Accounting

What is the program’s mission statement or statement of purpose? Why does the program exist?

The Eastern Illinois University Business Office is committed to providing professional, timely and accurate services to all internal and external constituencies. In doing so, we will be a service-oriented, technologically advanced model of excellence, conducting ourselves as a cost-effective unit responsive to the needs of both the University community and off-campus entities.

How does the program mission align with the university mission?

The Business Office supports the academic and student service mission of the University by providing accounting services to the University. We

• bill and collect for students’ educational expenses, as well as support student loan programs.
• maintain the University’s accounting, accounts receivable, and property control systems.
• provide financial reporting to the campus’ administration and departments to support their decision-making, as well as financial reporting to the State, grantors, donors, and other outside entities.
• assist in the issuance of bonds and other financings and continuing compliance.

These supporting but critical functions enable the University to provide excellent academic and student services .

Whom does the program serve?

The Business Office supports the University’s mission by serving many customers, including

• campus administration and departments by providing revenue and cost information for decision-making, maintaining property records, ensuring compliance with financial requirements, maintaining web applications to allow customers to pay for department sales and service, handling tax compliance, and managing cash and investments.
• Principal Investigators and grantors by providing pre-award review, compliance with financial provisions of the grants, and any financial reports required.
• donors by accurately entering donor and gift information, issuing gift receipts, and donor reports to campus departments, development officers, and the Foundation and Alumni Association.
• students by providing billing information and helping them find ways to manage and pay for their educational expenses. Regular hours and locations are maintained throughout the year, including the summer, as a convenience to students and departments. Individualized attention and financial counseling from the Bursar’s Office helps students with their financial concerns, which allows them to concentrate on their academic pursuits and prepare them for their futures.
• State of Illinois by vouchering payments due from the State, ensuring appropriations are spent for their intended purpose, and monitoring their collection, preparing required financial and property reports, and handling the University and its related organizations’ annual audits.
• bondholders by providing accurate information when bonds are issued and continuing disclosures.

What are the services provided? How do these services align with the university mission and program mission?

See above.

Describe the program’s origins (e.g. year established, purpose, expectations).

The Business Office’s functions can be traced to the founding of the University.  The need for accountability to taxpayers, students, bondholders, grantors, and donors has always been necessary.

How has the unit changed or adapted over time?

While accounting and reporting have been required from the beginning, the Business Office has adapted to changing demands and requirements by adding functions such as student billings, property control, management of loan funds, gift receipting, cash and investment management, grant accounting, management of accounts receivable, accounting system security, and adding a Cashier location at the Union. Over the years, the office continues to explore the use of technology to better serve customers and become more cost effective, including developing on-line reporting, electronic archiving of reports, and electronic billing and payment methods.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program’s history and relevance to university mission.

Provide data, if available, on the numbers of students, faculty, staff, or others served by the program during the past four years. If no data are available, please estimate the numbers served annually.

The Business Office provides services to different constituencies.

• Number of gift receipts issued in FY13: 8,313
• Number of student refunds in FY13: 15,449
• Number of receipts for cashiers in FY13: 94,637
• Number of types of required reports issued per year: 34*
• Number of vendor disbursements issued in FY13: 15,383
• Number of journal entry adjustments requested in FY13: 174,919 lines
• Number of Banner orgs supported at 11/13/13: 2,973
• Number of active grants during FY13: 163
• Number of fixed asset tags at 6/30/13: 27,952
• Number of staff at 11/13/13: 23

* includes each type of report once and excludes grants

Does the program offer any co-curricular opportunities for students (e.g., internships, RSO support, service-learning activities)? Please describe.

When feasible, the office hires student workers to handle administrative and accounting functions. We have worked with the School of Business at times when hiring.

Does the program contribute to the delivery of academic programs (e.g., providing professional expertise, serving as adjunct faculty)? Please describe.

