TVET PROGRAM TITLE: Accounts and Budget Support Level –III

MODULE TITLE: Administering Financial Accounts

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this module the trainer will be able to

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this module the trainer will be able to

LO1: Allocate customer payments

LO2: Reconcile accounts
LO3: Maintain customer details

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Contents
LO1: Review accounts receivable process.................................................................................................... 3
Accounting Processes & Procedures......................................................................................................... 3
Transaction process control standards ...................................................................................................... 7
LO2: Reconcile accounts ......................................................................................................................... 14
Reconciliation ......................................................................................................................................... 14
What is meant by reconciling an account?.............................................................................................. 16
Reconciliation of Balance Sheet Accounts ............................................................................................. 16
Budget Reconciliation ............................................................................................................................. 18
LO3: Maintain customer details ............................................................................................................... 21
Maintaining Customer Accounts ............................................................................................................ 21
Customer accounts .................................................................................................................................. 22
Sending account invites to customers ..................................................................................................... 22
Managing Customer Accounts ................................................................................................................ 23
Creating a Customer Account....................................................................................................................... 23
Customer Account Settings..................................................................................................................... 23
5 Ways to Maintain Clean and Accurate Customer Information ............................................................ 24
Give Your Customers Payment Options ................................................................................................. 25

2
LO1: Review accounts receivable process
Accounting Processes & Procedures

Accounting is a technical business function responsible for recording, reporting and analyzing
financial information. Small business owners use accounting to determine the profitability of
their company & rsquo;s operations. As small businesses continue to grow and expand,
accounting processes and procedures may be needed to maintain the company’s financial
information. Accounting processes and procedures are usually based on the basic accounting
cycle. The accounting process outlines how financial information flows through a company and
which individuals are responsible the information.

Identify Transactions

Identifying transactions or other financial events is the beginning of the accounting cycle.
Business owners use written documents to track specific information relating to financial
transactions. These documents classify transactions and usually include specific information
regarding economic events. Business owners also use this information to have a historical record
of business transactions. Once each transaction is identified and classified, the information is
recorded in the company & rsquo;s general ledger.

Record Transactions

Recording transactions is the physical process of entering financial data into the company
’s general ledger. Small businesses may use manual or automated accounting ledgers in
their business operations. Manual accounting requires business owners to maintain several paper
ledgers for recording financial transactions. Accounting software provides business owners with
an electronic process for recording transactions and maintaining financial information.
Recording transactions may require business owners to prepare journal entries based on financial
transaction documents.

Prepare Reports and Statements

The final output of the accounting cycle is the preparation of financial reports and statements.
These reports and statements provide business owners with information regarding the efficiency
and profitability of business operations. Business owners often use information to make
decisions on improving operational performance. Business owners can also use this information
to secure external financing for growing and expanding their company.

3
Handling Procedures

Accounting procedures usually dictate which individuals are responsible for financial or
accounting information. Smaller or home-based businesses do not usually require these
procedures. Larger business organizations may employ several individuals to handle financial
information and move it through the accounting cycle. Handling procedures outline who is
responsible for gathering financial data and how the information will be entered into the general
ledger.

Reconciliation Procedures

Reconciliation procedures ensure all financial information is properly recorded in a company &
rsquo;s accounting ledger. Business owners may also require reconciliations when reviewing
internal financial information against vendor invoices, bank statements or other external
documents. Reconciliation procedures ensure all business or financial information is correct and
financial reports include accurate and valid information.

Review Procedures

Review procedures are an important part of the accounting process. Business owners implement
these procedures to ensure financial information prepared by employees is correct. Larger
organizations with accounting departments commonly use a controller or accounting supervisor
to review an employee & rsquo;s work. This review process may discover errors and require
changes prior to releasing financial information to business owners.

Financial Transaction Control Procedures Guide

What is a financial control?

A financial transaction control is a procedure that is intended to detect and/or prevent errors,
misappropriations, or policy non-compliance in a financial transaction process.

