Volume 34
Updates from DENR’s Controller’s Office
December, 2009
SHOW ME THE MONEY - Part 2
Duplicate payments continue to be a hot topic; and, with our
budgets not seeing much improvement yet, we need to make
sure that we are making only necessary purchases – and
paying for them only once!
In our March 2009 newsletter, we alerted you to the fact
that 30% of the sample invoices we reviewed had been paid with a p-card and paid through
A/P as well! “On top of that, those 6 duplicated payments totaled almost $6,800! 20 invoices
is just a small, small number compared to the volume of transactions we use the p-card for
each year. We had 44,953 p-card transactions and spent $8,151,076.69 in FY08.” Updating
those totals for FY09, we had 29,756 p-card transactions and spent $5,843,662.24. Our
transactions and amounts were significantly lower due to budget constraints; however, thirty
percent of almost $6 million dollars is still a lot of money to be short if we assume that the
same payment errors were made last year too.
We need to continue to be particularly careful when checking our reports to insure that we are
not making duplicate payments in A/P as well as with the p-card. “Reviewing the Monthly
Payment reports helps you analyze the payments you’ve made in a particular month, but
scanning the YTD Payment report also helps you scan the entire year at a glance to find
irregularities that may not stand out on a single monthly report. This is also a part of your
Monthly Closing Checklist duties, and you can see how important it is to not overlook this
task.”
We have added a new report in XTND called Duplicate Payments-PCard YTD10 to help find
these errors so that we can get our overpayments back instead of the auditors. (Versions for
FY08 and FY09 have also been added to the GOV directory.) This report is very similar to the
Duplicate Payment report for A/P payments. We have changed the last column to list the Pcard Merchant Name instead of showing PO information. You should be verifying that
payments made to a p-card merchant were not paid directly to the same vendor in A/P for the
same amount. An easy way to check this is to index the report by your Division and then index
it by Merchant name. Ideally, you will not have any merchants listed in the Index value box.
If you do find a double-payment, you should request a refund from the vendor. We hope this
report will help you find any duplicates quickly!
Published by the Systems Accounting Section: Jeannie Betts, Joe Miller, and Renae Furr
If you have questions or comments, please call (919) 733-1704.
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A/P
News
 When entering matching payments, don’t forget that YOU, the A/P operator, must
double-check the vendor group number that comes up with each purchase order.
Purchase & Services no longer has control over the vendor information that comes
from e-Procurement. When POs are uploaded to NCAS, e-Procurement only verifies
that the vendor number is correct and then automatically selects the first group
number in the system. This may – or may not – be the correct remit to address;
therefore, it is your responsibility to make sure that you select the correct group
number to insure that your payment will be sent to the correct address.
 Please remember to have the original invoice signed/dated by the person who
received the goods (or the person responsible for the service that we are paying for)
so that A/P will know that a valid invoice has been received. Also, remember that
invoices received that are over 30 days old must have a late justification statement
attached. It should include a signed statement from the employee explaining why it
is being submitted late and also be signed by the Division Director.
 The Vehicle Mileage Log has been updated, and you should begin using it now.
Please take note of this important reminder from Motor Fleet Management: ‘In
accordance with state regulations from the Dept. of Transportation, please inform all
drivers of our vehicles that the inspections must be current by December 31, 2009. If
they are not current, they could face a $50 penalty per vehicle that will be charged
back to their agency. If anyone is unsure if their inspection is current, they can
contact our Repair Authorization Department at 919-733-4043 or 800-277-8181.’
 DO NOT increase a vendor invoice. If a vendor bills us at a lower amount than
what is on the purchase order, do not mark the invoice up to match the PO price.
 In preparation for the new document scanning program (Documentum) that DENR
will be using through OITS, we have updated the Control Group Header form and
you can begin using it now. We have changed the orientation of the form to conform
with the majority of invoices received and added 2 large boxes in which you should
type your control date and your control number. When the scanning program is fully
implemented, bar coded separator sheets will be created to automate the use of these
boxes to populate the index fields for scanned A/P documents.
 A special CDCS (Cash Disbursement Code Sheet for Energy Invoices) has been
created for paying energy invoices. Please use the CDCS that fits your needs best
when making energy payments.
 The Contract Expenditure Report form has also been updated to ensure that you
submit the GIC number so it can be included when entering applicable invoices.
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FEATURED REPORT OF THE MONTH
ARE YOU USING THIS REPORT ??
Name:
Location:
Updated:
Purpose:
Indexes:
Duplicate Payments-Pcard YTD10
X/TND (NER-GMI folder)
Daily
Lists all invoices for the exact
same amount to the same vendor
paid this fiscal year
Division
Fund
RCC
Merchant Name
Vendor Number
Vendor report for A/P payments. We
*** This report is very similar to the Duplicate Payment
have changed the last column to list the P-card Merchant Name instead of showing PO
information. You should review this report to see if you have made an A/P payment to
the same Merchant you made a p-card charge. If the amounts are the same, you should
pull both receipts and verify that you did not make a duplicate payment. Please be sure
to request a refund for any duplicated payments.
FIXED
ASSET
 Several divisions have had funds closed and moved to new center numbers due to
the FY09-10 budget that was passed. Please remember to transfer any fixed
assets associated with the old center to the new one so that our account balances
will be correct.
 Fiscal inventory is just 2 months away, so start cleaning up your ‘Missing’ list
and review any assets that need a change of location.
