Financial Reporting
230 Peterson Building
54 Innovation Boulevard
Saskatoon SK S7N 2V3
Tel: (306) 966-8303 Fax: (306) 966-8833
Date:
August 20, 2014
From:
John Cornwell, Financial Compliance Officer, Financial Reporting
Re:
Implementation of the Institutional Approval of Concur Expenditures for Tri-Agency Awards
In 2012, the results of a monitoring visit performed by the Tri-Agencies were issued in a final report that concluded “that the
university’s management control framework for the administration of grant and award funds from the agencies was not
satisfactory.” The most significant observation was that the Tri-Agencies found the grant holder had primary responsibility for
both the authorization and compliance of expenditures. The Tri-Agencies require that these functions be segregated
(independent of one another). To address this issue, business processes performed centrally will be enhanced so that every
transaction related to a Tri-Agency fund goes through an independent review and approval before it is posted to Unifi. This is
known as institutional approval.
Over the past several months there have been communications indicating that business processes across campus would be
revised in order for Tri-Agency research related expenditures to comply with Tri-Agency regulations.
Along with Payment Services, I am pleased to announce two process enhancements. The approval of Tri-Agency related
transactions through Concur is scheduled to be implemented on August 20, 2014. Paper based forms have been changed to
allow for the appropriate approvals and you should start using the new forms immediately.
There are instructional documents that have been developed to help guide users through the Concur process for travel and
non-travel related expenses. At any point when a preparer enters the CFOAPAL information into Concur, the preparer will be
required to answer the question “Is this a Tri-Agency fund?” When answered yes, the preparer will be required to enter your
college’s/unit’s Tri-Agency Institutional Approver upon submission, allowing for review and approval of the travel request or
expense report. This is in addition to your normal one-up approval. The training documents can be found by going to the
Concur Travel and Expense User Information page (http://www.usask.ca/fsd/resources/guidelines/concur-travel-andexpense-user-information.php) and clicking on any one of the following links:
• “Create a Travel Request”
• “Create and Expense Report (travel)”
• “Create an Expense Report (non-travel)
Users are urged to contact the institutional approver in their respective college for more information on the Tri-Agency travel
requirements.
For institutional approvers there is a Concur training document “Review and Approve Report” which can be found by clicking
on the link on http://www.usask.ca/fsd/resources/guidelines/concur-travel-and-expense-user-information.php . There is
additional guidance to institutional approvers with regards to what to look for when approving a travel expense claim
at http://www.usask.ca/fsd/colleges_depts_research/research_administration/travel-and-subsistence-expenses.php. The
approval process in Concur is provided to approvers at the following link <link>.
The institutional approvers are provided on the next page*:
www.usask.ca/
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Agriculture & Bioresources
Viet Truong
Doney Pan or
Doug McKinnon
Library
Dale Amerud
Medicine
Jae Saul
Jim Greuel
Nursing
Shawn Anderson or
Mary Ellen Cox
Education
Jae-Anne Peace or
Laurie Hellsten-Bzovey
Pharmacy & Nutrition
Leanne Berglund
Edwards School of Business
Jill Salamon
Engineering
Viet Truong
School of Environment &
Sustainability
School of Public Policy
Global Institute for Water Security
Tiffany Schlosser
School of Public Health
Shari Peters
Graduate Studies and Research
Heather Lukey
Toxicology
Kinesiology
Don Steponchev
VIDO
Law
Tracey Wray
Veterinary Medicine
Adriana Brown
Lorne Vanin or
Judy Schmidt
Ralph Hildebrandt or
Nadine Kozakevich
Arts & Science
Centre for Continuing Distance
Education
Tracey McHardy
Tracey Howell-Perret
* source http://www.usask.ca/fsd/colleges_depts_research/research_administration/how_do_i_know_institutional_approver.php
Thank you for your assistance regarding this required procedural change. If you have any questions please contact John
Cornwell, Financial Compliance Officer, FSD at 4625 or john.cornwell@usask.ca.
www.usask.ca/
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