 Control procedures help an organization achieve its mission and strategic objectives by
ensuring resources are effectively collected and used, and accurately accounted for.
 A control procedure may be performed by either an individual or as part of an automated
process within a financial system.
 A control procedure is effective only if there is adequate separation of duties between
individuals performing the different control responsibilities in the process.
o For more information about separation of duties, refer to the “Understanding
Separation of Duties Guide.”
 An individual usually receives a formal delegation of authority to perform a transaction
process control procedure and, upon successful completion of the procedure, is expected
to document his or her accountability.
o This is usually done by indicating approval through a signature on a form or an
on-line approval captured in an automated financial system. For more information

4
 about financial accountability, refer to the “Understanding Financial
Accountability Guide."
 Financial transaction process stages
 A specific financial process may be composed of some or all of the following activities,
or stages:

Transaction
Description Examples
Process Stage

Entity set-up Setup of basic vendor, customer, or Customer, vendor, or employee account
review and employee information in a financial set-up, which includes account number
approval * system and verification (review) of assignment, contact, and other information.
the data’s accuracy.

Transaction Review and approval of a Purchase requisition approval; Cruzbuy

review and transaction. This may occur at more requisition approval; cash receipt form
approval. ** than one stage of a financial process. approval; time report approval; transfer of
expense approval.

Transaction Verification of payment being made Goods receipt confirmation; manual

verification or of goods or services being signature on check payments.
received.

Post-transaction Verification of transactions General ledger transaction review;

report review ** appearing in a ledger, subledger, and distribution of payroll expense review;
other report, such as an edit or transaction exception report review.
exception report.

Reconciliation * Balance comparison between ledger Bank account reconciliation; accounts

and an independent data source. receivable reconciliation.

5
Balance analysis Review of ratios, trends, or year-to- Comparison of monthly expenditures with
year comparisons to identify prior years’ amounts; comparison of
potential errors. expenditures to budget.

 * This process stage usually applies only to a central campus office

 ** Typically a key stage of the process.
 Transaction process risks
 At each stage of a financial process, there are one or more risks that could prevent the
process from completing successfully.

Risk Examples

1. Error in accounting Incorrect input of organization, fund, or account code assigned to a

classification transaction; critical accounting coding data omitted

2. Number or arithmetic Input of incorrect amount; arithmetic or numerical transposition

error error

3. Unintentional asset Good sent to wrong place because of the input of an incorrect
misdirection error address; excess financial aid check sent to wrong address because of
incorrect student account data

4. Misappropriation Pocketing cash receipt; unauthorized issuance of parking passes;

purchase of equipment or other goods or services for personal use

5. Fraud Falsifying accounting records or data; entering into unauthorized

agreements in the name of the University

6. Regulatory, Failing to comply with a policy requirement; failing to fulfill the

6
 contractual, or policy terms of a contract
non-compliance

Transaction process control standards

The goal of a well-managed financial transaction process is to ensure that each completed
transaction complies with all of the following seven transaction control standards applicable to
the process:

 Appropriate: The transaction is directly related to achieving the mission of the

University.
 Valid: The transaction is allowed by policy, law, contractual agreement, and/or
professional standards.
 Reasonable: The amount being paid for a product or service, or received in payment for
a product or service is fair.
 Funded: For payment transactions, sufficient funding exists to pay for the transaction.
 Accurately recorded: The transaction amount is consistent with value received,
provided, or adjusted for; and is free from accounting coding or arithmetic error.
 Supportable: The amount being paid or received for a good or service, or the amount of
an adjustment is consistent with supporting documentation, standard, situation, or
practice.
 Timely recorded: The date associated with the transaction is accurate.

Types of financial controls

To manage the risk of a financial transaction processing failure, manual and/or automated control
procedures are implemented at key stages of the process.

Manual Transaction Controls

Control Procedure Type Examples

 Review and approval of expense reimbursement request

1. Transaction initiation review and
approval
 Review and approval of a CruzBuy requisition
 Review and approval of a transfer of expenditure
 Review and acceptance of a sponsored award contract
 Review and approval of a recharge
 Review and approval of Financial Information System,
Payroll Personnel, CruzBuy system user access forms

7
2. Asset receipt verification  Review and approval of a receiving report

3. Post-transaction review  Review and certification of transactions appearing in the

general ledger
 Review and certification of monthly Purchasing Card
transaction reports
 Review and certification of Distribution of Payroll Expense
reports
 Review and certification of Financial Information System or
Data Warehouse transaction edit (suspicious transactions) or
exception (error) reports

4. Balance reconciliation  Monthly reconciliation and certification of summarized

accounts receivable ledger balance to detailed debtor accounts
balances listing
 Monthly or quarterly petty cash account reconciliation and
certification

5. Balance analysis  Review and approval of entertainment expenses for unusual

fluctuations in the balance over the course of a year
 Analysis and certification of material budget to actual expense
differences

Automated Transaction Controls

Control Procedure Type Examples

 Financial Information System password access requirement

1. System access functions

2. Data input  Date or telephone number format checking

3. Data validation  Organization, fund, and/or account code validation

4. Data processing  Automatic summarization and posting of invoice payment data to the

8
 general ledger

Control procedure strength levels

Important information to know:

The strength, or level of reliance, placed on a financial control procedure in managing risks
depends on three key factors:

 Control quality objectives of the control procedure;

 Skills, qualifications, and accountability of the individual assigned to perform the
procedure; and
 Adequacy of separation of duties within the process.

