Shining the spotlight on Capital Asset Accounting

The Capital Asset Accounting department is responsible for capital projects, the university’s Moveable Equipment Inventory (MEI), accounting for debt instruments, and various compliance and reporting activities. Associate Director Steve Munzner manages the team. Steve has been in this role for almost 13 years and with the university’s Central Finance for 23 years in Investment Accounting, Payroll, and FP&A. 

Other team members include:

• Mark D’Agostino (Asset Accountant and System Analyst) – Tenure: one+ years in position and 15 years at Yale. Responsibilities: all asset systems and MEI. 
• Angelo Lombardo (Sr. Asset Accountant) – Tenure: 10 months at Yale and six years in public accounting. Responsibilities: capital project and lease accounting, lead sheets, and disclosures. 
• Mike Buccieri (MEI Manager) – Tenure: seven+ years at Yale. Responsibilities: MEI accounting, compliance, and quality assurance. 
• Tom Kaufmann (Accountant) – Tenure: 35 years this month! Responsibilities: Debt and financing lease accounting, lead sheets, liaison to Investment Office for debt servicing. 
• Shana Graham (Accountant) – Tenure: five years at Yale and 20 years as an analyst and accountant in various industries. Responsibilities: Capital project setup, placing assets in service, quality assurance. 
• Ryan Celentano (Inventory Specialist) – Tenure: joined Yale this October and graduated from University of Connecticut. Responsibilities: MEI tagging and inventory management. 

The Capital Team focuses on providing high-quality customer service to the university community on all aspects of MEI accounting and compliance, capital project accounting and reporting, and asset systems (includes processing depreciation in Workday, running/posting I&A to departments, troubleshooting system issues, and monitoring integrations with Facilities and RFID systems). Along with quarterly and yearend capital reporting for the University Financial Statements, the team prepares all wire transfers for the external interest expense payments on the university debt (monthly/semi-annual). Additionally, it ensures proper funding of capital projects based on approvals from the various Facilities’ approval bodies. The team is engaged in many internal- and external-facing compliance activities supporting audits and industry surveys. Recently, it has also taken responsibility for the university’s lease accounting. 

Some proud accomplishments of the Capital Asset Accounting team this past year include: 

• Developing and deploying new processes for tagging MEI assets with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology and enhancements to the integration between Radiant (the RFID sub-system) and Workday. 
• Collaborated with OGC, Office of New Haven Affairs, FP&A, and Financial Reporting to evaluate a set of lease amendments and other agreements associated with the exercise of a purchase option for a building with active operating and financing leases. Navigated accounting standards to ensure appropriate lease remeasurement, accounting, and disclosure in FY23 and, in FY24, cancellations of all leases and capitalization of the purchased asset. 
• Supported the project team on the F&A (Facilities and Administration) cost rate proposal by providing multiple years’ external expense analysis related to debt-funded capital projects.

In the coming year, the Capital Asset Accounting team will participate in the exciting effort to learn more about and evaluate how Workday features like Worksheets might improve asset-area reporting for distributed and central users. They will also explore additional functionality related to Project Asset Capitalization and collaborate with Sarah Gilbert to streamline and automate the External Expense analysis for F&A rate data. The facilities unit is implementing a new project management system for capital projects, and the team will be key stakeholders in this project as it impacts capital project accounting, funding, and financial management.  As the capital spending plan increases in the coming fiscal years, the Asset team will continue collaborating with the Investment Office and central Finance colleagues to support and inform decisions around debt issuances, contribute to capital funding plans, and provide overall support for the university’s capital portfolio.