Policy and Procedure Updates as of July 1, 2020

The following documents have been updated, reviewed, and are now published as in-force on the Policies and Procedures website.

Financial Review Checklist and Related Procedure

Related Documents:    

• Form 1101 FR.01 Financial Review Checklist – Revised  
• Procedure 1101 PR.02 Financial Transaction Review and Budget Monitoring – Revised

These revisions come from the Controller’s Office. They were made for a number of reasons, including to create a revised Financial Review Checklist (FRC) that contains the minimum required financial review activities for each respective time interval (i.e., monthly, quarterly). The procedure revision, meanwhile, is part of a larger project. The Policy team is currently working through a complete review and update of Policy 1101 and its related procedures. As the FRC is very closely tied to Procedure 1101 PR.02, the Controller’s Office opted to publish their revisions simultaneously.

The FRC received substantive and cosmetic updates to clarify expectations and requirements. It now contains the minimum required financial review activities for each respective time interval. The focus of the FRC is to support the financial statement close process. To emphasize this, the team added new features and enhancements to the form, including identifying pre- and post-financial close activities, areas of focus for each step, and key resources to assist with meeting expectations defined, such as procedure references and Workday reports.

The procedure was comprehensively reviewed and revised for clarity and conciseness. Pieces that are covered in other documentation (e.g., Policy 1101) were removed as repetitive. The primary purpose of the procedure, to perform regular financial review activities, remains unchanged. The single most significant change in the procedure is the added requirement that lead administrators certify the completion of the FRC on a quarterly basis. This new task, initiated in Salesforce, will help ensure that all required financial review activities are being completed regularly. The Financial Compliance team monitors this requirement. The overall design of this procedure is to explain the requirement for financial review activities and the processes surrounding completion of the FRC.

Related Workday Dashboard Update:

Currently, a Workday dashboard titled “Financial Review Checklist” contains a list of reports linked to the old FRC. As this dashboard does not support the updated FRC, it is being decommissioned. A separate Workday dashboard, the “Monthly Financial Review Checklist” dashboard, does still support the revised FRC. This dashboard was released in Fall 2019 and will continue to exist and be enhanced based on continuous improvement reporting efforts. To better align with the revised FRC, this dashboard will be renamed the “Financial Review Checklist.” Reporting guides will also be updated to reflect this name change.

Reminder:

Always check the Policies and Procedures website for the latest revisions of all documents. This will ensure you that are utilizing the most up-to-date version. If you have any questions, please contact Policy and Compliance Services at controllers.office@yale.edu.