Financial Accounting System Procedure

Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to define the access to and the appropriate use of the University's Financial Accounting System.

The financial software used by the University is Finance One.

Finance One consists of a number of modules including:

• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Budgeting
• General Ledger
• Purchasing
• Assets
• Purchasing Card
• Inventory

A number of subsidiary systems have been developed in house (for example Fees) which are linked to Finance One.

Definitions

ITS

Information Technology Services Division

Content

1. User access

   1. University staff requiring access to Finance One or amendments to existing access must complete the appropriate Finance One User Access Form. This form will determine the type and range of access provided.
      • Finance One User Access form
   2. Users must not allow other staff to use their Finance One access. Any breach of access will be referred to the Office of Risk, Assurance and Compliance for investigation and possible deactivation of corporate system accounts.
   3. Finance One access will be provided for the duration of a user's employment with the University, provided that the user regularly accesses Finance One, and will be deactivated on termination of employment. If a user has not accessed Finance One after 5 months, they will receive a notification allowing them one month in which to log in. Should they still not have logged in after the additional month, their access will be revoked.

2. Finance One installation on University computers

   1. Users requiring Finance One to be installed on a University computer should follow, or ask their IT Support personnel to use, the installation procedures provided by the ITS Desktop Support team.

3. User protocols

   1. Users should always ensure that their computers are locked when left unattended.
   2. Users should log out of Finance One modules they are not using and completely log out of Finance One at the end of each workday.
   3. Users must ensure that supporting attachments to Finance One documents and journals are relevant and appropriate. In the event that a user attaches a supporting attachment to a document or journal in error, or where the user creates a document (e.g. duplication of an Accounts Receivable invoice) or journal in error, the user must request Applications Support to action the relevant deletion (information.systems@otago.ac.nz).
   4. When creating documents and journals within Finance One, users should aim to ensure that these are accepted and posted as soon as possible. When finalisation is not immediately possible, users should always ensure that they save and exit these pending documents and journals appropriately.

4. Chart of Accounts

   1. Finance One users are encouraged to have an in-depth knowledge of the Chart of Accounts, including the structure of various ledgers, the account codes that relate to their department and the range of dissections within Finance One.
      Detailed information on the Chart of Accounts is available at:
      • Chart of Accounts

5. Opening and closing of new accounts

   1. General Ledger Accounts
      1. Applications to open and close General Ledger Accounts (Cost Centres and Cost Centre Activities) are to be made on the relevant form available from the Financial Services Form Store:
         • Financial Services Forms
   2. Project Ledger Accounts
      1. Applications to open and close Research (Cost Centre Funded) Project Accounts (S accounts) should be made on the relevant form available from the Financial Services Form Store. Requests pertaining to Capital Project Accounts (V accounts) should also be emailed to financial.accountant@otago.ac.nz.
      2. Requests pertaining to all other Project Ledger Accounts (E, P, Q, R accounts) will be administered by Finance Advisory, Research Finance team (email research.finance@otago.ac.nz) as per current process.

Related policies, procedures and forms

• Information and Communications Technology Regulations 2014

Contact for further information

For further information, contact:

Financial Accountant
Email financial.accountant@otago.ac.nz