What's New? on FMX

Encumbrance Report and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018) (FPP A.019) was updated for fiscal 2015 to require that the chief fiscal officer or higher official submit a lapse reversal request that includes a justification for the reversal for approval.

The Reinstating lapsed balances section of APS 018 now clarifies that the justification must support that the funds released by the requested lapse reversal are needed to pay a valid expenditure incurred prior to the end of the appropriation year for which the reversal is requested.

If you have questions, please contact your appropriation control officer.

The CAPPS Financials Production environment will undergo maintenance during approved maintenance hours on Sunday, Jan. 25, from 5 to 10 a.m. in order to recycle the Production Portal server to add additional memory. The CAPPS Financials Production environments will not be available during this maintenance window since the Production Portal will be down. However, the CAPPS Financials and Reporting servers will still process all scheduled batch jobs during this time.

The following environments will be included in the maintenance and will be unavailable to agency end users:

• EPPRD – CAPPS Financials Production Portal
• FSPRD – CAPPS Financials Production
• FSRPT – CAPPS Financials Reporting
• PROD – Business Objects Production

Unclaimed property turned over to the state includes property that may belong to state agencies or institutions of higher education. If agencies and institutions do not claim property after an annual notification, the Comptroller’s office deposits the money into unappropriated General Revenue (GR). Property currently being held will be swept into GR if not claimed by May 29.

See the Unclaimed Property Annual Notification for more information, including contact information for the Comptroller’s Unclaimed Property Division (UP) and the list of agencies and institutions with unclaimed funds. UP will mail claim forms to the financial representatives of agencies on the list by Jan. 31.

Training Center, the online registration system for Fiscal Management training, has been updated to reflect the email domain change to a texas.gov address for affected agencies.

You must use your new texas.gov email address to sign in to register for a class or access your training certificates and transcripts. Your password or other account information has not changed. The Training Center sign-in page identifies the affected agencies.

For questions, please email fm.training@cpa.texas.gov.

A list of substantive changes to the online Texas Comptroller Manual of Accounts (FPP Q.009) will be emailed to subscribers this week. Entries that have been added, deleted or significantly modified will be listed by category.

The manual provides current information on state agencies, appropriated funds and accounts and object codes to be used in properly recording accounting transactions. Users can subscribe to receive update notifications of real-time updates made to the Manual of Accounts.

For questions, please contact samuel.miller@cpa.texas.gov.

The Biennial Revenue Estimate 2016–2017 is available on the TexasTransparency.org website, following its release to the Texas Legislature. Texas lawmakers use this constitutionally mandated estimate to create a balanced budget during the legislative session.

The Veteran Workforce Summary Report acknowledgement form and complaints report must be submitted by Jan. 23.

For more information, see Veterans Workforce Summary and Veteran Complaint Reports (FPP F.038).

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has announced the following staff changes:

• Phillip Ashley is now Associate Deputy Comptroller for Fiscal Matters, overseeing the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company, Revenue Estimating, Treasury Operations, Property Tax Assistance, Unclaimed Property and Educational Opportunities & Investment in addition to Fiscal Management.
• Rob Coleman is now Director of Fiscal Management, overseeing the Fiscal Integrity, Statewide Fiscal Services and Statewide Fiscal Systems departments.
• Sandra Woodruff is now Assistant Director of Fiscal Management.

Please see FMX for contact information for Fiscal Management – Directors, Managers & Administrative Assistants.

Unclaimed property turned over to the state includes property that may belong to state agencies or institutions of higher education. If agencies and institutions do not claim property after an annual notification, the Comptroller’s office deposits the money into unappropriated General Revenue (GR). Property currently being held will be swept into GR if not claimed by May 29.

See the Unclaimed Property Annual Notification for more information, including contact information for the Comptroller’s Unclaimed Property Division (UP) and the list of agencies and institutions with unclaimed funds. UP will mail claim forms to the financial representatives of agencies on the list by Jan. 31.

In keeping with the Texas Department of Information Resources’ request for agencies to adopt the texas.gov Web and email extensions, the Comptroller of Public Accounts announces the following changes:

Website Update and URL

The Window on State Government website has a refreshed look with a new name and URL: Comptroller.Texas.Gov. Links to Window URLs will continue to work due to automatic redirects.

Note: FMX has not been affected at this time.

Email Addresses

The Comptroller’s office is phasing a new style for staff email addresses during 2015: firstname.lastname @cpa.texas.gov. Either Jane.Doe @cpa.state.tx.us or @cpa.texas.gov will work for the time being.

Watch FMXtra for additional updates.