Procedure Control
Typical Attributes
Strength

Staff Skills and Separation of

Procedure Control Quality Objective
Qualifications Duties

Strong Complete, thorough transaction review Strong knowledge and Adequate

analytical skills, and
experience

Moderate Complete, but cursory; or limited Somewhat knowledgeable Adequate

scope, but thorough transaction review and experienced, with
adequate analytical skills

Weak Cursory and/or limited scope Minimal knowledge, Inadequate

transaction review experience and/or
analytical skills

A well-managed organization deploys a mix of strong, moderate, and weak control procedures at
different stages of a financial process in the most cost effective way.

 Strong controls, relied upon heavily to manage risks, tend to cost more to maintain.
 A strong control is typically implemented at the point or points in a financial process
where the maximum number of risks can be managed, which enables using weaker,
usually less costly controls, at other points in the process.

9
Control procedures for the same financial process may differ between departments in recognition
of differing operational needs, financial accountability structures, staff skills and experience
levels, and risk tolerances.

A control procedure is rendered ineffective if it is performed by an individual with conflicting

duties, such as by an individual accountable for both approving purchase requests and certifying
the general ledger transaction review.

Assessing financial process control procedures

Follow this approach to assess the overall effectiveness of control procedures within a financial
process.

1. For each stage of the process, perform the following steps:

 Identify the specific risks that exist at this stage of the process, without regard to
existing control procedures in place. Refer to Transaction Process Risks for more
information about risks.
 Assess the strength of the control procedure currently in place in terms of the
following factors:
o Effective management of the risks identified above.
o Based on the response to the previous item, identify which of the seven
financial transaction control standards the control procedure provides
reasonable assurance of compliance.
o Evaluate the thoroughness of the review.
o Evaluate the knowledge, analytical skill, and qualification levels of the
individual responsible for handling the procedure control.
o Evaluate the adequacy of separation of duties between the individual
responsible for handling this control procedure and those responsible for
handling other control procedures in the financial process. For more
information about separation of duties, refer to the“Understanding
Separation of Duties Guide”.
2. Based on the assessment information gathered above, evaluate the strength of the
procedure control. Refer to Financial Control Assessment for further guidance.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each stage of the process.
4. From a process-wide perspective, evaluate the strength of controls taken together.
 Is a strong control procedure(s) in place at the point(s) in the process where many
or all of the risks have been identified?
 Do the controls provide reasonable assurance that a transaction will consistently
complete the process complying with all applicable transaction control standards?
5. If the strength of procedure controls taken together is insufficient, then reexamine
procedure controls and make the necessary adjustments.
 Strengthen controls at existing points in the process; or
 Implement new controls at critical points in the process.

You may find the Financial Control Assessment useful in evaluating the overall adequacy of
control procedures in a specific financial process.

10
Transaction Control Standards

Each campus financial transaction, which includes purchases, payments, cash receipts, and
ledger adjustments, is expected to meet the following seven control standards:

 Appropriate: Directly related to achieving the mission of the University

 Valid: Allowed by policy, law, contractual agreement, and/or professional standard
 Reasonable: Fair amount is recorded as being paid, received, or adjusted for
 Funded: Sufficient funding exists to cover expenses or the results of an expenditure
adjustment
 Accurately recorded: Amount is consistent with value received, provided, or adjusted
for; and is free from accounting coding or arithmetic errors
 Supportable: Amount and good or service received or provided, or justification for
adjustment is consistent with supporting documentation, standard, situation, or practice
 Timely recorded: Transaction date is accurate

The financial controls put into place at different stages of a financial transaction process are
expected, when considered together, to provide reasonable assurance that each transaction meets
the seven control standards. Each control may focus on verifying that one or more of the
transaction control standards is being met. Well-managed units effectively balance operational
efficiency with the strategic deployment of financial controls. Here are some examples of
commonly deployed controls at different stages of a financial process:

(For proper separation of duties purposes, the individual performing the control activity must be
someone other than the person performing the input or processing of the information.)

