Effectiveness Evaluation: Annual Report

Accounting Services

Departmental Mission – 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.
Goals – Successful implementation and timely reporting of the GASB 39 information for the Annual Financial Report. Ongoing goals will be to strive towards a paperless environment through increased knowledge and use of the PeopleSoft financial software, other software packages and increased use of web reporting. In addition, this knowledge will further assist us supporting our customers in their understanding and use of the financial information necessary to successfully run their departments. Additionally, a paperless environment will increase productivity due to less time needed to move and store the physical output. Participate in the ongoing usage and cultivation of HigherOne for both the students and university.
Assessment of Goals – Seek feedback from the campus community on the usefulness, understanding of information being dispersed and any additional needs that may assist them. In the same manner we will seek feedback from the students and staff on current usage and any proposals for enhancements of the HigherOne service.
Statement of Condition – Overall, Accounting Services is in good working order and should continue to be so. There were two major retirements this fiscal year, Assistant VP for Business and Finance/Comptroller and Assistant Director of Accounting Service. At this time, we have replaced the assistant’s position and should have the Comptroller’s position filled soon.
Department Achievements – The department, as part of Business and Finance division, received a “Code 1” audit rating from the Board of Regents FY04 Audit Report, which is considered excellent. Also, the state audit report of FY03 completed in FY04, noted that the finding from the prior year had been resolved and there were no new findings. The department is continuing to make reports available electronically and notify users via listserv of major ledger posting, deadlines, etc.
Staff Productivity – With the implementation of the Higher One card in the middle of the fiscal year. The number of student checks written to-date has decreased by around 7,500 in the first six months and has eliminated over 24 hours of processing time and a corresponding amount of materials. The reduction in student checks will also help reducing time spent in reconciling the over 56,000 checks written within a year. In addition, several workshops were attended for training on GASB 39 and various PeopleSoft modules.

Student Financial Services

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.
Goals – Complete development of a web-based Short Term Loan application and download to decrease student applicant lines. This should be ready for usage before the fall semester. Successful implementation on the upgrade to Banner version 6.0 in the fall. Continue to seek improvement and usage of the Higher One card for both the students and university. Continue cross training of SFS staff, so that all employees will have a good working knowledge of at least two positions. Continue to increase collections in the areas of Student Accounts, Short-Term Loans, and Perkins Loans.
Outcomes – Successful implementation and transition to HigherOne, which eliminated long lines for students, gave the students quicker access to their funds, and decreased processing time for SFS staff. Maintained or increased the high percentage of collections for Student Accounts, and Perkins and Short Term Loans. Ongoing cross training of the staff, which will help to eliminate student frustrations in not being able to get needed information in a timely manner. By continuing to push credit card payments via the web. Overall credit card web usage has increased 18% in number of items and 28% in dollar values over a comparable period in FY03.
Statement of Condition – Student Financial Services is in good condition. Now that the new employee’s are gaining confidence in their positions, we will continue to concentrate on their cross-training. This will lead to improve effectiveness and efficiency to provide better service to our students.
Department Achievements – Improved the delivery of TRA information to our students by including the financial information, as well as supplemental financial information on the 1098t forms. The SFS web page is continually updated to assist the student in their financial needs. Additionally, we continue to assist in development of GA Best Practices for Banner Accounts Receivable. Also, added pop-up message to the Banweb screen when students initially log-in which notifies them of the current semester’s fee payment deadline date. The student must acknowledge this screen before they can proceed. This has enabled us to decrease the numbers of students dropped for non-payment by 1% with an increased enrollment.
Staff Productivity – Several staff members severed on various committees and attended a number of workshops. Committees served on included, RACAR, Social Security Number conversion and Campus Pipeline committee to develop policy and procedure. Meetings or workshops attended included, Georgia Summit for Banner users, Perkins Loan Collections workshop, and Banner Accounts Receivable meetings. In the area of loans, Short-Term Loan collections were increased by 15% up to $228,700. SFS staff processed 841 Short-Term Loan in FY04 – up from 789 in FY03. We maintain a Perkins Loan portfolio of 4,341 of which 1,420 are active. Perkins collections decreased in FY04 by 5%; however the number of hardship and school deferments increased by 8%. We processed a total of 311 new Perkins loans for FY04 compared to a total of 436 for FY03. Student Account receivable collections increased by 8% in FY04 on a total of 572 accounts from FY03 on a total of 470 accounts.

Budget Services

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 and the USG System Office.
Department Goals – Goals include submitting all Budget Amendment and FY06 Original Budget on time to the University System Office, and processing all amendments for the campus community in a timely manner.
Assessment of Goals – This year the budget and all budget amendments were submitted on time and with no problems. Also, all queries to the budget office were handled in a timely manner.
Statement of Condition – There has been no turnover in personnel; the department has assumed the responsibility for position management two years ago and is in dire need of additional clerical support.
Departmental Achievement – The Budget Director attended and was a presenter at the 2004 HEUG conference; he also served as the Chairman of the SACUBO audit committee.