Monitoring and Reconciling Unapplied Cash Receipts

Basis for Procedure

This document describes the procedure for monitoring and reconciling unapplied cash receipts applied by the Finance Office at the Research Foundation (RF) central office and outlines the responsibilities of the Finance Office as the corporate office of record for cash receipts.

Note: Operating locations that post their own cash receipts should have similar procedures in place and the procedures should be documented.

Procedure Summary

Accurate and timely posting of cash receipts is critical to maintaining accurate award cash balances. Daily incoming payments are identified and posted to outstanding Accounts Receivable (AR) invoices. Occasionally, the amount of an incoming payment does not match an open invoice or cannot be identified. The cash receipt will be left unapplied, and research will be conducted to identify where the payment should be applied.

For all cash receipts that cannot be identified and remain unapplied, a scanned copy of the original cash receipt is electronically attached to the cash receipt in the RF business application. For more information on the cash receipt process, refer to the procedure Cash Receipts Function.

Procedure for Monitoring and Reconciling Unapplied Cash Receipts

Decentralized Operating Locations

For decentralized locations, the campus is expected to make all necessary and reasonable efforts to monitor unapplied cash receipts.

Centralized Operating Locations

For centralized operating locations, unapplied cash receipts are monitored by central office in the Office of Sponsored Program Services and the Finance Office. In addition, the Finance Office, as the office of record for the RF, is responsible for other duties that are outlined in the next section.

Office of REcord Responsibilities - Finance Office, Central Office

As the corporate office of record, the RF Finance Office is responsible for the following:

• Entering information relevant to identification and posting on the cash receipt record in the RF business system. This information is entered in the Comments field of the Receipt Information flex field for the cash receipt. Entering the 3-digit campus location in the Location field of the Receipt Information flex field.
• For unapplied cash receipts entered by Central Office, scanning and attaching all relevant documentation to assist in the timely identification and posting of incoming cash.
• Making every attempt to identify and post incoming cash in a timely manner.
• Contacting campus and central office stakeholders to help in the timely identification and posting of incoming cash.
• Contacting sponsors to help in the timely identification and posting of incoming cash.
• Return of incoming cash to sender if it is determined not to belong to the RF.
• Return of incoming cash to sender if all efforts to post the cash receipt are exhausted and the cash receipt cannot be posted.

Monitoring Unapplied Cash Receipts

Monitoring unapplied cash receipts is performed using the RF Unapplied Cash Inquiry responsibility in the RF business system. Operating locations should run and review the report RF Unapplied Receipts Register available in the Accounts Receivable module of the Oracle business application to identify unapplied cash receipts. For more information on the report, refer to the report description document RF Unapplied Receipts Register.

The report should be run weekly, at a minimum, without parameters to view all unapplied cash receipts that require follow-up. In addition, the report should be run daily using the location parameter to see all unapplied cash receipts that require immediate attention. Any cash receipts that warrant further investigation should be reviewed in the RF business system using the RF Unapplied Cash Inquiry responsibility and the Receipt Inquiry menu.

Each unapplied cash receipt will have an electronic attachment of the scanned cash receipt and any relevant information received from the payer with the cash receipt. Users can view and print the attachments as needed. These attachments are in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat will be needed to view and print.

Note: To view attachments, you must have the cash receipt selected, and then click the paperclip icon on the toolbar, and then select "open document." The attachment will open in Abode Acrobat. Once opened, you can print the attachment by selecting File> Print from the Adobe menu bar.

Reconciling Unapplied Cash Receipts

As soon as an operating location identifies where a cash receipt should be applied, e-mail RF Deposits at central office with the following information:

• receipt number.
• receipt amount.
• receipt batch name.
• award and/or AR invoice number the receipt should be applied to.
  Note: This information is available in the RF Unapplied Receipts Register.

Definitions

None

Related Information

All correspondence related to the identification process should be documented in the Comments field of the cash receipt in the RF business system and when necessary attached as scanned documents to the cash receipts.

Once a cash receipt has been identified, operating locations must provide any additional correspondence and/or documentation to the Finance Office at central office. The Finance Office will then enter any additional information directly on the cash receipt in the RF business system in the Comments field of the Receipt Information flex field. When required, additional documentation received will also be scanned and added as an additional electronic attachment to the cash receipt in the RF business system.

Forms

None

Change History