Control Stage Description Example

1. Entity set-up Review and approval of the key set- Review and approval of the address,
review and approval up information about the person or phone number, and taxpayer ID number
* entity receiving a payment or a bill for a vendor set up in the Financial
Information System (FIS).

2. Transaction Review and approval to initiate a Review and approval of a purchase,

initiation review and transaction journal entry adjustment, travel advance,
approval or billing request

3. Transaction Review and approval of a Review and approval of a purchase order,

transaction just prior to the expense reimbursement form, journal

11
processing approval execution of the transaction. entry adjustment, or student account
(This may occur more than once in a adjustment
process. For example, a purchase
may involve review and approval of
a purchase order and, later, of an
invoice payment.)

4. Asset receipt Confirmation of receipt of a Issuance of a receipt to a student making

verification payment, good, or service a payment, or the approval of a receiving
document in the Financial Information
System

5. Asset Confirmation of the issuance of Recording in a cash register or receipt

disbursement University asset book of the issuance of a parking permit
verification * or an admission ticket

6. Ledger Review and certification of financial Review and certification of departmental

transaction review transactions appearing in general ledger transaction review
ledger

7. Reconciliation Review and approval of an analysis Review and approval of a bank

review and approval comparing a general ledger balance reconciliation or a reconciliation of a
* to a related balance amount provided receivable balance appearing in the FIS
by a third-party to the aggregate balance maintained in
the Academic Information System.

*Usually applicable only to a central campus office

Not all control stages are applicable to all campus business processes. In addition, divisions or
departments may differ in level of reliance placed on controls at different stages of the process
based on staffing levels and competencies, system controls, and/or operational considerations.
Despite these differences, controls must be deployed in a manner that ensures each financial
transaction complies with the seven transaction control standards.

The following table provides an example of how two different departments may implement
different procurement and payment process control strategies that both enable compliance with
the seven transaction control standards. You will notice that at many control stages, each

12
department places a different level of reliance on the related control procedures. But overall,
each strategy provides reasonable assurance of compliance with the seven transaction control
standards. The strategies assume that adequate separation of duties exists among the individuals
performing the control activities.

13
 LO2: Reconcile accounts
Reconciliation

Definition:

Reconciliation is the process of comparing transactions and activity to supporting

documentation. Further, reconciliation involves resolving any discrepancies that may have been
discovered.

Purpose:

The process of reconciliation ensures the accuracy and validity of financial information. Also, a
proper reconciliation process ensures that unauthorized changes have not occurred to
transactions during processing.

Concepts and Best Practices

Key Concept Best Practice

For each type of activity consider documenting the particular

Accuracy of activity:
A good internal control system provides a
mechanism to verify that transactions and
activity are for the correct purpose and
amount, and allowable.
information from source documents that is to be compared to
the appropriate report. This assists to ensure that transactions
are valid and are correct in purpose. (example: determine that
for travel reimbursement source documents, the traveler name,
destination, purpose of the trip, etc. will be matched to the
monthly financial report)

Ensure that transactions have been properly authorized.

Especially, if the source documents are paper based, review for
potential changes to the document between approval and
processing of transactions.

Ensure that all transactions are allowable.

Error correction: Verify the recording of transactions in a timely manner. Review

source documents to assure they are processed and posted in a
Errors and discrepancies, intentional or timely manner by the processing department. If not, follow up

14
unintentional, should be detected,
investigated and resolved in a timely
fashion.
with the appropriate central office or processing department.
Document a plan for the research and correction of errors or
discrepancies of each type of transaction or activity.
Communicate these processes and procedures with the
appropriate staff.

Establish expectations for timeliness of error correction.

Matching to the source:

The oversight of any transaction is

strengthened by the process of matching See Budget Activity Reconciliation Process Guidelines
source documentation of the transaction to
the appropriate reporting documentation or
reporting tool.

Documenting the process and completion: Be consistent with reconciliation processes. Changing the
reconciliation process often leads to undiscovered inaccuracies
Reconciliation processes are most effective and potential fraud.
when they are consistent and thorough.
Employees involved in the reconciliation Reconciliation should be documented clearly to verify that a
process should be knowledgeable and clear review has been done.
on their responsibilities and expectations.
The reconciliation process and procedures should be
It should be clear to an external reviewer documented clearly and communicated. Consider documenting:
when a reconciliation has been completed.
1. The steps in the process
2. Who performs each step
3. Expectations regarding timeliness
4. A mechanism for providing proof that all activity has been
reviewed and reconciled
5. A procedure for error correction.

