Ledger Review Process FAQs

What happens if Fiscal Officer is out on extended leave?
If the Fiscal Officer is going to be out for a month or longer, it might be a good idea to assign one of the delegates as the Fiscal Officer so that the account review can continue to be completed in a timely fashion.
Why can't I see the "Review" button?
> The button only appears if the Fiscal Period is CLOSED. It will not appear for OPEN Fiscal Periods.
> If you are reviewing the ALR, you must be the current Fiscal Officer assigned to the account.
> If you are reviewing the MLR, you must be identified as the MSO for the organization on the Organization document in KFS. Only one chart of accounts can be checked on the MLR input screen (e.g., if you are an MSO for a School of Medicine department, only chart S should be checked; other charts, such as 3, should NOT be checked).
Where is the "Review" button?
On the Analytical Ledger Review (ALR), it displays at the bottom of each account, and if you are viewing the information by organization, the review button will display at the end of each account summary, AND after a list of 10 accounts, a review button will allow you to acknowledge review of 10 accounts at one time.
On the Management Ledger Review (MLR), it displays at the very end of the report.
What happens if Fiscal Officer/MSO separates, but there are accounts/organizations from past fiscal periods that need review?
New Fiscal Officer/MSO can complete review for prior fiscal periods.
I manage my account activity at the sub-account and/or project level. How can I see this activity on ALR?
Click on “View Ledger” link to see activity at sub-account/project level.
Why is the payroll data for my biweekly-paid employees not "consistent" like it is for my monthly-paid employees?
Bi-weekly employees are paid every two weeks; in every month they will be paid at least twice, but there are several months each year where they are paid three times. This discrepancy causes the amounts to fluctuate from month to month.
Why is an account with zero activity requiring review?
If the account is overdrawn from previous fiscal activity it will require review, even if there is no activity for that specific fiscal period.
Can I start reviewing BEFORE the Fiscal Period is closed?
Yes, the transactions will appear as they post to the ledger, but the actual review acknowledgement will not be possible until the period is closed (button appears).
Is it okay for a fiscal officer to review a payroll expense that is their own?
Yes, the Fiscal Officer cannot be a Primary Preparer or Mandatory Reviewer, so there will already have been other individuals who have reviewed that transaction.
My department has an organization code(s) set up specifically for expired accounts that we no longer use. How can I ensure that this organization(s) doesn't show up each fiscal period for MLR review?
All active organizations of Type Code D (Department) or G (Department Group) will show up on the MLR regardless of account activity. Organization codes established for expired accounts should NOT be set up as a D or G type. Setting these organizations up as an Organization Type Code of 1 (Sub-Department) will ensure that the organizations do not appear for review each month on the MLR. Also, you will need to change the "Reports to Organization" since Organization Type 1s can only report to organizations of D type.
What payroll detail can I see on the ledger review reports?
A fiscal officer can see payroll details for the accounts to which they are assigned as a fiscal officer. A FIS DS user who is set up with Payroll DS or Salary Expense Transfer (SET) access will see payroll details as well. Other FIS DS users will not see payroll details; they will only see lines that are totaled by custom object grouping.
Why is an annual "fiscal certification" required for each organization? Doesn't the Quarterly Ledger Review accomplish the same function?
Fiscal Certification covers areas not on the Quarterly Ledger Review (QLR), such as equipment inventory (CAMS), research compliance, and delegations. Also, the QLR is only reviewed by one person in each Dean’s/VC office. There are additional staff that are required to sign-off on the annual Fiscal Certification.
What are the implications of including/excluding C&G History Balance on the ALR/MLR?
If you manage Contracts and Grants accounts within your organization, including the C&G History Balance will ensure that the transaction balances match what displays on the Transaction Listing (2) since the 2 report includes this information by default.
The Balance Summary (1) query allows the user to include or exclude C&G History Balances, so if you exclude the history on the 1, and you exclude the C&G History on the ALR/MLR reports, the balances will match (and vise-versa).
Can a Fiscal Officer "save" their work if they haven't had the chance to finish review of an account?
You don’t have to complete review of all of your accounts activity at one time, but there isn’t the ability to “save” work when completing review on a single account.
May MSOs and CAOs be the reviews and approvers for BOTH the Analytical Ledger Review and the Management Ledger Review?
The system will not prevent the MSO/CAO from reviewing both the Analytical Ledger Review (ALR) and the monthly Management Ledger Review (MLR) if they are a fiscal officer. The ALR is an analytical review of each account and the MLR is summarized at the organization level. We do understand that MSOs/CAOs would like to maintain some control of accounts and therefore have left that flexibility in the system. If the department is too small to have a separate ALR reviewer and MLR reviewer for all their accounts in an organization, we recommend that another department assist in the monthly MLR. The Quarterly Ledger Review (QLR) serves as a complementary check on the ALR and MLR and is completed by someone other than the fiscal officer.
We understand that a fiscal officer can't be the Primary Preparer or Mandatory Reviewer in PPS/OPTRS. What is the "rule" for the amount of transactions that a Back-Up Preparer/Reviewer can process?
As departments are updating their PPS/OPTRS Departmental Roles Structures (DRS), note that Back-up PPS/OPTRS preparers who are also fiscal officers shouldn't prepare more than 10% of departmental PPS/OPTRS transactions. A future FIS Decision Support (DS) report will assist departments in monitoring this 10% requirement (which only applies if the back-up preparer is also a fiscal officer).