The USAS annual cash-basis close for fiscal 2017 will occur on Thursday, Aug. 31. The instructions, including important deadlines for submitting documents, are now available in USAS Annual Close Process (FPP Q.004).
Detailed information by appropriation year, including deadlines, can be found 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 2017 Master Schedule of Year-End Close Events that includes:
The Comptroller’s Financial Reporting section is pleased to present the fiscal 2017 Reporting Requirements for Annual Financial Reports (AFRs) of State Agencies and Universities. The AFR website presents all reporting requirement information in an organized, user-friendly and intuitive format for users. Each agency and university must refer to the AFR Reporting Requirements website when preparing its fiscal 2017 AFR and posting fiscal year-end entries to reconcile the AFR to USAS.
On June 28, the training materials for the Annual Financial Report (AFR) webinar events will be available on the AFR Training Page. Users may download/print the training materials (PDF format) and follow along during the webinar(s).
Don’t forget to register for the AFR Update Webinar (Part 1) and/or the AFR Update Webinar (Part 2) taking place on Thursday, July 6. This year there will be two sessions for the 2017 AFR Update – a morning session from 9 a.m. to noon and an afternoon session from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Registration for EACH session is required through both:
See the AFR Training page for more details about:
Processing Supplemental Appropriations and Reductions (FPP A.047) has been updated with instructions for USAS and CAPPS to reflect House Bill 2, 85th Legislature, Regular Session.
The Legislature reduced certain appropriations and made supplemental appropriations. Please refer to the HB 2 LBB ABEST/USAS Crosswalk provided by your appropriation control officer.
Affected state agencies and institutions of higher education must follow the instructions in the FPP by July 14.
Fiscal 2018 appropriation budgets must be entered into USAS and all required documentation submitted by July 28. Entry into USAS and CAPPS can begin July 3.
Budget entry and documentation submission must be completed before appropriation control officers can approve a budget setup.
Agencies and institutions of higher education are encouraged to use the provided Excel spreadsheets for completing the required schedules. Please note the special requirements for unobligated balances.
For the spreadsheets, instructions, definitions and examples, see Establishing Appropriations by Method of Finance, Rider and Capital Budget Schedules (FPP A.020).
Agencies reporting to SPA may require internal system changes to prepare for upcoming SPA system changes scheduled to take effect Sept. 1. SPAnbsp;ACRnbsp;60149 updates and enhances the SPA surplus and salvage property process. Changes include:
Agencies reporting to SPA must take action prior to July 31 and clean up current and pending soft disposal methods. Review ACR 60149 – SPA Surplus Process Change to determine if internal system changes are needed prior to the SPA ACR 60149 migration on Sept. 1.
Preliminary copies of the 2017 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)-4 Report will be available to agencies July 21 via electronic file transfer. Agencies must review the preliminary report and submit the electronic Report Acknowledgement form to the Comptroller’s office by Aug. 3.
The EEO-4 Report reflects state agency hiring practices for odd-numbered years and is used by the Governor’s Office to comply with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reporting requirements. A preliminary report is provided to allow agencies time to review the data and enter or submit changes before the final report is sent.
See Equal Employment Opportunity Report (EEO)-4 (FPP G.003) for complete copies.
Although the Comptroller’s office will be closed for business on July 3, Payment Services will distribute warrants from 8 to 10 a.m. for the June 30 processing cycle.
The authorized agency and/or delivery service representative must be included on the Agency Authorization for Warrant Pickup form (74-189).
Note: If your agency has warrants for wire transfers on July 3, your agency runner needs to deliver them to the Treasury.
To ensure correct year-end USAS balances for imprest, petty cash and travel advance accounts, agencies authorized to maintain these accounts are asked to certify that USAS balances and agency computed balances (cash plus outstanding reimbursements) agree.
Only cash accounts with balances created from funds in the State Treasury are subject to this requirement.
The certification is due by July 10. All corrections must be entered into USAS by July 28.
See USAS Balances for Imprest, Petty Cash and Travel Advance Accounts (FPP A.045) for additional information, including instructions for requesting access and completing the forms.