The office’s purpose is to support, not to directly interact, with academic programs. We provide accounting reports for the management of the academic function. Various staff members serve in local organizations and University committees. At times, staff does assist in teaching University Foundations courses.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the internal demand for the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., curriculum changes made by another program) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

Is the program accredited or approved by a recognized external agency or otherwise certified to meet established professional standards? Provide an executive summary of and link to the program’s most recent accreditation or certification report, if available.

The Business Office’s functions are reviewed and audited yearly by various auditors as required by State statute and grant and other agreements. The office has 8 accountants with 83 years combined experience in Eastern’s Business Office. Three accountants have CPA certificates, with two being members of the American Institute of CPAs and one being a past President of the area chapter of the Illinois CPA Society. Four accountants have their MBA degrees. Both of the technology support staff have masters degrees in technology. The Bursar’s area has 10 staff with 98 years of combined experience.

Is the program required to meet any regulatory or legal requirements? Is the program subject to any special auditing requirements?

The Business Office is responsible for and responds to a great number of the regulatory and reporting requirements from State and Federal governments. The Business Office assists with the issuance of bonds and other financings and compliance reporting. The Business Office handles the University’s annual financial and compliance audits, as well as those of specific campus units, the Alumni Association, and Foundation.

What are the most important outreach or public service activities supported by the program?

Our function is to support the University so it may support the community and region. As examples, we helped issue Certificates of Participation to build the Renewable Energy Center, the Doudna Fine Arts Building, and renovations to Blair Hall. We assisted with the issuance of revenue bonds that paid for continuing improvements within the Union, Student Recreation Center, and residence halls.

How do the local community and the region benefit from the program?

See above.

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the external demand for the program.

What are the two or three more important measureable outcomes tracked to assess program quality? Does the program conduct an outcomes assessment, and if so, what has been the impact?

Two primary outcomes from the Business Office that are assessed by management are:

• Unqualified audit opinions – The Business Office prepares an annual financial report for the University that is audited by the State. It is important for the auditor’s opinion to be unqualified because the audit reports are used by State decision-makers, University decision-makers, grantors, donors, and bondholders.
• Consistency of billing and collections – Billings are accurate and timely, which provide a consistent revenue stream for the University.

What are the two or three most effective best practices that the program has implemented? What benefits have been gained from implementing these best practices?

1.  Technology – The Business Office uses technology to provide comprehensive, user-friendly, and timely reporting for use by the campus and outside parties. Examples include

• creating special reporting for endowments, Athletics, grants, and the Television/Radio Center
• providing campus departments with on-demand reports
• instituting and maintaining electronic billing and payment systems
• setting up web applications for billing and collection of department sales and services
• creating a web application for the annual equipment inventory
• creating a mobile application to allow a student to view and pay his/her student account
• creating special financial dashboard reporting for campus needs

2.  Training – The Business Office trains customers to use the financial information provided. Examples include:

• training of individual campus departmental users on Banner Finance and available reporting tools
• leading sessions in the financial manager responsibilities and Leading Edge training series
• speaking to parents at orientation about the student billing and payment process

What external recognitions (e.g., awards, accommodations, professional certifications, references in trade publications) have the program and its staff received in the past three years?

The annual financial audit has produced an unqualified opinion.

Is the program active with any regional, national, or international professional organizations?

Not applicable.

Note any presentations, publications, or offices held in the last three years.

Not applicable.

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the quality of program outcomes.

Note any special benefits (e.g., personnel support, equipment, permanent improvements) that the program has received in the past three years from its grants and other sponsored programs.

Not applicable.

How does the program benefit from donor gifts (e.g., scholarships, endowed chairs)? Does donor support provide a significant percentage of the program’s overall funding?

As an internal service function, the Business Office is not in a position to receive gifts or grants.

List two or three key relationships that the program maintains with external constituencies (e.g., community colleges, other universities, government bodies). How do these relationships advance the university mission or otherwise benefit the university?

The Business Office does maintain relationships with granting agencies, such as the US Department of Education, and various state agencies, including the Comptroller’s Office, the Treasurer’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Auditor General’s Office, and rating agencies, such as Standard & Poors and Moody’s.

