What's New? on FMX

The USAS User Group Meeting on Dec. 11 will feature tips for keeping your USAS Internal Transaction (IT) file clean and error-free, presented by USAS Senior Analyst Laurel Mulkey and Business Analyst Jennifer Paris.

Speakers have been confirmed for these topics:

• Appropriation Control Supervisor Carla James will address the “Importance of Benefits Proportional by Fund Reports (APS 011).”
• Fiscal Integrity Manager Daniel Benjamin will cover “Ongoing Compliance with APS 018 and New Requirement to Unlapse Appropriations.”

The meeting will be 2–4 p.m. in Room 1-100 of the Travis Building. Register in Training Center (login required) to attend in person or via teleconference.

For more information, see USAS User Group Meeting.

Note: Continuing professional education (CPE) credit will be awarded for in-person attendance, so registration is encouraged. Teleconference attendees cannot receive CPE credit.

Agencies that reimburse employees for state-related hotel stays are due a refund for the associated hotel occupancy taxes. The refunds are generated automatically through USAS each quarter.

The hotel occupancy tax refund for September through November will be available on the DAFR8190 and DAFR8200 reports on Dec. 9.

For more information, see Hotel Occupancy Tax Quarterly Refund (FPP B.006).

The Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System (USPS) will be unavailable all day Wednesday, Dec. 10, while we conduct the calendar year file split.

All USPS payrolls finalized after the 2014/2015 file split must have a warrant date in calendar year 2015 and will be reflected in the 2015 files.

Please contact the Statewide Human Resource and Payroll Assistance Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or your assigned USPS representative if you have any questions.

USAS documentation on FMX has been updated:

• The USAS T-Code Reference Guide (FPP Q.014) features nine transaction code sorts available in HTML or Excel and an expanded T-Codes Most Commonly Used table.
• USAS Reference (FPP Q.012) includes updated lists of Comptroller General Ledger Accounts, Document Type and Title, User Class and Title, and Comptroller Objects Sorted by Object Group for Appropriation Year 2015 (now available in HTML or Excel).

During Thanksgiving week:

• Warrants may be picked up during regular hours on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 24 and 25.
• Warrant pickup will be available only from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
• No warrant pickup is available on Nov. 27 or 28. Warrants from the Nov. 26 and 28 processing cycles will be available for pickup during regular hours on Monday, Dec. 1.

Because Thanksgiving occurs during the last week of the month, the deadline for submission of the Direct Deposit Reversal Request form (74-191) has been changed to 10 a.m. on Nov. 28 (the day before payday).

• If you fax the form to Payment Services, please call (512) 463-9569 to confirm receipt of the fax.
• If you send an encrypted email, you will receive an email receipt confirmation.

If you have questions about the Thanksgiving week schedule, please contact Payment Services before noon on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

CAPPS Financials and HR/Payroll will undergo scheduled maintenance on Sunday, Nov. 23 from 5 to 10 a.m. in order to test High Availability (HA) on shared storage.

Reports trying to post to a reporting repository or interface jobs trying to write to the shared storage directories will not run during this time. These jobs will complete successfully once the maintenance is complete.

The USPS Calendar Year-End Close Process (FPP R.014) has been updated for 2014. State agencies that produce payments through USPS with payment dates in calendar year 2014 must complete the calendar year-end close process according to the schedule and follow the instructions provided in the manual.

For more information, contact the Statewide Human Resource and Payroll Assistance Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or your assigned USPS representative.

The TINS Guide (FPP P.003) now includes the Payee Number Matrix that defines when to use the appropriate TIN prefix (1, 2, 3 or 7) by process or function for online and batch transactions. The matrix also covers USAS transactions. A one-page PDF can be downloaded to print.

In addition to the online entry and electronic file transfer chapters of the TINS Guide, a link to the matrix can be found under Reference on the Payment Services and TINS topic pages.

During Thanksgiving week:

• Warrants may be picked up during regular hours on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 24 and 25.
• Warrant pickup will be available only from 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
• No warrant pickup is available on Nov. 27 or 28. Warrants from the Nov. 26 and 28 processing cycles will be available for pickup during regular hours on Monday, Dec. 1.

Because Thanksgiving occurs during the last week of the month, the deadline for submission of the Direct Deposit Reversal Request form (74-191) has been changed to 10 a.m. on Nov. 28 (the day before payday).