15
What is meant by reconciling an account?
Reconciling an account often means proving or documenting that an account balance is correct.
For example, we reconcile the balance in the general ledger account Cash in Checking to the
balance shown on the bank statement. The objective is to report the correct amount in the general
ledger account Cash in Checking. You will often need to adjust the general ledger
account balance for items appearing on the bank statement that were not entered in the general
ledger account.

I recall being asked to reconcile the general ledger account Freight Payable. What I needed to do
was provide documentation that the balance in Freight Payable was proper. I proceeded to look
at the shipments of recent sales and then determined how much we would be obligated to pay for
the freight on those sales. We then adjusted the balance inFreight Payable to my documented
amount. This reconciliation was done to have the correct account balance and to provide the
outside auditors with documentation which could easily be reviewed.

I also reconciled the balance in Utilities Payable by computing the daily cost of each utility that
the company used. The cost per day was then multiplied by the number of days since the last
meter reading date shown on the utility bills already entered in our accounting system. We then
adjusted the Utilities Payable account balance to be equal to the documented amount.

Reconciliation of Balance Sheet Accounts

Reconciliation is the process of comparing information that exists in two systems or locations,
analyzing differences and making corrections so that the information is accurate, complete and
consistent in both locations. Balance sheet accounts must be reconciled on a periodic and timely
basis to verify that all items were correctly posted to the account. All funds within the balance
sheet account must be included in the reconciliation unless previous arrangements have been
made. Without performing reconciliations, inaccurate recording of transactions may occur that
would result in incorrect reporting and could impact resources.
The Office of the Controller will maintain a master list of balance sheet account assignments.
This list will show the unit and person responsible for completing individual account analysis on
a monthly basis, where the supporting files (system and documents) are located and the period
through which accounts have been reviewed. As new accounts are set up, the Office of the
Controller will assign an individual to complete the related periodic analysis.
 Preparing Required Documentation
 Completing the Analysis
 Reviewing the Analysis
 Retaining Documentation

Preparing Required Documentation

Prepare a separate work paper for each balance sheet account to document the reconciliation.
The work paper must contain the following information:

16
a. The balance sheet account number and account name.
b. A statement of purpose for the account.
c. A brief description of the debit/credit activity that normally processes through the
account.
d. The accounting period for which the analysis is being completed.
e. Key as to the presentation in the account (e.g., is credit shown as a positive or negative
number).
f. Activity for the period - presentation will be determined based on the nature of the
account and the volume of activity that is recorded monthly in that account.
g. Substantiation of the account's ending balance through review of underlying supporting
documentation.
h. The name and phone number of individual preparing the reconciliation.
i. The date the reconciliation was completed.
j. A list of contact names and phone numbers/email addresses for questions relating to the
account.
k. Keep account information updated for changes in processing and other information.

Completing the Analysis

Perform the following activities after each month end close:
a. Confirm the opening balance with previous work papers, or that balance was zero if this
is a new account.
b. Review the activity posted to the account to ensure that detail items are:
1. Properly classified to the account,
2. Authorized in accordance with University policies, State and Federal laws and
regulations, and specific sponsor or donor requirements or restrictions, and
3. Within the guidelines of the stated purpose of the account.
c. Ensure that all expected charges, receipts or other activity appears in the account.
d. Take appropriate actions to record necessary adjustments.
e. Take immediate action to resolve errors or discrepancies noted during the reconciliation
process and follow up to ensure that errors are corrected.
f. Maintain copies of supporting documentation for activity processed for the account.
g. Confirm the ending balance per the reconciliation agrees to the general ledger balance.

Reviewing the Analysis

Submit the account analysis at the end of each quarter for review to the Office of the Controller.
The reviewer verifies that:
a. Analysis includes all of the funds within this balance sheet account.
b. Ending balances agrees to the general ledger.
c. Ending balances are substantiated with supporting documents.

17
d. All activity is appropriate and reasonable.
e. Adjustments or corrections, if necessary, have been initiated.
f. The account (fund and reporting category) has been assessed for the need to retain.

