Disbursement Management Petty
Cash, Human Subjects, Financial
Aid Refunds
Marsha Lovell
Associate Controller, Business and Finance Services – UCLA
Chris Ramos – UCLA
Manager, Student Accounts and BruinCard – UCLA
Why Disbursements?
We are invested in improving our processes
by working smarter!
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Cost cutting
‘Going Green’
Automating processes
Building skills
Minimizing complacency
in the workforce
Ensuring we are in compliance
What We Streamlined?
• Petty Cash and Change
Funds
• Human Subject
Research Funds
• Employee Recognition
Funds
• Financial Aid
Disbursement
Where Did We Start?
The root of the problem
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Customer needs and expectations
• Timeliness
• Verification
• Approval
• Shuffling oversight
Compliance with federal, state,
UCLA and other regulations
Staff feedback
Disbursements
• Research project fund restrictions
• Several hundred petty cash funds
• Too much information – IRB, participants
SSN
• Staffing - one person full time, manual
• Federal regulations – audit, cost of checks,
lost checks, manual work during peak period
Putting the puzzle together
• Student Accounts
• Payment Solutions &
Compliance
• Accounting and Cash
Management
• General Accounting
Office
• Accounts Payable
Office
• Treasury Services
• Research Office
Old School Processes
Human Subjects/Petty Cash
• IRB/Petty Cash form approved by General Accounting
Office (GAO), paper form
• GAO sends approval to Accounts Payable
• Funds paid by check to department
• Department takes check to Cashier’s office for funds
• Department gets cash and spends
• Department requests reimbursement from GAO
• And the cycle repeats
• Cycle time – approximately 1-2 weeks
Old School Processes
Employee Recognition
• Departments submit email request or paper form to
Purchasing department
• Either paper check or gift card equivalent purchases
mailed to requesting department.
• Non-compliant electronic gift card ordering, card numbers
downloaded to workstation
• No secure delivery method utilized. In some cases
departments picked up gift cards directly from stores.
• Fulfillment cycle time – approximately 2-4 weeks
What is critical?
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Approval
Authorized person to receive funds
Disbursement amounts and type
Compliance with policy and regulations
Speed
Where do we get the funding?
Approvals
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Research department – oversight/audit
Departmental approval – policy/audit
Fund Manager – accounting
Federal regulations and requirements
• We are NOT the money police!
Authorized Receipt and Storage
• Validate receipt with BruinCard
• Two authorized personnel on each form
• Coordinate delivery time between 2 hour
window
• Submit safe information on request form
• Audit information from form
Disbursement Amounts and Type
• Options – cash (theft), check (need SSN),
gift cards, BruinCard (staff/student)
• Preferred cards – no ship/handling, card
costs - 3 days max
• Non-preferred cards – 3-4 weeks possible
• Denominations stocked
• Requested feedback on cards wanted
Compliance
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UCLA policy 361 – secure delivery
UC BUS 49 – cash handling
UCLA safe requirements
IRS requirements – cash over $600/1099
Higher Education Act restrictions –
‘mandatory’
• Audit tests
Speed
• 3 day from receipt of approval
– Preferred
– Denominations on hand
– ½ FTE saved in one department alone
• 3-4 weeks
– Non-preferred
– Online
Funding
• Accounting & Cash Management does the
journal entry to pull funds from department
for awards and Dunbar delivery
• Full cost assigned to department if nonpreferred
• No check costs
• No charge to department for service, except
delivery cost
Human Subject Form
Current Petty Cash Process
• Petty Cash/Change Fund (PC) reviewed by Student
Accounts (SA), approved by department head - fillable
PDF on the web – annual cash audit
• SA sends approval to Cashier’s office (cash disbursement)
and Accounting & Cash Management (journal entry to
move cash)
• Funds paid by cash to department, delivered securely by
armored courier, spends cash
• Department requests reimbursement from SA
• And the cycle repeats
• Fulfillment cycle time – approximately 3 days
Process Enhancements
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Shortened delivery time from 1-2 weeks to 3 days
Changed paper request forms into fillable PDF which
require signature – can scan if no electronic signature
functionality, electronic submission required
Positive customer response to changes
Closed or reduced many Petty Cash accounts due to
increased interaction, annual on site audits – tracking
petty cash turns
Increased audit visibility and approval of process
Compliant cash handling delivery with increased safety
Petty Cash Turns
BFS: Student Accounts
Petty Cash
800
700
Avg # of Days
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
FY 14
Average # of Days Petty Cash Turns
Nov
Dec
Jan
Current Human Subject/Employee
Recognition Process
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Departments submit fillable PDF form, along with any IRB
approval paperwork, via email to Cashier’s office.
Cashier’s office disburses cash or gift cards (preferred
stock) within three business days via secure armored
courier.
Non-preferred gift card orders assigned to Student
Accounts for ordering. Will take longer than three
business days.
