Department Reconciliation Guidelines
For Reconciling Payment and Receipt Transactions to WISDM
Purpose of the Reconciliation:
The reconciliation of payment and receipt transactions to the accounting system
(WISDM) is one of many internal controls in place to:
 verify the accuracy of transactions posted to the accounting system and
 identify errors and process corrections.
Other Internal Controls:
The University has many internal controls in place to ensure the accuracy of
transactions and appropriateness of charges. For example, the Purchasing Card
system requires timely review of all purchases and reconciliation to the source
documents by the site manager. This review is independent of the reconciliation
to the campus accounting system.
Other internal controls that complement the department reconciliation to WISDM
include:
Department’s Responsibility
 Review of funding source being used, appropriateness of the transaction and
authorization/signatures to use the specified funding source. Provide complete
and correct coding (i.e., effective dates, valid and complete funding string)
and insure funds are available.
 Monitor purchases against blanket orders, MDS accounts and purchasing cards and
maintain the source documents for these purchases.
 Ensure goods are received as ordered and in good condition. It is the
department’s responsibility to have a process in place to be familiar with
goods received and invoices paid.
Dean/Director’s office Responsibility
 Review for compliance with State and University regulations, validity of the
funding being used (i.e., effective dates, valid and complete funding string)
and availability of funds.
 Enter encumbrances to the Accounting System which verifies the validity of the
funding string.
Accounting Services Responsibility
 Campus Pre-Audit reviews transactions for the legality of the purchase, the
appropriateness of the account (class) code and supporting documentation.
 Accounting Services also keys the payments into the accounting system that
insures the funding string is complete and valid.
 Campus Accounts Payable audits invoices to insure charges are appropriate and
when necessary matches the invoices to the PO and/or contract terms. Accounts
Payable also reviews invoices for erroneous sales tax and/or freight charges,
and will dispute invoices that don’t reference valid PO’s. Most invoices are
paid on a “negative” approval basis meaning the department has 3 business days
to notify Accounts Payable if there is a problem with the order and the invoice
should not be paid. Invoices that are paid on a “positive” approval basis are
sent to the department first for approval of the payment.
 Accounting Services Verifiers check invoice(s) to vouchers, matching the amount
on the voucher with the total of the invoices.
 Accounting Services File Room scans the voucher and check to make sure they
agree before sending the payment out.
RSP’s Responsibility
 Research and Sponsored Programs Non-Federal area reviews certain transactions
(e.g., transfers, travel, equipment, sub-contracts) for appropriateness of the
transaction for the funding source.
 Research and Sponsored Programs, Federal and Non-Federal areas, review reports
of charges by account (class code) to check for allowability of costs when
invoicing and/or closing out a project.
Department Reconciliation Guidelines:
These guidelines provide the necessary steps required in reconciling payment and
receipt transactions to the accounting system. Matching of actual source
documents to the accounting system is not generally required when the
reconciliation is performed by someone familiar with the transactions processed by
the department.
The reconciliation can be performed using an electronic or paper report of the
transactions posted to the campus accounting system.
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Scan the report for large or unusual dollar amounts and review for
appropriateness of the transaction. Note: what is considered “large” will
vary by environment and needs to be determined by the department.
Scan for duplicate payments by looking for repetitious dollar amounts or
multiple payments to the same vendor.
Scan for unfamiliar vendor/payee names.
Scan for unusual account codes (class codes) or types of expenditures. The
department determines what is an unusual transaction; for example, a federal
grant that does not allow foreign travel should not have any transactions on
that account (class) code.
Scan for unusual requisition numbers (numbers out of sequence) that may not
belong to your department.
Scan open appointments and orders for unusual age and unexpected balances or
overdrafts.
Scan Purchasing card transactions for posting to the correct funding string
and for unauthorized cardholders.
Match all non-salary and salary transfers to source documents to ensure
corrections are posted correctly and timely.
Frequency of Reconciliations:
The frequency of reconciliations will depend on many factors. Reconciliations
should be performed at regular intervals, at a minimum quarterly. Quarterly
reconciliations will allow for corrections to federal and non-federal projects
that must be processed within 90 days of the date the error is made and allow for
timely processing for PAR reporting. More frequent reconciliations may be needed
when:
 Fund/organizations or Project/grants are overdrawn
 Project/grants are within 90 days of closing
 Fund/organizations or Project/grants have a high volume of activity
 As needed or requested by the PI or other authority.
Reconciliation Tools:
Recommended Tool
SFS Add-on Tools
Reconciliation
Outlyer Reports
WISDM
Transaction
Search
Reconciliation
Activity
Scan for
large/unusual
amounts
Scan for duplicate
payments
Comments
Scan for unusual
account (class)
codes
The outlyer report looks for large dollar expenses
as defined by the user or as set by the program
default.
The outlyer report looks for duplicate payments
for the accounting period selected and previous
month.
The outlyer report looks for account (class) codes
you have not used in the previous 3 accounting
periods.
Scan for unusual
program (activity)
codes
Scan for unfamiliar
vendor/payee names
The outlyer report looks for program (activity)
codes you have not used in the previous 3
accounting periods.