Retaining Documentation
Supporting documentation for detail items comprising the balance in the account should be
retained until open items have cleared. Supporting documentation for items relating to period
activity (Accounts Receivable records, Vendor Invoices, Cash Receipts, Journal Entries, etc.) in
the account analysis should be kept in accordance with record retention guidelines.

Budget Reconciliation

This information is intended to provide guidelines for a regular budget reconciliation process. Please
review all of the content provided in the sections below.

What is budget reconciliation, and why do we need to do it?

Definition: Budget reconciliation is the process of reviewing transactions and supporting documentation,
and resolving any discrepancies that are discovered.

The process encompasses two different activities or roles:

 Detailed review of transactions and supporting documentation (department staff)

 High level budget review and analysis by a person accountable for the budget (budget reviewer).

Purpose: Regular reconciliation should be done in your department to provide reasonable assurance that
transactions are authorized, reasonable, allowable, and correct.

Who should reconcile?

All colleges, schools, departments and units should perform regular budget reconciliation for all budget
types.

(Note: For the purposes of these guidelines, we will use “department” as the standard word for any
university organization, whether college, school, department, or unit)

Department staff knowledgeable of University and departmental policies, budget restrictions, and
reconciliation guidelines should be involved in regular reconciliation of department budgets. This often
includes department Administrators and Fiscal Specialists.

Ideally, the reconciliation process involves someone who did not initiate, record, or authorize the
transactions. Your department process should have separation of duties. This means that no one person
has sole control over the lifespan of a transaction.

A budget reviewer reviews budget activity for reasonableness and appropriateness. A reviewer is
someone:

18
  Accountable for the budget
 Conversant with all rules and regulations applicable to the budget
 Who does not pose any separation of duties conflicts

Special Notes on Sponsored Budgets: The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for their grant
budgets, unless the PI has delegated authority to another person who has direct knowledge of the needs of
the project. See Reconciliation Best Practices for additional guidance.

How often should we reconcile?

When possible reconciliation should be completed monthly, within 45 days of month-end close, but no
less frequently than quarterly. For sponsored agreements a final reconciliation should be completed within
45 days of the budget end date. Keep in mind that special situations such as biennium close may take
longer to finish than “regular” months.

What does Budget Reconciliation Cover?

1) Review transactions

 Review all departmental transactions.

 When reviewing transaction amounts, keep in mind that sales tax may not have been charged by
the vendor. The transaction amount posted to UW systems will typically include sales or use tax,
and may therefore differ from the vendor charge amount.
 Look for any suspicious transactions or abrupt changes from an established pattern or trend.

2) Match transactions with supporting documentation

Validate that supporting documentation (electronic or paper), including source documents, matches
expense or revenue transactions on the official university record (e.g. MyFD Transaction Summary or
Reconciliation Report, Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) Reports, BAR).

A transaction may be reconciled without physically matching supporting documentation if:

 The person accountable for the budget has knowledge of the nature of the transaction, is able to
explain what it is for, and the transaction originated from a UW source. The source document
needs to be reproducible and available according to the record retention schedule. Examples may
include: regular salary charges originating in UW payroll system, and internal recharges (e.g
ISDs, CTIs).
 It is less than $75 and your department has other compensating controls in place regarding
expenditures. The strength of your department’s documented internal controls over purchasing
and receiving may affect the depth of your reconciling activity, and departments may choose to
be more restrictive with their threshold of review.

Special Note on Federally-Sponsored Budgets: Federal auditors may ask you to provide supporting
documentation for these transactions. If sufficient documentation is not available, your department may
be responsible for reimbursing for these charges.

19
3) Manage supporting documentation as specified by Records Management:

 State and Endowment budgets

 Grant and Contract budgets

4) Investigate and resolve any discrepancies or concerns

Your departmental reconciliation procedures should document who is responsible for investigating and
resolving discrepancies, taking into account appropriate separation of duties.

For errors involving transactions of $10 or less, see guidance provided in GIM 15 Attachment B: Cost
Transfer Minimum Thresholds (applies to all budget types).

5) High level review and analysis of budget activity by someone accountable for the budget

When Budget Reconciliation Is Considered Complete?

 Transactions have been reviewed and matched as described above,

 Errors have been detected and resolved, and
 Any corrections initiated have been verified as complete.

Final Words and Recommendations

Remember that department records should provide evidence that the budget reconciliation has been
completed and reviewed.

We recommend that departments document their reconciliation policies and procedures, addressing any
areas that are not in accordance with the reconciliation guidelines provided here. Documented
departmental reconciliation policies and procedures should be kept current.