Disbursements logged daily, journal entries by Accounting
& Cash Management weekly, reconcile monthly, audit
quarterly by Student Accounts/annually auditors.
Process Enhancements
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Shortened delivery time from 2-4 weeks to 3 days
Changed paper request forms into fillable PDF which
require signature – can scan if no electronic signature
functionality, electronic submission required
Positive customer response to changes
Increased audit visibility and approval of process
Effective tracking of cash flow. (disbursement activity
logged daily, recharge journal entries weekly, reconcile
monthly, audit quarterly/annually).
Compliant cash handling delivery with increased safety
Financial Aid Disbursements
Old School Financial Aid Disbursement
Process
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Financial Aid department approves and releases funds to
post to billing account.
SA prints refund reports and reviews for discrepancies
daily (no dual review or signatures).
SA sends approval of BruinDirect refund file to Cashier’s
office to release to student’s account and banks.
Paper refunds generated only once per week.
Low participation in direct deposit refund process, still very
paper based.
What is critical?
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Review and Approval - Audit
Compliance with policy and regulations
Speed
Low cost
No manual intervention by staff
Review and Approval
• Financial Aid department approves disbursement
to billing system.
• One SA specialist reviews refund and reject
reports daily and uses electronic signature.
• Second SA specialist reviews refund and reject
reports daily and uses electronic signature. Sends
approval to Cashier office.
• Cashier supervisor approves refund files for
disbursement.
Compliance with Policy and
Regulations
• Federal Financial Aid regulations
• ‘Mandatory’ word used
• Audit regulations (consistent review and
timely disbursement to students).
Speed
• BruinDirect refunds available within 2-3
business days
• Credit card refunds available within 2-3
business days
• Paper refunds available within 1-2 weeks
Current Financial Aid Disbursement
Process
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Financial Aid department approves and releases funds to
post to student’s account.
SA electronically files refund and reject reports and
reviews for discrepancies daily (dual review and esignatures).
SA sends approval of BruinDirect and credit card refund
files to Cashier’s office to release to billing accounts and
banks.
Paper refunds generated once per week.
Process Enhancements
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Improved and efficient internal review and approval
process (electronic filing and e-signatures).
Implemented new refund reject report to account for any
students receiving refunds two times in a row. Helps
prevent duplicate refunds.
Increased participation in direct deposit refund process,
reached 82% in current academic year. Due to
increased marketing efforts for BruinDirect through
mass email blasts, notifications through MyUCLA
(student portal), etc.
Long Term Benefits
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Compliance with research and audit regulations
Reduction in Petty Cash/Change Funds
Annual audit requirement standards
Faster and accurate processing
Improved customer service
Cost Effective Methodology
Stronger internal controls
Protect University assets
Timely disbursements
How to Increase Direct Deposit
• Tell them what you are going to do
• Checklist upon acceptance – Enroll now!
• Orientation update – Enroll now!
• Contests to encourage enrollment – Enroll now!
• Want your money fast? – Enroll now!
• Parent’s weekend – Enroll now!
• Family orientation – Enroll now!
• Reminder email, Did you forget? – Enroll now!
• Last reminder – Do you want your money next week or
the week after? – Enroll now!
How to Increase Direct Deposit
• Email when a refund is available for them – No direct
deposit information, check will be cut next week. Sign up
now for funds release tonight! Enroll now!
• When students come to pick up checks lost in the mail,
make them wait 2 weeks (4 weeks?) to ensure it won’t be
returned
• Returned check pickup – sign up for direct deposit OR pay
$25 for reprint fee for lost check
• Bad address - $25 or sign up for direct deposit
How to Increase Direct Deposit
• Online sign up/change information/manage account
• Put in student portal, not an isolated location
• Publish information on website, on student bill, FAQ,
everywhere
• Run statistics on population and target audience
• New admits – known for technology, none have signed
up in the beginning
• Non-traditional students – not necessarily techno-savvy
• EMBA/FEMBA students – departments enable bad
behaviors
How to Increase Direct Deposit
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‘Mandatory’ is acceptable, just no enforcement options
Paper checks only once per week
Electronic refunds daily – credit cards, ACH (direct deposit)
Other ideas?
What Can You Do?
• Are you invested in improving your processes?
• Evaluate your processes from an ‘external’ perspective
• NEVER accept “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
Future Projects
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Increased participation in direct deposit refunds (90%)
Closure of petty cash and change funds
Better internal auditing controls for gift card disbursements
System enhancements to better account for refund
discrepancies
Future Needs
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Knowledge workers
Technical skill development
Embrace change
Streamlining ongoing
Morale building opportunities
Questions or Comments?
Marsha Lovell, Associate Controller
Business and Finance Services
UCLA
310-206-6034
mlovell@finance.ucla.edu
Chris Ramos, Manager
Student Accounts/BruinCard
UCLA
310-206-1466
cramos@finance.ucla.edu