 Two Fixed Asset training classes will be offered in January. Each class is broken
into 2 sections – a 2-hour Basic class followed by a 2-hour Intermediate class.
You can sign up for one or both of these sessions for the same day. Please check
the calendar on the DENR portal for dates and times. If you are interested in
attending, please e-mail David Pauley at david.pauley@ncdenr.gov.
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Here are the account numbers that correspond to the line items on the computer bill:
Batch CPU Time
Batch Test CPU Time
TSO CPU Time
TSO Test CPU Time
CICS CPU Time
IMS Production CPU Time
DASD Public Tier 1 Production
DASD Public Tier 1 Test
DASD Public Tier 1 ML1 Production
Client Server DASD Storage
Tape Storage
Virtual Tape Storage
Open System Tape Storage
ML2 Tape Storage Production
Local Impact Print
Local Laser Print
Email Service*
Email Additional Storage*
Netscape Calendar Server Service *
Exchange Email Service
Mailman Distribution List
Blackberry Enterprise Service
CS Database Specialist**
Application Maintenance & Support **
ITRM/Incident & Problem Functions
EDM (Electronic Document Mgmt) Tier 1 Svc Level
Internet Homepage \ FTP
Shared Web Hosting Service
Virtual Server – Small
Virtual Server – Medium
Common Payment Service – Credit
MaPs x 86 Server – Hardware
MaPs x 86 Server – Hosting
MaPs Unix Z-Linux Reverse
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532821
532850
532850
532815
532815
532815
532815
532815
532815
53214x
53214x
532821
532850001
532535
532535
532535
532535
535960
532822
532822
532822
*These charges are for the old NCMail/Calendar service. All accounts have been migrated to Exchange; therefore, you
should not have any charges for these services. If you do, please contact Renae to coordinate your credit(s).
**The last digit will depend on the type of service the specialist is providing.
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Tips for Cost
Center Changes
There are times when a Division must change an employee’s BEACON cost center, such as for
a new federal grant year when the Division receives a new NCAS center OR a center number
change due to legislative mandate when passing a new budget, etc. When this happens, it is
imperative that all time be entered and approved in order for BEACON to move the correct
payroll expenditure amounts to the new funding source.
Regardless of the effective date of a center change, expenditures will only post to the current
month. For example, you submit a request to change an employee’s cost center from A to B on
December 5, 2009 that was effective July 1, 2009. If the employee earns $4,000/month (which
is $1,000/week), took 1 week of vacation in October, and all time has been entered and
approved by the time payroll finalization is processed, BEACON will move the $24,000
payroll expenses from center A to center B in December per the following chart:
July
August
September
October
November
December
December
Center A
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
$4,000
($24,000)
Center B
$24,000
This example is what would happen in a perfect world; however, we all know that things don’t
work out ‘perfectly’ most of the time. The most frequent problem that is occurring when
changing GL centers is that the total payroll charges are not being moved to the new center
number. The problems/discrepancies occur when a previous month’s time is approved in the
following month. This is because one critical step is being overlooked - the approval of the
employee’s time. For accounting changes to post correctly, time needs to be approved.
If we use the same example above and change one factor – the week of vacation in October is
not approved until January 2010, the following accounting entries will be created in December
instead:
Center A
Center B
July
$4,000
August
$4,000
September
$4,000
October
$4,000*
November
$4,000
December
$4,000
December
($23,000)
$23,000
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Remember that employees are paid their full salary each month, and BEACON ‘settles up’ the
appropriate vacation/sick leave balances when that time has been APPROVED. For the
example above, this means that the week of vacation was not included in the total expenditures
moved since it was not approved until January - thus leaving a $1,000 balance in the old
center.
If GL cost center changes need to be made, time needs to be approved before the payroll
finalization runs in order to have the most accurate amount(s) post in the correct month. This
date fluctuates throughout the year, but BEACON posts a monthly calendar with important
dates so payroll/HR managers know when finalization will occur. Since the payroll
finalization must be run before employees are paid on the last day of the month, there will be
about 5-7 days at the end of the month that could potentially have vacation/sick leave taken,
but not yet approved, since the time for those days obviously could not be entered ‘before’ the
payroll finalization.
The goal is to have time approvals current by the date payroll finalization runs and then to have
the remaining month’s time approved by the dates listed in the Quick Notes sent out by
Payroll to HR managers. Weekly time approval is still the best practice, but if this isn’t
feasible, completing approvals by these two benchmark dates (payroll finalization and the final
month-end approval) should reduce the number of errors/miscalculations when changing cost
centers. Remember that timing will be especially critical when cost center changes fall in June
(at the end of the fiscal year) or September (at the end of a grant year), so pay very close
attention to time records when you know you will have any type of cost center change coming
up.
For your reference, here is a list of payroll finalization dates for January – June 2010:
January, 2010 will be January 26th
February, 2010 will be February 23rd
March, 2010 will be March 26th
April, 2010 will be April 27th
May, 2010 will be May 25th
June, 2010 will be June 25th
One last reminder - when all payroll records have been corrected in BEACON following
proper procedures, and balances still remain in an incorrect center; then you may move the
outstanding amounts using a journal voucher. When jvs are required to correct payroll, please
send some type of BEACON documentation for backup, such as a copy of a cost report - do
not send just a copy of a BD701. This does not give Payroll enough information as to why a jv
is needed, such as the employee name(s) or why the BEACON action(s) did not correct the
payroll record(s).
Have a very Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year
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