UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Conceptual Framework for Business and Financial Processes
Overriding Principles
- The university operates in a decentralized environment in terms of decision making and a centralized environment in terms of establishing accounting standards, policies, procedures and financial systems
- All university departments (includes faculties, academic and academic support departments, schools, centres and institutes) are responsible for compliance with financial policies, procedures and sponsor guidelines to ensure accountability and protect the university’s reputation
- Finance is accountable for the General Ledger
- The General Ledger stores high level information to meet external and internal reporting requirements
- detailed transactions are stored in sub-ledgers which feed summary information into the General Ledger, where applicable
- adjustments to the general ledger are kept to a minimum to maintain the control framework and data integrity
- corrections are processed through the appropriate sub-ledger, where applicable
Roles and Responsibilities
- Finance Department
- establishes university accounting standards and procedures
- creates and maintains financial policies in collaboration with the university community
- communicates all major financial procedures and processes to the university community in an effective and consistent method across all funds
- communicates and responds to issues raised by other departments within established timelines
- provides expertise on accounting and tax issues
- is responsible for the annual external audit (s) and the preparation of the audited financial statements
- is responsible for all external financial reporting, excluding research
- processes payments and transactions through the financial system ( including the HST recovery) within established timelines
- works with departments to resolve exceptions or disputes in order to maintain the university’s reputation (e.g. disputes with suppliers, outstanding advances)
- approves and processes budget and journal entries based on published guidelines
- manages the university’s accounts receivable (including billings and collections)
- is the single liaison with the university’s banks, university appointed external auditors and insurance and investment brokers and manages all arrangements with these service providers
- is responsible for the management of financial systems and implementation and monitoring of related internal controls
- collaborates with the university community on all major information system development which involves business/financial process changes
- provides training to faculty financial officers, executive officers and designated administrators in academic support units on financial matters (train-the-trainer approach)
- has a primary single point of contact in each faculty (FFO) and academic support unit (designated administrator) when dealing with financial matters
- performs post audits on financial transactions to ensure compliance (e.g. purchasing card)
- reviews internal audits conducted across departments to help address business/financial process deficiencies
- provides reporting on all university accounts to end users including month end and other ad hoc reports
- records and reports on capital assets
- All University Departments ( FFO/designated administrator)
- apply established accounting procedures
- provide feedback to Finance on proposed changes to financial policies
- communicate and respond to issues raised by Finance within established timelines
- are responsible for initiating, reviewing and approving transactions, in accordance with published university/sponsor policies/guidelines
- ensure documents are complete and accurate (e.g. travel claims, bank deposits ) before submitting to Finance for processing within established timelines and according to published procedures
- ensure all transactions are related to university business and if uncertainty exists, consult with Finance
- work with Finance to resolve exceptions or disputes in order to maintain the university’s reputation (e.g. disputes with suppliers, outstanding advances)
- submit required information to Finance for invoicing
- provide accounting estimates to Finance for reporting, for all funds (e.g. year- end accruals)
- provide input and feedback on major information system and business/financial process changes
- facilitate change within departments, as required, due to changes or improvements to business processes and increased use of technology
- provide training to departmental faculty and staff on all business and financial processes and transactions (based on centrally provided training)
- designate a primary single point of contact for Finance on financial matters
- ensure purchasing card statements are reconciled on a monthly basis and all receipts are available and maintained in an orderly fashion
- collaborate with Finance on internal audit recommendations related to business/financial deficiencies for timely resolution
- review month end financial statements for accuracy and completeness and report irregularities/errors to Finance, Human Resources, Procurement and Contract Services or the unit initiating the charge (e.g. Retail Services)
- provide input to Finance on changes and/or enhancements to financial reporting
- safeguard university physical assets
January 2012
