Material and Supply Fees

Published: December 19th, 2006

Category: Memos

Sheri P. Austin,Director, University Budgets

The audit conducted by the University Audit and Compliance Review found the cash balance in the Material and Supply Fee account (Fund 162) to be substantially more than is being collected for current term courses and recommends that Material and Supply Fees need to be more closely monitored. We are asking for the departments’ help in reducing these balances.

The Material & Supply Fee monies were received from course fees requested by the department and are to be utilized for consumable items used in courses taught in the current term. As of Fall 2006, any cash over 15% of term revenues will constitute an unallowable overage and we will suspend next terms course fees until the cash balances in the Material and Supply Fee accounts are within these limits.

We have instituted several changes to help you in reconciling your Material and Supply Fee accounts:

  • We have added new DEPTFLEX accounts to be used to ensure better accounting for course expenditures. The DEPTFLEX consists of the first four digits of the department code and the last five digits of the course number. For example, for course ECH4404L in Department 19030100, the DEPTFLEX is 19034224L. Please use the DEPTFLEX for all Fall 2006 expenditures to identify the course that the materials are being purchased for. If you are purchasing bulk items you may withhold using the DEPTFLEX for individual transactions and reclassify those items using an E2E at the end of the term at which time you would assign the DEPTFLEX.
  • There are reports that will help you reconcile your Material & Supply Fees in PeopleSoft:
      Enterprise Reporting, New Department Reports, Cash Summary shows a month-to-month snapshot of revenues and expenses. Available cash is listed at the bottom of the page under Available Balances column.
      A new report has been added to PeopleSoft/Reporting Tools/Query/Query Viewer to track revenues by course. This report, UF_FE_MATERIAL_SUPPLY_FEES was instituted 9/6/06 and shows all transactions from that date. Due to the inability to convert previous data, transactions prior to 9/6/06 must still be reconciled utilizing R80-556A and R80-556B.
      We have also added a menu item to the Administrative Tab on ISIS Admin. The new menu item is called Course Fee and it will appear under the Course Mgt folder and Curriculum Inventory sub folder. This will allow you to view the entire listing of course fees associated with your department. If you do not have access to the 214 Screens, you may get the information from your Department Security Administrator by completing the Code of Responsibility for Security and Confidentiality of Data, Request for Interactive CICS Access to the Student Records System and Student Records Access Security Narrative. You should request a “View Only” status for Course Fees.

The Material & Supply Fee Request forms described specific items that would be purchased for use during the term with the cost absorbed by the students. Please keep in mind that there are restrictions on the use of these funds as outlined in the Material and Supply Fee Policy and Procedure Guide (http://www.aa.ufl.edu/material/index.htm). As outlined in the Florida Statutes 1009.24(12)(g), the items purchased must be “consumed in the course of the student’s instructional activities, excluding the cost of equipment replacement, repairs and maintenance.” The items purchased must relate to the items that you listed on your Material & Supply Fee Request Forms for the course.

We have compiled a list of Allowable Items that serve as guidelines for items that may be purchased utilizing Material & Supply Fee funds. In order to expend monies on these items, they must be listed on your Material & Supply Fee Request Form for the particular course. Please call first if you want to add an item that is not on this list.

GUIDELINES TO ALLOWABLE ITEMS
Paper
Adhesives, Epoxies
Toners/Ink Cartridges
Supplies used to build 1 time class projects Printing Kit Parts CDs, DVDs, Temporary Media Storage Manuals (one time use) Batteries Gasoline for Field Trips Chemicals Photographic Reproduction, Slides Maps Seed, Feeds Lab Tests Projector Bulbs Gases Consumable Supplies Markers Paint Software Licenses for 1 Term (only) Disposable Tools & Equipment Disposable Flip Charts Lab Disposable/Consumable Items

There are several items that are not considered “Consumables” which have been submitted on Material & Supply Request Forms. These items are not appropriate for purchase utilizing these funds even if they are listed on your Forms.

NOT ALLOWED
Maintenance and Repairs
Travel
Lecturer Fees
Speaker Fees
Equipment/Tools that last more than 1 term Lodging for Field Trips Software (except for 1 term licenses) Software or Hardware Upgrades

You may want to examine your current year departmental expenditures and reclassify any expenses that were made for consumable items listed on your Fee Requests and do an E2E to reclassify the expenses.

You will have until the 2nd week after the close of the term to utilize all of the cash funds. If there are greater than 15% of term revenues left in cash at that time we will suspend next terms course fees until the balances are expended.

If you have any questions regarding the Material & Supply Fee accounts, please contact Susan Morris at 392-2402.

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