General Ledger, Journals and Financial Accounting matters

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Topics to be covered: 1.Journals 2.Year end 3.Research acquittals 4.Gift guidelines 5.Chart of Accounts 6.Questions

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation What are journals? A journal [document] is used to record accounting transactions in the general ledger. Journal types:

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Journal Templates Journal templates are used to authorise and process journal entries that need to be posted into SAP. There are three types of journal templates: 1. General Journal (all postings within one RMIT entity) 2. General Journal – Intercompany 3. General Journal – Fixed Assets The templates can be found on the Financial Services website under: Staff > Service groups > Financial Services > Finance forms (under Quick Links)

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Journal Life Cycle School/College prepares Journal template Sender initiates the journal and sends template to their Manager for approval, the Receiver Receiver s the journal template to (cc: the Sender) Is the subject convention in the to ‘Journals’ correct? YES Financial Reporting team will process the journal within 24 hours of receipt NO The journal will be automatically declined and a reply issued requesting the journal be resent

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Overview – journal templates General Journal – Single entity Financial impact is within one entity. Complete the fields in the ‘Posting sheet’ and the total debit/credit amounts on the GJ cover sheet will update automatically. Take note of the structure of the template and order of information that is required (ie. Account, Internal order etc). General Journal – Intercompany Used when the financial impact is across two different entities (e.g. RMIT recovering costs incurred on behalf of RMIT Union). Must specify the company code for each line item. Ensure correct internal orders are used for the company code you are posting to. When using this template, SAP is configured to post the balance sheet impact to the related party accounts. Manual postings to an intercompany account (eg. RMIT-RMIT Training account does not constitute an intercompany posting). General Journal – Fixed Assets Posting keys are different – Debit asset = 70, Credit asset = 75. Transaction type is 100 for line item postings to an asset. For line item posting to an asset number, need to complete the Asset value date field (this is the date of the journal posting).

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Things to note / Common issues with journals Ensure that a narrative/text description is provided for each line item in a journal to assist with the review of general ledger postings. Supporting documents must be provided for audit purposes for all accruals/deferrals/prepayments at year end. For each month end it is expected that each School/College has supporting information for their journals. Per the TR policy memo issued in August: i. Generally the line item threshold for TR journals is $1,000. ii. Exceptions – external research grants, closing of internal orders, accounts where external acquittal is required, specific awards such as VC performance awards etc. Please provide a brief justification in the covering . iii. Summate the cost element and IO impacts into one template where the transactions are related to the same cost element and internal order. iv. For correcting journals, review the cause of the issue and attempt to fix this at the source. Accrual journals should only be processed for amounts greater than $5K or at least 20% of projected revenues/costs for a single project. Need to consider the University wide materiality of accruals.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Things to note / Common issues with journals Issues with loading journals into SAP: - SAP only displays the first error in the journal (ie. errors are only identified and actioned one by one). As such, please review the information entered in the templates before submitting. - Cells formatted with formulae, $ signs, commas, more than two decimal places cannot be loaded by SAP. Do not unprotect the journal template. - For the majority of journals there are no GST consequences - use P9 or S9 tax codes and leave the Tax amount field blank. Refer to the following summary: - Note that the number of characters for Journal text description is limited to 50 characters (including spaces).

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Year end considerations / issues Accrual accounting i. Australian Accounting Standards reference – “Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements” Paragraph 22 – Accrual accounting – financial statements are to be prepared on an accruals basis. - effects of transactions and other events are recognised when they occur. - users of financial statements are informed of future obligations and resources to be received in the future as result of past transactions. Paragraph 83 – recognition criteria (a)it is probable that any future economic benefit associated with the item will flow to or from the entity; and (b)the item has a cost or value that can be measured with reliability.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Year end considerations / issues… Accrual accounting… ii. Supporting documents – accrued expenses -Invoice that has not been processed by Accounts Payable. -Estimate based on prior expenditure. At year end, due to the timetable for cut off of processing of invoices and journals, please ensure that any invoices which have been accrued are clearly marked “Accrued” when sent to Accounts Payable. iii. Supporting documents – prepayments -Scanned copy of invoice or SAP document number in which prepaid expense is paid. -Note: an expense is not prepaid if the invoice has been processed by Accounts Payable but it has not been paid before year end. The year end prepayments balance will be reviewed by the Financial Reporting team and any necessary adjustment made. All accruals/prepayments are processed based on the GST exclusive amount.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Research acquittal guidelines Supporting documents required i.Bank statement extract – to support the receipt of the grant ii.Invoices – to support expense payments iii.Supporting calculations – salary allocations or in kind amounts Note: expenses must be settled, therefore any amounts accrued must be supported by an invoice. Preparation and sign off Depending on the grant contract, the following sign off is required: i.Deputy Director, Financial Operations ii.Internal Audit and Risk Management team iii.External auditor – Moore Stephens Note: ensure adequate notice is provided to allow for review, particularly when an external audit is required. External audit costs are allocated to the relevant School.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Gift guidelines Key messages from July 2010 Financial Services newsletter: -RMIT has a ‘Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status with the ATO and to retain this it is important that gifts are defined correctly. -Definition of a gift under income tax legislation: i. transfer of the beneficial interest in money or property; ii. transfer is made voluntarily; iii. transfer arises by way of benefaction; iv. no material benefit of advantage is received by the donor. -As there is no consideration, there is no GST. Correct tax code in SAP is S0. -Where funds are received for the reimbursement of costs incurred, this does not represent revenue. These should be invoiced against Miscellaneous Income (GL ) and then the credit transferred to the relevant expense account.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Chart of Accounts This guide can be found on the intranet at: rt%20of%20Account%20Guide&STYPE=ENTIRE This guide includes information about conventions for SAP master data, tips for SAP Management reporting, Research income information and descriptions of cost elements and balance sheet accounts and when these should be used. The guide will be reviewed annually and feedback from all users will be sort by the Financial Reporting and Budget & Financial Performance Management teams.

GL, Journals & Financial Accounting presentation Thanks for your attention. Any questions?