FY14 Close Activities Budget, Procurement and Payroll

1. FY14 Close Activities Budget, Procurement and Payroll How to Avoid Common Mistakes and Emergencies Network 533 February 2014

3. Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Emergencies • Budget • Procurement • Payroll

4. Budget Mistakes to Avoid 1. Not budgeting for spring activities or not budgeting enough. Be careful to: • Create vacancies for returns from leave using the right dates • Estimate your Absence Coverage needs through the end of June • Make sure to cover ALL Graduation Costs • Make sure to calculate the true cost of trips including what you will be submitting through TRAC • Make sure to estimate per session costs through the end of June • Make sure you have budgeted the right amount for SLT based on the actual number of members who need to be reimbursed x $300 • Look up the exact cost of items and budget precisely

5. Budget Mistakes to Avoid 2. Not unbundling activities • A trip may involve transportation (400 or 633), per session, admissions (400), supplies (100) • A PD activity may involve a contracted vendor (689), conference registration or workshop (451), per session on teachers and supervisors, software (199) • A computer purchase may involve equipment (100 or 300), software (199), supplies (100), curriculum & staff development (689). This may or may not be bundled by the vendor.

6. Budget Mistakes to Avoid • Budgeting on the wrong line/object code • Match what you need to purchase against the correcting budgeting object code using the Object Code Crosswalk • Check FAMIS Vendor Inquiry for correct object code for that vendor/services • Watch out for these common areas of confusion • Transportation for trips • Use 633 for NON-CONTRACTED coach buses for pupil field trips • Use 400 for CONTRACTED coach buses for pupil field trips • Use 451 for transportation for staff attending PD outside the school • Admissions Fees – Budget on Non-Contractual Services (400); Expense on 461 • Parental involvement – Budget on Non-Contractual Services (400); Expense on 489 • Professional Development Activities: Curriculum & Staff Development 689 or Transportation of Staff 451 • Services to Students provided by a vendor is Educational Consultants 685 • Equipment/Hardware < $5,000 in Title I or other Reimbursable is budgeted as Supplies 100 • Upgrade Phone System is Telecommunications Maintenance 602, not 402

7. Budget Mistakes to Avoid 4. Not removing accruals (unspent/unneeded) funds off lines including:. • Where positive balances remain on lines, review POs to see if prices were lower and whether accruals can be removed (reduce or eliminate budget lines) • For per session and per diem lines, confirm actual expenditures in EIS/PDPS and then calculate how many more hours/days are needed through June. Compare to budget and act accordingly. • See Monitoring Bulk Jobs • Use Per Session Planner

8. Budget Mistakes to Avoid 5. Not budgeting in the right Allocation Category • Some items, like Internal Services, must be budgeted in TL Fair Student Funding • Some grants require pre-approval before modifying the budget (VATEA, SIG) • You must use TL funds for the DPPI (see DPPI link on myGalaxy logon screen.

9. Procurement Mistakes to Avoid 1. Not using the correct Object Code • Double check the Object Code crosswalk and descriptions here: • Object Code Description Detail • Object Code / Galaxy Title Crosswalk • Watch out for these common mistakes: • Use 331 for computers when using a reimbursable allocation (not TL) for items with unit cost < $5,000. This rolls up to Object Code 100 (Supplies) • Use 332 for computers when using a TL allocation, or for reimbursably funded items with unit cost >$5000. This rolls up to Object Code 300 (Equipment)

10. Procurement Mistakes to Avoid 2. Not planning properly for out of town travel and not following SOP guidelines • Submit TRAC requests 1 month before the trip. • Follow GSA guidelines regarding lunch, dinner and snacks. • Meals are allowed only when traveling out of town • Read this! NYC DOE SOP Chapter on Travel

11. Procurement Mistakes to Avoid 3. Not encumbering annual contracts Purchase Orders should be written so that partial payments can be made after certain completion points. Itemize or quantify the deliverables so that partial payments can be made after completion. This ensures that funds are fully encumbered prior to the deadline. Do not encumber new POs for vendors after each deliverable to avoid bill-splitting.

12. Procurement Mistakes to Avoid 4. Inappropriate or undocumented food purchases. • All food purchases must be related to an official Professional Development activity and accompanied by an agenda and sign-in sheet • Invoices and bids are required • No holiday or year-end parties for staff can be charged to the DOE

13. Procurement Mistakes to Avoid 5. General purchasing guidelines are not followed: • Get bids when required (phone or written as per thresdholds chart) • Invoices are required and must be attached to all documentation • Delivery must be certified For more common mistakes and audit findings, go here: or here: Internal Controls Training Doc Nov 2013

14. Payroll • Review all bulk job codes with payroll secretary to ensure the correct codes are being charged • Enter payrolls timely or you will be charged interest • Make sure the activity supervisor and employee working know how many hours they are entitled to work • All timesheets should have Job activity codes on them and must be signed by a supervisor • For pedagogic per session, consult the PDPS Bulk Job Inquiry (Functions 8 and 11) to ensure you know the actual # hours remaining. This screen includes pending expenditures in addition to actual expenditures

15. Payroll Problems to Avoid • Postings must be advertised 20 days prior to commencing the activity. • Avoid emergency waivers. Monitor each person’s hours’ worked against the limit. • Per Session employees cannot work more than 500 hours without a waiver • F Status (retired) employees cannot earn more than $30,000/year • Timeclocks must be used • Time entered must not exceed timecard entries

16. Per Session – Common Audit Findings • Time Clock was not used to punch in/out • Per session hours overlap resulting in an overpayment • Per session time records/payments are not approved by the individuals’ supervisor or maintained on file • Per session time records are not accurate, e.g. time card does not agree with service report • Number of per session hours entered in TBNK was more than the individual’s time card • Teachers were absent (sick) from their regular job assignment and also worked and were paid for a per-session assignment on the same day

17. Per Diem – Common Audit Findings • Per Diem and class coverage payments were made for the same absent teacher on the same day • Paid class coverage payments are made to an absent teacher covered by a per diem • EIS is not updated to reflect the absent teacher and/or non-attendance • Poor recordkeeping, e.g. logs are not maintained for paid class coverages • Payments are made to F-status employees for services not rendered • Teachers were assigned less than the contract minimum number of teaching periods was paid for a class coverage(s) • Postings were not available for compensatory time positions

18. Purchasing – Common Audit Findings • Purchases could not be substantiated by any type of supporting documentation • No proof/confirmation that purchases were actually received • No written justification nor approval of sole-source vendor purchases • Bidding documentation, when required, was not solicited thereby circumventing DOE procurement policies • Vendor invoices were not on file to support payment • Purchases were paid without proper authorization and approval • Payments were split to circumvent bidding procedures

19. Purchasing – Common Audit Findings • Expenditures were not in accordance with the intended use of grant funds • Purchase was not allowed as per DOE policy • Vendors were paid before goods are delivered or services are rendered • No separation of duties • Food/refreshments exceeded allowable limits as per SOP • Meetings held in restaurants; public funds used for celebrations • Personal purchases

20. Purchasing – Common Audit Findings • No indication that vendor’s invoices were paid. • Schools paid sales tax for non-taxable items. • Inappropriate staff incentives. • P-Card Log is not maintained to record all purchases. • Commercial card statements are not reconciled with P-Card usage records. • P-Cards are not secured in a safe location when not being used.

21. For More Information For more information about Standard Operating Procedures, common mistakes and audit findings, go here: Internal Controls Training Doc Nov 2013