What's New? on FMX

August, 2015

Monthly Archives

USPS ACR 60122 Implements Donor Sick Leave [posted 08/28/15]

USPS Application Change Request (ACR) 60122 migrated Aug. 28 to allow employees to donate accrued sick leave directly to another employee at the same agency effective Sept. 1.

House Bill 1771, 84th Legislature, Regular Session, required this change. For more information, please see ACR 60122 – USPS.

USPS ACR 60123 Adds TJJD and TMD Employees to Protect Indicator [posted 08/28/15]

USPS ACR 60123 migrated Aug. 28 to protect personal information for Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) and Texas Military Department (TMD) employees effective Sept. 1.

HB 1311 and HB 2152, 84th Legislature, Regular Session, exempted current and former TJJD and TMD employees from the requirement to elect whether to allow public access to certain personal information under the Public Information Act. For more information, see ACR 60123 – USPS.

Please contact your USPS representative if you have any questions.

Preliminary Fiscal 2015 Annual Report (Statewide Hiring Practices) Available Sept. 16 [posted 08/28/15]

Preliminary copies of the fiscal 2015 Annual Report (Statewide Hiring Practices) will be sent to each state agency and institution of higher education via electronic file transfer on Sept. 16. Electronic report acknowledgment forms must be submitted by Sept. 23. Agencies and institutions have until Oct. 7 to review the preliminary report and enter or submit changes.

For more information, including detailed instructions and HRIS, SPRS and USPS contacts, see Annual Report (Statewide Hiring Practices for the Fiscal Year) (FPP F.005).

Proceeds from the Sale of Surplus Property Go to GR [posted 08/28/15]

All proceeds from the sale of surplus property, equipment and commodities must be deposited to general revenue (GR) in appropriation 99908.

For more information, see Proceeds from the Sale of Surplus Property (FPP A.032).

Fiscal 2015 Property Inventory Due Sept. 20 [posted 08/28/15]

Per Texas Government Code, Section 403.273, the property manager of each state agency must conduct an annual physical inventory of the trust, capitalized and controlled personal property (excluding libraries and historical arts and treasures) in the agency’s possession.

State agencies must submit the Certification of Physical Inventory Conducted by Agency (73-283) form for fiscal 2015 with the signature of the agency head or designee to the Comptroller’s office by Sept. 20. For more information, see the Certification of Physical Inventory in the SPA Process User’s Guide – Chapter 2 – General Policies.

CAPPS HR/Payroll Production Portal Unavailable late Aug. 28 to early Sept 2. [posted 08/25/15]

The CAPPS HR/Payroll Production Portal will be unavailable beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, in preparation for fiscal year-end processing.

We recommend that all salary transactions with an August effective date be completed before this outage. This will ensure that employee information is updated appropriately when Legislative changes take effect Sept. 1, 2015.

The Portal is expected to be available at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Accounting Policy Statements Have Been Updated [posted 08/21/15]

Several Accounting Policy Statements (APSs) have been updated through acts of the 84th Legislature, Regular Session. The APSs include changes to terminology, policies, procedures and transaction coding blocks. Some APSs have been updated to include information applicable to CAPPS.

Each APS should be carefully reviewed to ensure compliance with the most current policies and procedures.

Notify Comptroller’s Office of Personal Safety Exception to Open Records Requests [posted 08/21/15]

An exception to open records requests is available for employees who would be under substantial threat of physical harm if information such as work location were to be made public. See Personal Safety Exception in Confidential Employee Information for Open Records Requests Requiring Agency Input (FPP L.004).

If your agency has employees who may qualify for the personal safety exception, contact Ruth Soucy in Open Records at (512) 475-0411 or Ruth.Soucy@cpa.texas.gov.

Do Not Set Effective End Date on Certain RTIs [posted 08/21/15]

This is an important reminder about coding on the Recurring Transaction Profile (55) in USAS. Do not set an effective end date on certain Recurring Transaction Indexes (RTIs) used during the interagency reconciliation process for the annual financial report (AFR) until after Sept. 26.

Interagency Transaction Voucher (ITV) transactions must process successfully during the interagency reconciliation process for the AFR. An RTI (receiving) agency that sets an effective end date on the 55 profile will prevent a transaction/paying agency from processing any ITV transactions past that effective end date.

Example: A transaction entered on Sept. 2 using an RTI with an effective end date of Aug. 31 would not process, even if the effective date on the transaction is backdated to Aug. 31. To avoid problems, the RTI agency should not set an effective end date on the 55 profile until after the completion of the interagency reconciliation process.

The Comptroller’s office recommends that agencies leave the effective end dates blank on RTIs unless there is an explicit need to include a date.

For more information, please see the ITV/RTI Process section of USAS Frequently Asked Questions.

Agencies Required to Publish Purpose of Certain State Grants [posted 08/21/15]

State agencies and institutions of higher education that award a state grant in an amount greater than $25,000 from funds appropriated through the General Appropriations Act are required to publish the purpose for which the grant was awarded on the agency’s public website.

Will your agency or institution award new grants that fall under this requirement? If you have not already done so, email state.grants@cpa.state.tx.us your agency’s single link to a Web page that provides the purposes of all applicable grants. The State Grant Listing of links to the agency grant information is available on TexasTransparency.org.

Note: The Comptroller’s office does not need to be notified of new applicable grants. However, if the URL of the agency Web page changes, notify the Comptroller’s office at state.grants@cpa.state.tx.us.