If your department does not maintain its own budget reconciliation policy, auditors may use these
Reconciliation Guidelines and/or department internal controls to assess your reconciliation practices as
part of an audit.

20
LO3: Maintain customer details
Maintaining Customer Accounts
Financial Background
A client's financial situation may change, so it is important for representatives to verify
periodically that the customer's information is still accurate. Clients may not be
forthcoming with such changes, but clues such as changes in purchases and sales may
indicate otherwise.

Objectives
As an investor ages, his or her risk tolerance, investment time horizon and goals change.
All clients will modify their investment objectives to match changes during their lifetime.

Address Changes
A change in address may affect the ability of a registered rep or broker-dealer firm to
serve a client. If a broker-dealer or rep is not registered in the state in which a client now
lives, no business may be transacted until the registration is updated.

Transferring Accounts
When a customer wishes to transfer an account from one broker-dealer to another, the
customer must sign a transfer request with the new member firm, which is mailed to the
carrying firm.

Both member firms must coordinate their activities to expedite the transfer:

 the client's new firm must immediately submit the transfer request to the carrying
firm, and
 the carrying firm must either validate the instructions or take exception within
three (3) business days.
 Any exceptions must be resolved in an expeditious manner by the two firms.

21
  Causes for exceptions to the transfer include incomplete or improperly signed
transfer instructions or having no record of the account. Otherwise, the carrying
firm is obligated to make the transfer as quickly as possible.

Account Statements
Broker-dealers are required to provide customers with a statement at least quarterly,
although if any activity has occurred in the account, the usual practice is to provide a
statement for the month in which the activity has occurred. The account statement
contains the following information:

 Cash balances
 All security positions
 Activity in the account since the last statement

You will often need to explain to your clients when and why they will receive statements.
Some clients dislike receiving statements on a monthly basis because they don't like the
extra paper, so you must explain to them why your firm is obligated to send a statement
when there is activity in the account.

Customer accounts
Customer accounts store password-protected information about a customer's identity, order
history, and current order status. This information is saved between visits, and retrieved when the
customer next logs in. Some details are used to pre-fill address information during checkout.

Sending account invites to customers

If your customer accounts are set to optional or required in your Checkout settings, you can send
customers direct invitations to encourage them to activate an account. They'll receive an email
prompting them to create their own password.
There are two ways to generate customer account activation emails:

 Individually
 In bulk

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Managing Customer Accounts
Managing your store's customers is a vital part of your business, and Volusion makes managing
customer information easy.

Customers registered with your store have their information stored within the Customers table.
From this central point, you can manage customer information, see an overview of customers,
grant affiliate or administrator status, and more.
Creating a Customer Account

Customer accounts can be created in a couple of different ways - from your storefront by visitors
or from the Admin Area by an administrator.

Note that any customer type, whether a customer, affiliate, or administrator, must have a
customer account. The only exception is if you've configured your store to allow anonymous
checkouts. In this case, customers are not required to register for an account before completing a
purchase.

Note that only standard customer accounts can be created from your storefront. Once customer
accounts are created, customers can apply to become affiliates, but the affiliate status of an
account must be approved by a store administrator.

Payment Settings

The Payment Settings section lets customers edit their credit or debit card information, view gift
certificate balances, or apply gift certificates to their account by entering a 13 digit certificate
code.
Customers can also view their order status and obtain special order information such as
downloadable products and product keys.

Customer Account Settings

To view an account's settings within the Customers table or Administrators table, click on the ID
number of the account.
Each customer account has a variety of settings you can configure - depending on the customer
type or how you wish to manage customers. Note that not all fields need to be used, depending
on the account type. To view the full list of customer account settings, please see Customer
Settings.

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5 Ways to Maintain Clean and Accurate Customer Information

Has it ever happened that you make a follow-up call, only to find out that another member of
your team had already contacted the customer? That would be a little embarrassing but where
was the confusion? After cross-checking you clearly noticed that there was no record of a call
being made to the contact, but there sure was a duplicate contact, assigned to another sales rep!

Inaccurate or incomplete CRM data often hamper sales and marketing performance. Many of
your contacts would have changed their phone number, email address or even their company,
leading to an accumulation of redundant and incomplete data in your CRM. So how are you
going to maintain clean CRM data? Help yourself with these 5 tips to not only get your CRM
system under control but also to save time and headache down the road.

