This issue of the Financial Management Office Newsletter includes information about the following:
- FMO Website 2.0
- Bursar News
- Changes in Recording the Vacation Accrual Liability
- Unique Payment Line Information Required When Processing Financial Transactions Using Equipment Object Codes
- Quarterly Interest Rate for Late Vendor Payments
- Case Study: Are Stipends for Unpaid Internships and Clinical Studies Considered Scholarship/Fellowship and are These Taxable to the Student?
- Resources
The FMO Newsletter is distributed monthly. Should you have any questions about this newsletter, contact Amy Kunz via email: amykunz@hawaii.edu.
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FMO Website 2.0
Target Audience: All
FMO updated its website with a new format that is more consistent with other UH departmental websites. The new URL is www.hawaii.edu/fmo. Even though the format has been streamlined, the same information is accessible with easier access to forms and recent FMO newsletters. The different “Services” can be found from multiple locations and contain FAQs, Policies and Guidelines, Forms and Training. Navigation instructions have been created to assist you with finding information on the new website. We plan to disable the old website on October 26, 2022, so please update any bookmarks to the new address location.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please contact FMO at mohta9@hawaii.edu.
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Bursar News
Target Audience: All
FlyWire is a third party contract that is used for international student payments. To make the process of accepting these payments more efficient, FlyWire is now being integrated with Banner (Student AR module). The integration allows for payments to post directly onto the student account once payment has been guaranteed and manual posting will no longer be required. The tentative go-live date is set for October 26th.
International students and their authorized user will receive an email to their designated address with confirmation at the time of payment that a payment is being processed. If a payment is unable to be completed, an email will be automatically generated stating payment has been declined. Once the payment has been guaranteed, the student will receive an email that the payment has been completed.
Each campus will have direct query access to review international student payments in FlyWire. This will allow cashiers to assist students with payment posting questions and review reports on payment status in real time. Cashiers will be trained on this access at a future AR meeting.
The next phase with FlyWire will be to incorporate the availability for international students to access eRefunds. This is currently being tested and further information will be released once that testing is complete and an implementation date is set.
If you have any questions, please contact Denise DeArment at dearment@hawaii.edu.
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Changes in Recording the Vacation Accrual Liability
Target Audience: All
Accounting for Compensated Absences (GASB 16) requires the accrual of the University’s vacation liability for financial statement purposes. In prior years, the liability was recorded at the payroll related account code level in P13. For FY22, the entire vacation accrual liability was recorded on the System-Wide Vacation Assessment account because all vacation payouts are done from this account and continuing to book at the payroll related account code level was duplicating the accrual with the assessment done by System. Going forward, FMO is working with OHR to simplify the process to determine and calculate the vacation accrual liability so the computation of vacation liability attributable at the account code level will no longer be available.
If this change will have a negative impact, please contact General Accounting at uhgalc@hawaii.edu.
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Unique Payment Line Information Required When Processing Financial Transactions Using Equipment Object Codes
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Staff
When creating a Financial Processing document (eg. PO, REQ, GEC, IB, DI, DV, etc.) containing multiple Accounting Lines with the same 1) Payment account and 2) Equipment Object Code (ie. 770x, 772X, etc.), the processor is required to assign a unique Org Ref ID to each of these lines. The unique Org Ref ID assigned to each of the Accounting Lines enables KFS to identify each line as a separate transaction which will be used to create a Capital Asset or modify an existing asset record.
The Org Ref ID field is a free form text field and Fiscal Administrators may determine how best to create the unique Org Ref ID for each transaction line. The following are a couple of naming conventions which have been used in the past.
- “Org Ref ID” (ORI) and transaction (ORI001, ORI002, ORI003, etc.)
- User initials and transaction line number (MK1; MK2, MK2, etc.)
Should you have any questions, please contact the Capital Asset Accounting Office at (808) 956-8735.
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Quarterly Interest Rate for Late Vendor Payments
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Staff
Pursuant to Section 103-10 of the Hawai`i Revised Statutes, the interest rate for obligations related to goods delivered or services performed remaining unpaid after 30 days is equal to the prime rate for each calendar quarter plus two percent. The interest rate is adjusted quarterly using the prime rate as posted in the Wall Street Journal on the first business day of the month preceding the calendar quarter. Please refer here for the 4th quarter interest rate and calculation.
Should there be any questions regarding this change, please call the Disbursing Office at (808) 956-5535.
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Case Study: Are Stipends for Unpaid Internships and Clinical Studies Considered Scholarship/Fellowship and are These Taxable to the Student?
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Staff
Case Info:
Student support, paid in the form of a stipend, is provided through Alu Like to native Hawaiian students to complete CTE (Career & Technical Education) programs and find gainful employment in their fields. These stipends are for unpaid internships and clinical studies but are embedded into courses students take to get their certificates or degrees. Students are unpaid by the internship or clinic but paid using a stipend instead. An example would be a student completing a physical therapy clinical study at a rehab hospital.
Analysis:
The stipends being paid to students for unpaid internships and clinical studies should be considered as a qualified scholarship because unpaid internships and clinical studies were part of the course requirements for the students. This would not be reportable as taxable income to the student.
Should you have any questions on this topic, please contact Kenneth Lum at kenlum@hawaii.edu.