• If you fax the form to Payment Services, please call (512) 463-9569 to confirm receipt of the fax.
• If you send an encrypted email, you will receive an email receipt confirmation.

If you have questions about the Thanksgiving week schedule, please contact Payment Services before noon on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

The CAPPS Financials Business Objects Production environment will be unavailable from 12 noon on Saturday, Nov. 15, until 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16, to upgrade the Business Objects database to SQL Server 2012.

The following environment will be unavailable during this time period

• BO PROD – CAPPS Financials Business Objects Production

During this time, all Business Objects reports will be unavailable, including CAPPS Reports.

State agencies and institutions of higher education must report certain payments to the Internal Revenue Service on a Form 1099-Miscellaneous (MISC) or Form 1099-Interest Income (INT) and send a duplicate Form 1099 to the payee.

To help agencies and institutions comply with this requirement for calendar year 2014, USAS will capture 1099-related data and generate 1099 Verification Reports (DAFR 7940), Forms 1099-MISC and/or Forms 1099-INT (DAFR 7950) for each agency or institution upon request.

For instructions on requesting 1099 data from USAS, see USAS Procedures for 1099 Reporting for Calendar Year 2014 (FPP E.001).

Please Note: Per IRS instructions, if you are submitting hard copy 1099 forms to the IRS, Copy A must be completed using 12-point Courier font and printed using black ink only.

Ad hoc reports in the Texas Comptroller Manual of Accounts (FPP Q.009) can now be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets. Ad hoc reports are useful in creating customized lists of funds, object codes, agencies, etc.

To take advantage of this new functionality, go to the Ad Hoc Reports page and choose:

1. Report Category (such as type of code or account)
2. Fields to Show (elements available vary by category)
3. Filters to Apply (fiscal year, status, group or format)

To download the report as an Excel file, choose “excel” from the dropdown format list under Filters.

For questions, please contact Samuel.Miller@cpa.texas.gov.

The deadline for the fiscal 2014 annual financial report (AFR) is Thursday, Nov. 20. The Financial Reporting section highly recommends all USAS entries related to the AFR be made and released by 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

If your agency needs to make entries to USAS on Nov. 20, you must use USAS Batch Edit Mode 2 for all entries. Any entries made on Nov. 20 using any edit mode other than 2 will fail to process.

All entries for the fiscal 2014 AFR must be backdated using an effective date of 08322014.

Please contact your financial reporting analyst for any questions related to the AFR submission requirements and deadlines.

USAS will be unavailable after 7 p.m. on Nov. 20, and agencies will be unable to make further entries in USAS for fiscal 2014 after Nov. 20.

The Texas Annual Cash Report for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31, 2014, is now available. The Texas Annual Cash Report presents the state’s financial condition and details revenues and expenditures on a cash basis, as required by Government Code, Section 403.013.

Final copies of the 2014 Equal Employment Opportunity Report (FPP F.016) will be sent to each agency and institution of higher education via electronic file transfer on Nov. 14.

Nov. 12 is the deadline for making data corrections. Corrections entered or submitted after this date will not be reflected in the final report. The Comptroller’s office will send the final report to the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission on Nov. 14.

Contact your HRIS, SPRS or USPS representative or the Statewide Human Resource and Payroll Assistance Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 with any questions.

The Comptroller’s office has updated the training requirement for newly appointed agency security coordinators from a classroom course to an interactive webinar offered every other month. Security coordinators are required to take a live webinar within the first 90 days of being appointed. A recording of the webinar will not be available.

The webinar can also serve as a convenient refresher course for all security coordinators and their designated backups. The instructors are available online to answer questions and provide links to quick reference information for security procedures. Register today for the Nov. 13 webinar.

The webinar is held through GoToMeeting. To participate and receive four hours of continuing professional education (CPE) credit, you must:

1. Register in advance with GoToMeeting through the links in the Training Center course description (login required). Though not mandatory, also registering in Training Center will expedite your CPE credit.
2. On the day of the training, use your individual webinar ID on the GoToMeeting website to log in before the class begins.
3. Answer questions periodically during the presentation.

Note: Security access is required. Students must be appointed security coordinators and have online access to RACF/TSO before enrolling in class.