#1 Maintain Complete Data

Ask yourself one question: How complete are my records? Believe it or not, incomplete
information is not a good sign for data quality. The CRM account requires you to fill in
numerous fields that are mandatory. It’s time-consuming! And as a sales rep, that becomes a
reason for you to neglect proper data entry. The best way to deal with this is to set important
fields as mandatory: like name, email address, phone numbers, and address. So, determine the
fields that are most important for complete information and encourage users to fill in those
important details.

#2 Avoid Entry of Duplicate Leads & Contacts

Since email address is unique for each individual, one simple trick to prevent duplicate records is
by comparing the email address of the contacts. While adding a lead/contact in Zoho CRM, you
now have an option to check whether the newly added record already exists in your CRM
account. Now this will definitely save the effort of going through the records for duplicates

#3 Existing Duplicate Records? Merge Them

Preventing duplicates work great when adding new contacts manually, collecting leads/contacts
using web forms, importing, etc. But what about eliminating duplicates from your existing data?
By now, you will surely agree with me when I say that duplicate records are not necessarily
identical. Let’s say, two contacts have the same last name, email address or company name but
one record has a phone number or address that is not found in the other. This is sometimes
frustrating as some of the crucial information that you are looking for is scattered in both the
records. In that case, instead of blindly deleting one record and potentially losing important data,
you can merge the information into one contact.

#4 Maintain a Style Sheet

While automation does most of the work, human efforts are essential for data quality. One way
to make data entry easy and maintain consistency, is by introducing naming conventions.

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Sometimes you see the same country name in different formats. For example, USA, US, United
States of America. You can avoid this by creating a list of abbreviations and standard data entry
formats for data items like postal addresses, company names, designations, etc. Having a
standardized format for all the data helps you generate accurate reports and filter records based
on the exact criteria. Pre-defined drop-down values also helps a lot in eliminating a small part of
the problem.

#5 Use Roles for Security

With data pouring in from several sources and multiple users accessing it, maintaining a clean
CRM database is not that easy. One best practice is to restrict access to data in your CRM
account. Define Roles that will help you control the access rights of users while working with
CRM data. That way, users will modify only those records that are relevant to them.

We all realize how important it is to add clean data in the CRM system… and not just that, to
avidly maintain it too! Maintaining data quality is not a one-time event. If not taken care from
the beginning, you may end up having a tedious task ahead.

Give Your Customers Payment Options

When someone is past due, being flexible is the best way to get what you're owed.

It's just good business to offer your customers options for making payments. These options can
include payment plans, using credit or debit card, online payments, checks, cash, money orders,
cashier’s checks, automatic withdrawals or western.

"People tend to resist that which is forced upon them. People tend to support that which they
help to create," says author Vince Pfaff. I am sure you can relate to this quote and so can your
customers. When you call a past due customer and demand payment in full you won't get as far if
you called and offered a couple of different options for payment plans.

If you have never set up payment plans before I have some suggestions for setting up realistic
payment plans for your customers. One thing you must do is to make sure your customer knows
you understand that every situation is different, and that you will take into consideration their
ability to pay, the amount unpaid, their payment history, length of time they have been a
customer, and specific reasons why the account is past due in working out a payment solution
with them.

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Make sure your customers know setting up these payment agreements is not something that can
be done all the time; you're doing it now because there is a problem and you want to resolve that
problem. Often, customers get very comfortable charging more products or services and just
making the monthly payment plan payment. You can avoid this by putting every agreement in
writing with a start date and an end date.

Some companies have rules about payment plans. This could include not entering payment plans
by one customer more than once per year or requiring a 15 percent deposit for all new payment
plans.

With the economy a mess and more consumers unable to pay their bills, the objective of setting
up payment arrangements is to at least get paid something rather than nothing. Most customers
will look at all their bills and then make a decision on which ones will get paid that month based
on what is most important to them. It is your job to make your invoice important to them and
offer them realistic options so they will pay it each month. You want to effectively outline
policies and procedures that will help provide your customers with options when they cannot pay
in full. Something to remember if you don't like the idea of offering payment plans. If someone
owes you money, they probably owe others money and who ever takes action first or offers a
solution, will get paid first.

When setting up your payment agreement:

1. Review your customers history before you call

2. Have two or more options for payment arrangements in mind before the call

3. Repeat everything to the customer

4. Get it in writing and have your customer sign it

5. Follow up and follow up

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