OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER

Annual Report

FY 2001 - 2002

 

     The Office of the Comptroller is comprised of three units – Accounting Services, Budget Services, and Student Financial Services.     The report for each of the units follows.

 

Budget Services

 

I.                    Departmental Mission - The mission of the Budget Services Department is to prepare and maintain the Annual Operating Budgets for the University.  This includes the original budget, budget amendments, and reports on the budget as requested by various campus constituents.  The Budget Department is also responsible for preparing faculty contracts and staff salary letters.

II.                 Department Goals – The goals of the department are to provide accurate and timely information pertaining to the above mission.  This is assessed by the timely submission of the budget and budget amendments and the lack of questioning of this budget by the University System Office and the campus as a whole.

III.               Department Statement of Outcomes – This year the budget and all budget amendments were submitted on time and with very limited questions or mistakes.  Also, all queries to the budget office were handled in a timely manner.

IV.              General Statement of Department Conditions – The Budget Services Department is currently in very good shape and should continue to be for the near future.  There has been no turnover in personnel and the department successfully implemented the new budget system on PeopleSoft.

V.                 Departmental Achievements – All budget amendments and the annual operating budget were turned in to the University System Office early or on time.  There were no corrections that had to be made to the budget per the University System Office and there were very few corrections that had to be made to any of the amendment (mostly due to a new form that amendments are submitted on).   Orientation sessions were conducted on campus to assist the campus community in the transition from CUFA ledgers to PeopleSoft ledgers.    Feedback was positive.   

VI.              Staff Productivity – The budget staff was able to attend several conferences and staff development type opportunities.  In the fall the staff attended the University System Budget Workshop, several weeks of PeopleSoft training, and the PeopleSoft workshops.    The director served as a member of the audit committee for SACUBO and participated in their review.  The director is currently serving as the implementation coordinator for the PeopleSoft financial system.    He recently attended a three-day workshop in Macon on year-end issues involving PeopleSoft, GASB, and GAAP reporting.    He has recently been selected to serve as a co-chair for PeopleSoft HEUG.

VII.            Student Achievements – The only interaction with students was through work with the Student Activities Budget Committee, which includes working with students to prepare the annual operating budget for student activity funds.   The director is a member of this committee.

 

 

 

 

 

Accounting Services

 

I.                    The mission of Accounting Services is to provide quality support to students, faculty, and staff in the day-to-day management, control, and accounting for finances of the State University of West Georgia.

II.                 Goals include striving toward a paperless environment, continued expansion of knowledge with PeopleSoft Financials, GASB 34/35 and GAAP reporting, increased web activity for accounting records, and increased customer service.

III.               Statement of Outcomes – The department participated in a Business Process Review to identify and evaluate core business processes involved in purchasing, accounts payable and the disbursement of funds.   This enabled the department to have a complete understanding of their processes as PeopleSoft was implemented.    The department was fully prepared for their “go live” week in Athens in December for the PeopleSoft implementation.

IV.              Department Achievements – The department has continued to make reports available electronically.    The Accounting team was able to convert the CUFA chart of accounts to PeopleSoft with no errors.   The Empower consulting team in Athens congratulated West Georgia for a smooth and speedy conversion.    Conversion week normally takes five days; we finished in three days.   The FY01 State audit was finalized with no findings and a “Code 1” audit ranking (the best).

V.                 Staff Productivity – The department staff members have attended numerous training sessions and workshops related to GASB and PeopleSoft Financials.    The Comptroller is a member of the USO Accounting Issues Committee that works with the State Department of Audits on issues related to PeopleSoft Financials and reporting.

 

Student Financial Services

 

I.                    Department Mission – The mission of Student Financial Services is to provide quality support and information to students in the assessment and collection of all student fees, the disbursement of all student balance checks, and the fiscal management of all student financial aid programs including federal, state, and private funding.

II.                  Goals – Goals include improving the Floyd Articulation Agreement, transition to PeopleSoft Financial and Banner 5, developing queries to assist in reconciliation of Banner & PeopleSoft, implementing e-signatures for Perkins prom notes, utilizing Banner Mods as a mechanism for processing Title IV refunds, and continuing to work on the paperless work environment and web-based services.

III.               Outcomes – Re-organization of Student Financial Services has recently occurred to assist with the new environment and set-up in Aycock.

IV.               Achievements – Achievements include improving the delivery of TRA information to the students, updating and adding information and links to the SFS web page, developing and implementing a PowerPoint presentation for Perkins exit interview, expansion of credit card payments on the web, participating in a USDE workshop about e-signatures, serving on the Georgia Globe committee to develop policy/procedures for e-core, attending workshops on Perkins loan collections and TCRS.