(Approved by the Executive Vice President by authority of Administrative Order No. 9)
The University of Washington has issued a formal policy on sales of goods and services to individuals, groups, or external agencies (see Administrative Policy Statement 59.5). This policy has been developed to define the legitimate purposes under which sales of goods and services for fees may be approved, and to establish a mechanism to review such sales. Delegation of authority to establish prices for goods and services and University fees will be in accordance with Executive Order No. 44, "User Fee Approval Policy." The purpose of this operating guide is to provide administrative offices with a campuswide standard for consistent accounting and reporting of revenues.
For purposes of this guide, revenues have been identified in five major categories.
A. | Sales of Goods and Services Academic and administrative offices may engage in the direct sale of goods and services to individuals, groups, or external agencies for fees, only when those services or goods are directly and substantially related to the educational mission of the University. All such sales must first be approved as provided in the University's "Policy on Sales of Goods and Services" (Administrative Policy Statement 59.5) before sales may commence. Once approved, income from direct educational activities is deposited to self-sustaining budgets established through the Budget Office in Fund 148. Included in this category is income from:
Auxiliary enterprise activities include parking, ASUW, housing and food service, coffee houses, basic membership fees, sports, and miscellaneous enterprise activities such as the ongoing sale of books, foreign study, and technical or laboratory services primarily funded by cash income rather than CTIs. Revenue in all self-sustaining funds is considered designated revenue and although Fund 148 must be allotted by the state, these funds are available for expenditure without recourse to the state for prior approval, and the fund balance will be carried into the next biennium. |
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B. | Grant Related Income When revenue is generated as a condition of the grant or contract terms, it is accounted for in a program income budget established through the Office of Grant and Contract Services in Fund 145. Agency policies generally have some restrictions on the use of these monies. Separate accountability is required and there is usually a provision that the income be used only for purposes that further the objectives of the sponsored project. Program income budgets are assigned a grant period which coincides with the period specified in the related sponsored agreement, and the disposition of any balance is made at the termination of the grant/contract project period. |
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C. | Fund Raising/Official Functions
From time to time, University units sponsor continuing education, dinners, dances, operas, wine and cheese-tasting parties, and other fund raising events where the cost to the participant includes a charitable contribution. In addition, annual dinners honoring distinguished faculty, staff, and students often have fees to cover costs only, and these fees are deposited as revenue to gift and discretionary fund budgets designated by the sponsoring department to offset the University's payments to the restaurant. All activity is coordinated with the Director of the Gift Processing Office, regardless of whether a charitable contribution is included in the payment, and all deposits are processed through the Gift Processing Office. Income in this category is considered a gift subject to the gift assessment fee. Singular events that have fees to cover costs only are accounted for in departmental revenue budgets. |
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D. | Reverse Expenditure A reverse expenditure is a true expenditure reduction such as 1) refunds from vendors of previous payments which result in the cancellation of an expense (e.g. duplicate payment, returned goods, cancellation of an unused airline ticket), and 2) proceeds from disposition of equipment or scrap material that result in full or partial recovery of expenses. It is inappropriate for faculty and staff members to charge personal expenses to University budgets. Occasionally this occurs on a nominal basis for photocopy, telephone, postage, and employee moving costs. Reimbursement is then recorded as a reverse expenditure to facilitate recovery of these specific costs. Reimbursement of faculty travel costs by an external agency is also recorded as a cost recovery provided that the travel is related to the educational or research mission of the University. It is not permissible to allocate travel costs to a University budget when the total cost is to be reimbursed personally by the traveler, but personal reimbursement for a portion of a related travel expense properly allocable to University budgets is allowable. All checks for authorized travel reimbursement should be made payable to the University of Washington. |
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E. | Agency Funds An agency account is a budget established for the purpose of recording revenues and expenditures of non-University users of campus services. Agency budgets account for resources held by the University as custodian or fiscal agent for faculty, staff members, and University-related or qualified organizations. Agency budgets are also established for:
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A. | Sales of Goods and Services The following general guidelines are applicable. |
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1) | MinimumAlthough no minimum
amount has been established, departments are
encouraged to consider the cost of billing
and check handling when determining if sales
are cost justified. |
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2) | TaxesWashington
State sales tax must be collected on outside sales
(within the state of Washington) when applicable
and remitted to the State Department of Revenue.
The Cash Transmittal form provides a designated
line to deposit sales tax collections to General
Ledger 004802 for automatic remittance to the
state by the General Accounting Office. Further
guidance for application of state sales tax is
available in Administrative
Policy Statement 31.6. In addition, certain
activities or events may be subject to other taxes.
Questions regarding the applicability of state
and local taxes should be directed to the General
Accounting Office. |
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3) | ConferencesThe
UW Extension Office is available to handle all
phases of the promotion and administrative detail
associated with short courses, conferences, and
workshops of an educational nature. If the sponsoring
department is authorized to conduct the conference,
the revenues are designated income from sales
and services of educational activities and accounted
for in departmental revenue-related budgets or
departmental conference budgets in Fund 148.
Occasionally, a scheduled conference or workshop
may be exceptionally successful, with unanticipated
attendance levels, resulting in revenues in excess
of expenditures. This balance is used to reduce
the cost of future programs. |
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4) | Consulting
IncomeIt is recognized by the University
that consulting activity is a proper and common
feature of academic employment, a valuable adjunct
to teaching, and an important service which academic
specialists can render to the public at large.