We actively collaborate with Ellucian and Evisions to enhance and improve the functionality of their software to increase quality, efficiency, and productivity of the campus; those recommendations are then utilized by other universities.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the resources generated by the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., revenue pass-throughs) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

The revenues noted above require explanation.  The student activity clearing and indirect cost revenues are reported in Business Office funds, but are not available to be spent for Business Office purposes.  The finance charge fund is held by the Business Office, but is used to pay for credit card fees incurred across the campus and write-offs of student accounts receivable.

Provide an executive summary of and link to any metrics or benchmarks that the program tracks to measure productivity.

The Business Office has used technology to improve its service, such as automating processes, including issuing checks, transferring equipment between custodians, check reconciliations, opening and closing funds/orgs, changing the location of equipment, and the annual equipment inventory. Reports in Argos and Crystal Reports are used to provide better access to information, resulting in faster and easier responses to customer inquiries.

What initiatives has the program implemented to enhance staff productivity (e.g., access to training, workflow improvements)? Briefly describe the costs and benefits of these initiatives.

By using technology, the Business Office has been able to reduce its staffing by three upper-level positions, including the only A&P position in the office, (out of 26 original positions) since implementing Banner. Responsibilities of two positions have been redistributed, and positions have been reclassified for cost savings. An additional position has been added, which is paid by the Foundation. Two positions have also been transferred from other University departments’ funds to the Business Office due to funding concerns in the other University areas. Cashiers have also taken on check proofing and mailing, which was previously a task in the Procurement area.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the productivity of the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., accreditation requirements, curricular changes, program restructuring) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the costs associated with the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., expenditures made centrally or externally, expenditures made on behalf of other units) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

The Business Office functions as a service department to other campus departments, but the financial information presented shows some expenses directly associated with other departments. These include the University’s student account write-offs (approximately $1,586,000), the University’s audit fees (approximately $124,000), credit card fees (approximately $459,000), and personnel costs for 11 employees of other Business Affairs areas (approximately $584,000 for FY13), and supplies such as payroll checks. Additionally, the numbers presented include compensated absences, and other benefits for the entire university.

As previously noted, the student fee clearing fund is administratively eported as a part of the Business Office, but is not available for Business Office spending.

How does the program seek to distinguish itself from similar programs at other institutions?

We communicate and share with other public universities to determine best practices and the effect of new laws and regulations.

Note any unique and/or essential contributions that the program makes to the university.

Our function is to support the University so it may fulfill its mission.

• Financial sustainability – As good stewards, we only spend what is absolutely necessary. We continue to look for and use technology for cost savings. For example, e-billing and direct deposits save paper, printing, staff time, and postage. We have reduced personnel and reclassified positions and use scanning and email when practical.
• Technology – We are proactive in using technologies to provide departments with desired tools to make management decisions and increase efficiency in reporting.

Provide any program-specific metrics that help to document program contributions or program quality. Examples of some commonly used program-specific metrics may be found here.

Assessment has been discussed previously.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program impact on the university mission.

Provide a link to or listing of the program’s goals and/or strategic plan.

1.  We continue to look at using technology to improve our function.

2.  We would like to increase the availability of information to the campus community, including revisions to the Fiscal Agent Handbook and improving our department’s web pages.

3.  We will continue to look at the redistribution of responsibilities to gain efficiencies.

What role will the program have in the implementation of the university’s strategic plan (provide link to strategic plan)?

We provide support to assist in most of the strategic themes; however, our area ties most logically with financial sustainability.  We will continue to provide University management and departments with accurate and timely financial information needed to make decisions as they operate their areas.  We will also continue to provide students with individualized attention and financial counseling so they can concentrate on their academic pursuits.

In the next two or three years, what best practices, improvements in operations, or other opportunities to advance the university’s mission are likely to be implemented?

We continue to look at using technology and improvements in communications, transaction processing, and reporting. We would like to increase the availability of information to the campus community, including revisions to the Fiscal Agent Handbook and improving our department’s web pages. We will continue to look at the redistribution of responsibilities to gain efficiencies.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand future opportunities for the program.