“What’s New” on FMX

The CAPPS Production environments will undergo scheduled maintenance on Sunday, July 31 from 4:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (noon).

The following environments will be unavailable during this time:

• HCMPRD1 – CAPPS HR/Payroll Production
• FINPRD1 – CAPPS Financials Production
• HCMRPT1 – CAPPS HR/Payroll Reporting
• FINRPT1 – CAPPS Financials Reporting
• PIHPRD1 – CAPPS Portal Production

GASB 60

GASB Statement No. 60, Service Concession Arrangements, establishes accounting, reporting and disclosure guidance for both governmental transferors and governmental operators in Service Concession Arrangements (SCAs). These arrangements are a type of public-private or public-public partnership.

All agencies are required to complete the online 2016 Service Concession Arrangements Questionnaire by Sept. 1.

For more information, see Service Concession Arrangements on the Reporting Requirements website.

GASB 69

GASB Statement No. 69, Government Combinations and Disposals of Government Operations, provides guidance on accounting and financial reporting on the following types of government combinations and disposals of government operations:

• Government mergers
• Government acquisitions
• Transfers of operations
• Disposals of government operations

All agencies are required to complete the online 2016 Government Combinations and Disposals of Government Operations Questionnaire by Sept. 1.

For more information, see Government Combinations and Disposals of Government Operations on the Reporting Requirements website.

GASB 70

GASB Statement No. 70, Non-exchange Financial Guarantees, provides guidance on accounting and financial reporting for non-exchange financial guarantees. A state agency sometimes extends financial guarantees to other governments, non-governmental entities, or individuals as part of its mission to assist these parties within its jurisdictions.

All agencies are required to complete the online 2016 Non-exchange Financial Guarantees Questionnaire by Sept. 1.

For more information, see Non-exchange Financial Guarantees on the Reporting Requirements website.

State agencies and institutions of higher education must report certain salary supplements to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the State Auditor’s Office and the Secretary of State no later than Sept. 15.

For complete information including instructions and the online report form, see Salary Supplements Paid From Sources Other Than Appropriated Funds (FPP F.031).

Effective July 29, a new comma-delimited HRIS Exception File of the error messages generated during nightly personnel/payroll processing is available for download.

Please see ACR 60172 – HRIS System Change.

The recording of the AFR Update Webinar from July 7 is now available. The video segments available are:

• Introduction
• Overview, Highlights and Changes
• USAS Fiscal Year-End Processes
• GASB Update
• Statement of Cash Flow
• Deposit and Investments (DINSS)
• GR Reconciliation
• GASB Questionnaires
• Lease Notes (LNSS)
• Long-Term Liability (LTLN)
• Helpful AFR Tips
• Q&A and Closing Comments

You can view the recordings broken out by topic. No CPE credit is offered for viewing these recordings.

Each state agency (and institution of higher education choosing to report to SPA) is required to annually reconcile SPA ending balances with its annual financial report (AFR) and submit a certification form and other documents. The due dates are as follows:

• Simplified reporting agencies electing to submit early — Sept. 28
• Simplified reporting agencies not electing to submit early — Oct. 20
• Full reporting agencies — Oct. 20
• Consolidated university systems — Nov. 1 (Applies only to institutions of higher education choosing to report to SPA)

See SPA Fiscal Year-End Reconciliation and Certification for Fiscal Balances in Chapter 2 of the SPA Process User’s Guide for more information.

The CAPPS Production environments will undergo scheduled maintenance on Sunday, July 24 from 5:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. in order to service passwords for administrative accounts.

The following environments will be unavailable during this time:

• HCMPRD1 – CAPPS HR/Payroll Production
• FINPRD1 – CAPPS Financials Production
• HCMRPT1 – CAPPS HR/Payroll Reporting
• FINRPT1 – CAPPS Financials Reporting
• PIHPRD1 – CAPPS Portal Production

The CAPPS Financials Production environments will undergo extended maintenance to conduct Windows/RDS patching on Saturday, July 23, from 12:00 a.m. (midnight) to 3:00 a.m. During this window, the Production environments will remain available; however, the Search feature in Production will not be available.

USPS agencies must use the fiscal 2016 USPS Fiscal Year-End Close Manual and USPS Year-End Close Schedule to correctly prepare files for the 2016 fiscal year-end close.

For complete information, including the training calendar and links to the manual/schedule, see USPS Fiscal Year-End Close Process (FPP R.016).

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 June through July will be available on the DAFR8190 and DAFR8200 reports on Aug. 9.

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

Central agencies must follow the CAPPS HR/Payroll Year-End Processing Instructions (FPP T.003) to properly prepare for the fiscal year-end process.

The system will be unavailable beginning at 5 p.m. on Aug. 31 through close of business on Sept. 5. Normal activities will resume at 7 a.m. on Sept. 6.

Note: Designated agency employees must be available during the blackout window to validate data after the CAPPS team has completed the rollover.