The CAPPS Support Team is on track to begin the FY17 HR/Payroll image upgrade and deployment enhancement implementation on Friday, June 23 at 5 p.m.
The CAPPS Portal, Production and all lower level environments (including Financials environments) will be unavailable in preparation for and execution of the deployment beginning Friday, June 23 at 5 p.m. through Monday, June 26 at 8 a.m.
CAPPS Recruit and CAPPS Learn modules will remain available during the upgrade; however, beginning at 5 p.m. on June 23, users will not be able to access CAPPS Recruit and/or Learn through the CAPPS Portal.
Agencies may choose to provide users with a direct link to these modules via their own internal/external website or email. Upon completion of the upgrade, these modules will be available through the Portal on Monday, June 26 at 8 a.m.
Business Objects will be available; however, CAPPS reports will be unavailable during the upgrade weekend.
The Payroll deadline for this month is Thursday, June 22. Agencies are strongly encouraged to run Payroll by the deadline or prior to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 23. If an agency is unable to complete Payroll prior to this deadline, they should wait until Monday, June 26 at 8 a.m. to begin that process. If an agency is in the process of running Payroll prior to being locked out on Friday, they may experience an issue when trying to complete the process after the code has migrated over the weekend.
To ensure correct year-end USAS balances for imprest, petty cash and travel advance accounts, agencies authorized to maintain these accounts are asked to certify that USAS balances and agency computed balances (cash plus outstanding reimbursements) agree.
Only cash accounts with balances created from funds in the State Treasury are subject to this requirement.
The certification is due by July 10. All corrections must be entered into USAS by July 28.
See USAS Balances for Imprest, Petty Cash and Travel Advance Accounts (FPP A.045) for additional information, including instructions for requesting access and completing the forms.
The Fiscal 2017 Third Quarter Post-Payment Audit Reports are available for view, print and download now. For more audit resources including Fiscal Policies and Procedures, forms and contact information, see the Audit topic page on FMX.
To receive email notifications on each audit report posted, subscribe via GovDelivery.
Security coordinators are now able to download security access reports (login required) in support of the Statewide Financial Systems Semiannual Security Review requirement. The security reports are available year round, with updates available the fifth day of every month.
Security access reports are available to all appointed agency security coordinators. However, security coordinators are only able to view and download reports for agencies to which they are granted access. See Agency Security Coordinator Reports (login required) and Semiannual Verification of Users’ Security Access Levels (FPP K.009) (login required) for more information. For questions, email sfs.security@cpa.texas.gov.
The USAS Profile Rollover creates new profile records to be used in the next fiscal and appropriation years. Agencies should review the Profile Rollover page of USAS Profile Review and Cleanup Procedures (FPP A.031) for USAS profiles that automatically roll over each year.
In preparation of the rollover, all USAS profile review and cleanup reports are transmitted to agencies on June 6 and June 12. The reports:
The profile review and cleanup reports are located behind the Ad Hoc cover page (immediately following the USAS reports). If your agency needs reports retransmitted, contact the Comptroller’s System Input/Output group at (512) 936-4341.
For more information, see USAS Profile Review and Cleanup Procedures (FPP A.031). For questions on the reports, contact your financial reporting analyst.
Do you help prepare your agency’s or university’s annual financial report (AFR) or enter AFR data into USAS? If so, join us on Thursday, July 6 for the 2017 AFR Update.
Participants may attend:
This year’s update has been expanded to include a morning session and an afternoon session to provide additional guidance. For more information and registration instructions, see the AFR Training Page.
The online Veteran Workforce Summary Report acknowledgment form (with required complaint reporting included) must be submitted by June 23.
For more information, see Veteran Workforce Summary Reports and Veteran Complaint Reporting (FPP F.038).
State agencies and institutions of higher education must report payables and binding encumbrances for third quarter fiscal 2017 in all open appropriations no later than June 30.
Quarterly certification must be entered in the online form.
For more information, see Encumbrance Report and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018).