Faculty should be alert to the possibility that
income earned from consulting may come under the
provisions of the state of Washington's Business
and Occupation Tax. The University has authorized
certain departmental consulting services with
external sponsors and has established departmental
consulting budgets for this purpose. In addition,
payment is occasionally received directly from
outside agencies for faculty consultation and
is deposited to departmental revenue-related budgets.
Faculty wishing to contribute personal consulting
funds as gifts should follow gift processing guidelines
taking special note
that their donation must be used for the general
benefit of the University and only for the direct
benefit of the departmental program or objective
for which the donation was received. Any separate
benefit which might accrue to the faculty donor
from the use of such funds must be clearly incidental
to the primary purpose for which the donations
were received and accepted. |
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5) | CostingThe price or
fee of the goods or services is established
to recover the full cost of the goods or services,
including University overhead unless specifically
waived by the University Budget Committee.
The Budget Office uses the University overhead
policy to determine the overhead rate on a
budget-by-budget basis. That overhead rate
is applied to all revenue in the applicable
budget. |
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6) | Student
FeesDepartments are not authorized
to collect fees from students, senior fellows,
residents, interns, etc., which are not on the
University's approved fee schedule. Sales of supplies
and services to students are allowed subject to
the conditions of the "Policy on Sales of Goods
and Services" (Administrative
Policy Statement 59.5). Delegation of
authority to establish fees is explained in Executive Order No. 44. |
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B. | Grant Related Income A summary of program income procedures has been developed by the Office of Grant and Contract Services. All recharge activity related to a grant or contract must be approved in advance by the dean and by the sponsoring agency. The following general guidelines are applicable: |
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1) | DepositsProgram
income budgets have authority to deposit directly
to the Cashier's Office. The Grant and Contract
Accounting Office provides a listing of approved
budgets to the Cashier's Office as authority for
them to process departmental deposits to grant
budgets. |
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2) | Indirect
CostThe Grant and Contract Accounting
Office transfers indirect cost income earned on
external sales to the central indirect cost revenue
budget on a quarterly basis. |
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C. | Fund Raising/Official Functions The Gift Processing Office has developed a procedure to ensure proper stewardship of income from fund raising and other official functions as defined in Section 2.C. Sales of tickets by departmental units to athletic and cultural events are considered a development activity and are subject to fundraising procedures. Questions regarding the procedures should be directed to college/school development officers or the Gift Processing Office. |
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D. | Reverse Expenditure All requests to deposit checks as authorized reverse expenditure in accordance with Section 2.D must reference the original disbursement document. All travel refunds are sent to the Accounts Payable Office and salary refunds are sent to the Payroll Office. All other payments are sent to the appropriate accounting office. The following costs are the only approved categories which can have occasional reverse expenditures. |
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1) | PostageOccasional
reimbursement of mailing costs associated with
proposal submission (express mail) or use of campus
mailing services are allowable. |
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2) | PrintingOccasional
reimbursement of print/photocopy services provided
as a convenience to faculty and staff is allowable.
If this service is a common departmental practice,
payments must be deposited in an approved departmental
revenue-related budget. |
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3) | TelephoneEach
department is responsible for obtaining payment
for unauthorized long distance telephone calls. |
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4) | Moving
ExpensesNew employees must pay
costs in excess of allowable moving expenses.
The accounting department will bill the new employee
for any excess over allowable costs and, when
payment is received, credit the payment as a reverse
expenditure to the budget that incurred the total
moving charge. |
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5) | EquipmentProceeds
from equipment dispositions that result in full
or partial recovery of expense are deposited as
a reverse expenditure. All sales or departmental
transfers must comply with disposal rules outlined
in Administrative Policy
Statement 61.7. |
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6) | Faculty
TravelReimbursement of faculty
travel costs by an external sponsor is recorded
as a cost recovery to the budget providing interim
funding. Reimbursement is usually full or partial
recovery, and may not exceed the initial travel
cost by more than $50.00. Travel advances must
be accounted for within the ten-day deadline.
The accounting due date will not be extended pending
reimbursement from an outside sponsor. It is not
permissible to allocate travel costs to a University
budget when the total cost is to be reimbursed
personally by the traveler, but personal reimbursement
for a portion of a related travel expense properly
allocable to University budgets is allowable. |
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E. | Agency Funds The General Accounting Office has developed guidelines for agency budgets. |
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F. | General Guidelines |
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1) | Billing
and CollectionInvoices for billing
to outside parties are obtained from the Cashier's
Office, which is also responsible for the collection
and follow-up of outstanding receivables. Approved
activities must utilize University procedures
for preparing invoices and sending receivables
information to the Cashier's Office. |
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2) | Cash
Transmittal PreparationAll receipts
from approved sales of goods and services must
be deposited into the University bank account
using a Cash Transmittal form. The deposit should
be made through the Cashier's Office (a unit of
Student Accounts and Scholarships) unless the
department has approval from the Controller to
be a direct depositor. |
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3) | Expenditure
AllocationAll expenditures associated
with approved activities must be directly allocated
to the budget established or approved for the
receipt of income. It is recognized that the budget
will reflect a deficit balance until income is
received and deposited. |
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4) | ReviewCentral administrative offices will review revenue deposits to ensure that income is for approved activities. All income budgets are subject to periodic review by the Internal Auditor and State Auditor. Discrepancies will be reported to the appropriate vice president/dean. |
July 1988; RC, July 29, 2015.