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:

• Sept. 7: EFT #1 — Classifications and Carriers
• Sept. 9: EFT #2 — Reappointments for Fiscal 2016
• Sept. 15: EFT #3 — Terminations for Fiscal 2016

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.

All agencies are required to complete the online GASB 77 Tax Abatement questionnaire by Sept. 1, 2016.

GASB Statement No. 77, Tax Abatement Disclosures, is effective for the state of Texas in Fiscal 2017. GASB 77 establishes disclosure requirements for tax abatement agreements entered into by:

• Agencies
• Component Units
• Universities
• Other Governments

Prior to completing the questionnaire, be prepared with the following information:

• List of tax abatement programs under GASB 77 (including the agency’s discrete or blended component units)
• Individuals or entities receiving the tax abatements
• Period(s) of all tax abatement agreement(s)

For more information, see the full text version of the GASB Statement No. 77, Tax Abatement pronouncement on GASB’s website.

GASB Statement No. 49, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations, establishes accounting and financial reporting standards for pollution remediation obligations. All agencies are required to complete the online 2016 Pollution Remediation Obligations Questionnaire by Sept. 1.

For more information, see Pollution Remediation Obligations on the Reporting Requirements website.

All agencies must complete and submit the online 2016 Component Unit Questionnaire. The questionnaire must be completed by Sept. 16.

Financial reporting analysts can help agencies reconcile the 2016 annual financial report (AFR) to the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS) either over the phone or during scheduled work sessions. Prior to scheduling a work session or making travel arrangements for a work session, agencies must attempt to complete the fiscal year-end USAS entries.

If you encounter problems with USAS entries you are attempting to enter, contact your agency’s financial reporting analyst, who may request copies of the USAS entries. If the issue cannot be resolved by phone or email, you may then schedule a work session with your agency’s financial reporting analyst.

Fiscal 2017 appropriation budgets must be entered into USAS and all required documentation submitted by the July 29 deadline.

Budget entry and documentation submission must be completed before appropriation control officers can approve a budget setup.

For more information including schedule spreadsheets (Excel), instructions, definitions and samples, see Establishing Appropriations by Method of Finance, Rider and Capital Budget Schedules (FPP A.020).

Junior/community colleges must certify estimates of state matching contribution funds for employees participating in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) by Aug. 15.

For complete information including instructions and forms, see Annual Certification of Estimated ORP State Contributions (FPP A.003).

The next USPS User Group meeting will be held on July 13 at the Travis Building in Room 1-100 from 2 to 4 p.m. The handout is now available on the meeting page on FMX.

Register to attend in person or via teleconference in Training Center (login required).

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

SPRS agencies must process transactions for the rollover to fiscal 2017 in the proper order.

For complete information, see SPRS Fiscal Year-End Processing Instructions for the Rollover to Fiscal 2017 (FPP O.002).

The interest rate the state pays on a late payment due to a vendor under the state’s prompt payment law will be 4.50 percent for fiscal 2017. The interest calculation is one percentage point higher than the prime rate published in the Wall Street Journal on the first business day of July.

For more information, see Interest Rate on eXpendit (FPP I.005).

Junior/community colleges must certify estimates of state matching contribution funds for employees participating in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) by Aug. 15.

For complete information including instructions and forms, see Annual Certification of Estimated ORP State Contributions (FPP A.003).

The CAPPS support team is pleased to announce the availability of two new CAPPS HR/Payroll modules beginning today: CAPPS Learn and CAPPS Recruiting.

CAPPS Learn enables management of learning-related capabilities through a single delivery system. Agencies may plan, deliver and track learning plans and activities that can be tied directly to core business decisions.

CAPPS Recruiting enables agencies to oversee talent acquisition by managing candidates and job requisitions online. Candidates may apply to jobs online and agencies have the ability to progress their candidates through the selection process.

Learn and Recruiting can both be accessed through the CAPPS Enterprise Portal.

The USAS annual cash-basis close for fiscal 2016 will occur on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The instructions, including important deadlines for submitting documents, are now available in USAS Annual Close Process (FPP Q.004).

More detailed information by appropriation year has been added this year. Please adhere to the deadlines in Scheduling Critical Payments at Year End.

Agencies using CAPPS Financials need to also follow CAPPS Financials Year-End Processing Instructions (FPP T.001).

Please see the 2016 Master Schedule of Year-End Close Events that includes:

• Processing deadlines
• Dates and times the online systems will be unavailable
• Contacts for any issues

The training materials for the Annual Financial Report (AFR) webinar event are now available on the AFR Training page of the AFR website. Users may download/print the training materials (PDF format) and follow along during the webinar.

The next USPS User Group meeting will be held on July 13 at the Travis Building in Room 1-100 from 2 to 4 p.m. Presentation materials will be available on FMX before the meeting.

Register to attend in person or via teleconference in Training Center (login required).

The new Appropriation Year and Fiscal Year Comparison Chart illustrates the important differences between these two yearly time periods, including:

• What they do
• What they specify
• How long they last
• What the rules are
• Where they usually count most

This resource can be found in USAS Reference (FPP Q.012) and the Training Library: USAS.