Budget Activity Reconciliation Process Guidelines

Overview:

These guidelines describe the purpose and general approaches for reconciling budget activity at the University of Washington. This information is intended to provide guidelines and resources for use by departments in developing reconciliation procedures.

Purpose:

The purpose of regular reconciliation of budget activity is to ensure:

• All charges are for the correct purpose and amount, and allowable;
• Errors are detected, investigated and resolved;
• All required documentation is maintained.

General Process:

Electronic media or paper documents may be used for reconciliation. Whatever method is used, ensure the purpose of budget reconciliation is achieved, the procedure remains consistent and timely, discrepancies are identified and resolved, and that the appropriate segregation of duties are addressed (i.e. the person reconciling a transaction must be different than the person who submitted a transaction).

There are some best practices that may be used as guidelines. In general, on a monthly basis, departments should:

1. Review all appropriate source documentation in the month that transactions occur for each budget number.
2. Review a fiscal report of budget activity. Some examples:
   • MyFinancial.desktop Transaction Summary Report or
   • UW Budget Activity Report (BAR) or
   • Departmental document of expenditures generated from the central Financial Accounting System
3. Match source documents to corresponding fiscal report transactions and verify that they are allowable, that quantities and amounts are correct, and that all expected transactions are recorded.
4. Investigate and resolve any discrepancies.
5. Provide written evidence that transactions have been reviewed and retain all records in accordance with UW retention schedules.

Learn More About:

• Best Practices
• UW Retention Schedule