Use the WISDM transaction search to select
records, export to excel and sort by description.
Scan for
large/unusual
amounts
Scan for unusual
requisition numbers
Use the WISDM transaction search to select
records, export to excel and sort by dollar
amount.
Use the WISDM transaction search to select
records, export to excel and sort by PO number.
Scan for P-card
transactions
Use the WISDM transaction search to select
records, export to excel and sort by PO number.
Scan for duplicate
payments
Use the WISDM transaction search to select
records, export to excel and sort by acct (class
code) and dollar amount. Then scan for records
with the same dollar amount and determine if
duplicate payments.
Use the WISDM transaction search to select records
(you can limit results by searching for a specific
dollar amount) and scan for specific transfers.
Match transfers to
source documents
WISDM
Organization or
Project/grant
search
WISDM Journal
Search.
Match transfers to
source documents
Use the specific organization or project/grant
search and drill to cell detail to find the
transfer transaction.
Scan for P-card
transactions
SFS Add-on Tools
Requisition
Summary Search
Scan for open
appointments or
requisitions for
unusual age or
balance
Use the WISDM journal search to select records and
scan on-line. Or export records to excel; and
sort as you wish for easier scanning.
Enter your criteria for the requisition summary
report. Scan the report for old, open
requisitions or unusual balances. Or export
results to excel. In excel, sort data by status
and ‘rec’ date to look for open encumbrances that
have been on the system for a long time and not
paid. Sort data in excel by status and type and
remaining encumbrance amount to look for overdrawn
appointments or requisitions that look unusual.
The above table provides some recommended tools for performing the required
reconciliation activities, however, they are not intended to be the only options
available.
HOW TO VIEW MONTHLY or FISCAL YR
TRANSACTION DETAIL
WISDM login page found at:
https://wisdm.doit.wisc.edu
Enter login "msn(yourname)"
Enter password.
Submit.
Preferred for Fiscal Yr To Date Detail
Preferred for Monthly Detail
From Main Menu choose Org Search
or Project Search
(depending on funding involved)
From Main Menu under Other
Searches, choose "Transaction"
For criteria:
Provide Fund/Project or
Org Numbers/Dept ID.
For criteria:
Provide Fund/Project or
Org Numbers/Dept ID
For "Dates" choose "between" from pull
down, and indicate time period for
data needed and submit.
No criteria needed for "dates" as
default is fiscal year to date.
WISDM will display summary fitting the
dates chosen.
WISDM will display detail for fiscal year
to date.
Click total amount paid to see monthly
payment detail.
Move WISDM data
displayed into Excel.
Use Excel features to
delete info not needed,
and to sort by code,
vendor, date,....etc
Scan info for exceptions
or problems.
Print if necessary.
How do I find transactions for a specific time period?
(Page 1 of 2)
1. Select Transaction Search from Navigation Menu.
2. Enter as much criteria in the first five fields as you can. At least one of these fields must be completed.
3. Using the Drop Down Menu select “between” as your data option.
4. Enter the beginning date of the period in question in the first box using mm/dd/yyyy as your format.
5. Enter the ending date in the second box with the same mm/dd/yyyy format.
6. Use the “Enter” key or click on “Submit.”
How do I find transactions for a specific time period?
(Page 2 of 2)
7. Search returns all transactions that match the criteria entered on the previous panel. Page down until you
find the specific transaction you are searching for. The more information entered on the previous panel the
more restrictive the search will be.
How do I see the detail transactions for my department?
(Page 1 of 2)
1. Select Organization Search from the Navigation Menu.
2. Enter Fund for your department.
3. Enter Org Number for your department.
4. Click on “Submit.”
5. Select “D” to view only department information.
How do I see the detail transactions for my department?
(Page 2 of 2)
6. To see all detailed transactions click on the underlined dollar amount.
7. All data can be viewed on one page by clicking on “View in Excel.”
How do I see the detail transactions for a project/grant?
(Page 1 of 3)
1. Click on Projects – Search.
2. Enter Project/Grant Number.
3. If you do not know the Project/Grant Number but do know the Principle Investigator’s (PI) Name, you can
search on the PI’s Name. We recommend you use either the “starts with” or “contains” option from the drop
down box for searching.
4. Use your enter key or click on “Submit.”
5. Click on “Summary.”
How do I see the detail transactions for a project/grant?
(Page 2 of 3)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Agency
Project/Grant Number
Principal Investigator
Start Date of Grant from ESIS
End Date of Grant from ESIS
6. Click on any underlined amount to see detail transactions that make up that amount.
How do I see the detail transactions for a project/grant?
(Page 3 of 3)
7. All data can be viewed on one page by clicking on “View in Excel.”
How do I find all the transactions on my purchasing card?
(Page 1 of 2)
1. Select Journal Search from the Navigation Menu.
2. Enter “PR-(up to the first six letters of cardholders name)” in all caps.
3. Use Enter key or click on “Submit.”
How do I find all the transactions on my purchasing card?
(Page 2 of 2)
4. Listing of all transactions that meet the criteria entered on the previous
panel.
December 2, 2002