Please see Requirement to Publish Purpose of State Grants (FPP S.010) for more information.

84th Legislature Changed GRD Accounts for Specialty License Plates [posted 08/21/15]

House Bill 7, 84th Legislature, Regular Session, expanded on the provisions of HB 7, 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, with important changes to General Revenue-Dedicated (GRD) license plate accounts effective Sept. 1.

For details, see Specialty License Plate Revenue: Changes to Certain General Revenue Dedicated Accounts (FPP L.005).

Reminder — Systems Will Be Unavailable During Year-End Close [posted 08/21/15]

The USAS annual cash-basis close for fiscal 2015 will occur on Monday, Aug. 31.

The fiscal year-end close process requires shutting down the statewide fiscal systems. For more information, please see the Master Schedule of Year-End Close Events, which includes:

CAPPS FIN Transition to Managed Services Datacenter Now Complete [posted 08/17/15]

The CAPPS Financials transition to the Managed Services datacenter is now complete.

Passwords:

Salary Increase Information Now Available [posted 08/14/15]

The 84th Legislature, Regular Session, provided appropriations for salary increases for certain state agency employees in fiscal 2016.

The enactment of House Bill 9 increases the member contribution rate to the Employees Retirement System to 9.5 percent of each member’s compensation. The accompanying increase of 2.5 percent in annual salary for certain state employees is set to begin on Sept. 1.

The Comptroller’s office provides the following details on the salary increase:

Updated Reason Code Definitions and Restrictions for Agencies and Institutions of Higher Education Now Available [posted 08/14/15]

Due to additions and changes to salary administration provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) made by the 84th Legislature, the Comptroller’s office has issued the Reason Code Definitions and Restrictions for State Agencies (Fiscal 2016–17), the Reason Code Quick Reference for State Agencies (Fiscal 2016–17) and the updated Reason Code Definitions and Restrictions for Institutions of Higher Education.

To download and view these PDF documents, see Reason Code Resources and Classification Salary Schedules.

Final Copies of the 2015 EEO-4 Report Available Aug. 18 [posted 08/14/15]

The 2015 Equal Employment Opportunity Report (EEO)-4 summarizes state agency hiring practices. The Governor’s Office uses data from the biennial report (agency detail and agency summary reports) to comply with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reporting requirements.

Final copies of the 2015 EEO-4 Report will be available to agencies Aug. 18 via electronic file transfer (EFT). Agencies must:

For complete information, see Equal Employment Opportunity Report (EEO)-4 (FPP G.003).

ReminderHRIS Reappointments Due Soon [posted 08/14/15]

Institutions of higher education must report certain information about jobs and reappointments to HRIS at the beginning of each fiscal year. Due dates for when institutions must submit reappointment information via electronic file transfer (EFT) are:

The deadline to submit HRIS September maintenance is Oct. 7.

See HRIS Higher Education Reporting Procedures for Reappointments (FPP M.003) for details, including instructions for reporting reappointment information.

Note: During the fiscal year reappointment process, Fiscal Management still requires an HRIS EFT Specifications form (73-162) for EFT #1, #2 and #3.

Security Can Be Requested for New RNSS Web Application [posted 08/13/15]

Security coordinators can now request security for the new Restatement Note Submission System (RNSS) Web application. Please see the RNSS page (login required) in Security Coordinator Reference (FPP K.005) for instructions.

RNSS will be available Sept. 1 to submit Note 14 restatements during the annual financial report process.

CAPPS FIN Transition to MS Datacenter [posted 08/12/15]

The CAPPS support team is pleased to announce the CAPPS Financials transition to the Managed Services datacenter will Go Live on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015.

In preparation for the transition, cutover activities will be conducted the weekend prior to Go Live. Here is a high-level timeline of events:

These will change for the agencies:

These will not change for the agencies:

Additional details will be provided on Friday, Aug. 14.

Changes Made by the 84th Legislature Summarized [posted 08/10/15]

The 84th Legislature made numerous changes to Article IX of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) that take effect Sept. 1. A summary of these changes and of major bills passed that affect multiple agencies can be found at Changes to Article IX of the GAA and Other Bills of Interest to State Agencies (FPP F.008).

Legislative Changes Affecting Salary Administration Outlined [posted 08/10/15]

The 84th Legislature, Regular Session, made a number of changes to the salary administration laws:

For more information, see Legislative Changes Affecting Salary Administration, 84th Legislature (FPP F.021).

Note SPA Fiscal Year-End Close Processing Dates and Activities [posted 08/10/15]

The final SPA processing cycle prior to the year-end closeout will run on Monday evening, Aug. 31. SPA is expected to be available on Wednesday, Sept. 2, to accept both fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2016 transactions.

For more information, see SPA Fiscal Year-End Close Process (FPP N.008).

USAS Confidentiality Indicator and Invoice Number Field Requirements FPPs Now Include CAPPS Information [posted 08/10/15]

Two USAS fiscal policy and procedures (FPPs) have been renamed and updated to include information for CAPPS Financials:

Reminder — Complete the GASB 49 Pollution Remediation Obligations Survey by Sept. 1 [posted 08/10/15]

GASB Statement No. 49, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations, established accounting and financial reporting standards for pollution remediation obligations. All agencies are required to complete the online 2015 Pollution Remediation Obligations Survey by Sept. 1.

For more information, see Pollution Remediation Obligations on the Reporting Requirements website. If you have questions, please contact your financial reporting analyst.