes in

LSU’s PM-13 “University Travel Regulations”. Employees

should go to the Accounts Payable & Travel website at

2. Employees approved to use a privately-owned vehicle when conducting in-state University business travel may claim reimbursement up to .51 cents per mile.

3. The limitation for employees approved to use a privately owned vehicle for the traveler’s convenience is the cost of a lowest logical airfare quote obtained 14 days prior to departure. Previously this was limited to the lessor of a lowest logical airfare quote or the cost of a rental vehicle.

4. Unauthorized individuals including, but not limited to, spouses, children, or other family members should not be transported in University-owned vehicles or rental vehicles, unless an exception approval has been granted by the Department Head, if he/she determines that the best interest of the University will be served and the passenger signs a Hold Harmless Agreement.

5. Contracted travel agency is mandatory for booking airfare unless exemptions have been granted prior to travel. Requests for an exemption must document that the traveler saved 10% and experienced a cost saving of at least $100, not including the service fee.

6. Students are now required to purchase airfare through the state contracted travel agency.

7. Airfare upgrades at the expense of the University are not permitted unless there is a medical accommodation on file with Human Resource Management or documentation from the contracted travel agency indicating the higher class ticket is the lowest priced airfare.

8. The approved “Request for Authorization to Travel” must be submitted to Risk Management prior to the start date of travel online at www.lsu.edu/riskmgt/internationaltravelregistry for emergency notification and insurance purposes. International Travel Insurance may be provided to travelers who have a completed and approved “Request for Authorization to Travel” prior to the start date of travel. Coverage varies by campus. Coverage information will be provided to the traveler after a “Request for Authorization to Travel” has been submitted online to Risk Management.

9. LSU Campuses not following FASOP: AS-18, High Risk Travel to Restricted Regions must have procedures in place for Travel to a high risk area.

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Bursar Operations

Welcome Tamela Dickerson to Bursar Ops. She

can be reached at tamelaj@lsu.edu or

578-3092.

Administration

Accounts Payable & Travel continued...

http://www.fas.lsu.edu/AcctServices/acctpay/ for the current versions of documents and forms necessary to assist travelers in processing travel requests and reimbursements. The revised policies incorporating the summarized changes are available on the University Administration and Accounts Payable & Travel websites. If there are any questions or concerns regarding any of the changes, please contact the Central Administration Office on your campus. The AS499: “Request for Approval of Special Meal” form has been updated to now include university guests. The AS516-B form has been discontinued. As a reminder, the AS499 form should be approved by either the department head (or his/her designee) or the person with fiscal authority for the event AND a representative from the Office of Accounting Services prior to the event. The AS499 form can be found on the AP & Travel website at: http://www.lsu.edu/administration/ofa/oas/acctpay/pdfs/as499.pdf. For Travel related questions, please contact a member of the Travel staff: Jennifer Driggers 578-3699 or jdrigg@lsu.edu Arianna Elwell 578-6052 or acreech@lsu.edu

August Business Managers’ Meeting There will be no meeting held during the month of August due to fiscal yearend. Meetings will resume on September 8, 2015 and are normally held in the Atchafalaya Room of the LSU Union (room 339) at 9:30 – 11:00 am. Information on prior meetings can be found at http://www.fas.lsu.edu/acctservices/archive.html. Vendor Applications When LSU does business with an organization, the University (department) must enroll or register in that organization’s vendor database. This will oftentimes be referred to as the vendor application or enrollment process. During the registration process, various documents may be requested by the vendor such as a vendor application referenced above. It is the responsibility of the department to initiate the vendor application process by completing as much information as possible on the vendor application or enrollment form. This form will vary by vendor and will ask for specific information pertaining to the department, contact information, goods/services, etc. Note: it is common for a W-9 to be requested during this process. Upon completion, forms should be forwarded to Accounting Services. The proper signature will be obtained and the documents will be returned to the requesting department or submitted directly to the vendor.

Administration

Welcome Nakisha Butler to Imaging. She can be

reached at nbutler@lsu.edu.

13

Common Terms & Documents AMAF Award & Award Modification Approval Form BA Budget Adjustment BF Batch Feed CBA Central Billed Account CJ Compound Journal Voucher CR Cost Reimbursable CS Cash Journal Voucher CSAP Chancellor Student Aid Program CWSP College Work Study Program DJ Departmental Journal Voucher DT Departmental Transmittal EI Encumbered Internal Transaction ERP Enterprise Resource Planning F&A Facilities & Administrative Costs FASOP Finance and Administrative Services Operating Procedure FB Fringe Benefits FP Fixed Price GA Graduate Assistant GL General Ledger GLS General Ledger System HRS AUTH HRS Authority IPARF Internal Prior Approval Request Form IT Internal Transaction ITB Invitation to Bid ITIN Individual Taxpayer Identification Number JV Journal Voucher LSUID LSU’s Identification Number (replaces SSN in LSU’s computer systems) MC LaCarte entry (similar to CS, DT, IT, JV) NCE No Cost Extension PAF Personnel Action Form PAR Personnel Activity Report PAWS Personal Access Web Service PI Principal Investigator PM Permanent Memorandum PO Purchase Order PO ALT Purchase Order Alteration PPCS Personal, Professional & Consulting Services PRAF Proposal Routing & Approval Form PROAUTH PRO Authority PS Policy Statement RAPS Released to AP status RFP Request for Proposal RGE Record of Grant Establishment SJ Simple Journal Voucher SSN Social Security Number STO Short’s Travel Online TERR Travel Expense Reimbursement Request

Common Acronyms at LSU Below is a list of common acronyms affiliated with LSU and used on campus. It is very likely you will come across these acronyms in the Accounting Services newsletter or in training classes.

Departments & Organizations AP Accounts Payable & Travel AS Accounting Services BOR Board of Regents DOE Department of Energy FAR Financial Accounting & Reporting FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FDN LSU Foundation FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency NIH National Institutes of Health NSF National Science Foundation ORED Office of Research and Economic Development OSP Office of Sponsored Programs PAY Payroll PROC Procurement PROP Property Management SACS-COC Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges SPA Sponsored Program Accounting SSA Social Security Administration TAF Tiger Athletic Foundation UAS University Auxiliary Services USDA United States Department of Agriculture

Financial Systems ABS Advanced Billing System APS Accounts Payable System BGT Budget COA Chart of Accounts DIR Directory ETA Employee Time & Attendance FMS File Management System GLS General Ledger System GSP GeauxShop HRS Human Resources System INS Insurance IPM Investment Portfolio Management LVT Leave Tracking PAR Personnel Activity Reporting PAY Pay Control PCARD Procurement Card PRO Procurement RCN Bank Reconciliation SAE Student Award Entry SPS Sponsored Program System SWC Workers’ Compensation TIS Treasurer Information System USM University Stores Management