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April 2021

Covid Grant Payroll Distribution Guidelines

Coding salaries to the new Covid grant finance dimensions is proving to be a challenge.  Some funds are being carried forward for one or more years which means districts will have to use different course numbers for each year (one time only), then the accounts have to be changed back.  Some salary accounts have to be coded differently up to 3 ways during the same fiscal year depending on when the funds were requested from MDE and spent by the district. All districts seem to have d...
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Covid Grant Reconciliation

As you are working through your accounting before the year end, remember that a great tool to use is the SERVS/UFARS budget comparison report. Currently you will not see any dollars in the UFARS columns, but this report will guide you on what your district has requested for Object and Course year so that you can make sure your revenue and expenses in UFARS match.Go to:  MDE/Data Center/Data Reports and Analytics/SERVS Financial Public ReportsChoose the year:  2020 for last year, 2...
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March 2021

Revenue Budgeting for FY22

A FY22 Revenue Projection Model is now available. This model has the correct FY22 levy data, however it is using the FY21 Whatif. The Whatif will be updated later this spring after the legislature makes any funding changes.  The Revenue Projection Model is available on MDE’s website using this link: https://public.education.mn.gov/MDEAnalytics/DataTopic.jsp?TOPICID=247If you would like assistance working on next year’s revenue budget, send Stacy, Kameron, or Wayne your FY22 pupi...
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Using Budget Workpapers for the FY22 Budget

The SMART Finance Budget Workpapers can be a very useful tool for completing the FY22 budget.  Here are some of the features that can be used: For both revenue and expense, as a starting point, copy the FY21 budget to FY22. For revenues, highlight the rows that have been addressed/changed by clicking the box in front of the account.  This will cause the line to highlight in yellow. For expenses, increase all accounts or ranges of account by a specified percent.  For example, incre...
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February 2021

Coding for IRS Leave Reimbursement

Districts are receiving direct payments from the IRS for Leave Reimbursement.  On the bottom of the check,you will see a reference to F-941. This revenue should be coded to finance 174 with source 405.
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January 2021

January 2021 TIP

You may want to consider setting LIFETAX up as a per pay period item starting in January so it is not forgottenin December each year (or during the year if the employee resigns).
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Revenue Budgeting Review

With the enrollment fluctuations and unexpected Covid revenue, now might be a good time to review both revenue and expenditure budgets. On the revenue side, note the following: Compare your current enrollment with the enrollment used to prepare the original budget.  If there are material differences, use MDE’s revenue projection model to review/change the revenue budget.  When using the Revenue Projection Model, on the Gen Ed tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet, don’t forg...
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December 2020

Cares Funding and UFARS Reporting

Here are some reminders: The revenue for finance 154 must be spent by 12/31. Coding expenditures for all CARES funding should mirror the application.  The application can be found under MDE>Data>Center>Data Reports and Analytics>UFARS/SERVS Budget Comparison. https://public.education.mn.gov/MDEAnalytics/DataTopic.jsp?TOPICID=126  
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Coming Soon...It's 1099 Time

We will be emailing 1099 instructions in the middle of December.  All 1099s must be efiled by 01/31/2021!  This leaves little time for corrections without jumping through hoops to e-file correcting 1099s. Initial accuracy is at a premium.  In preparation, please review your initial 1099 balances by going to Vendor Setup > Vendor 1099 Balance.  Enter 2020 in the Year column and click Find.
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Career Tech

Just a reminder that it is important to code all eligible expenses for Career Tech correctly in UFARS. Finance code 830, Program Codes 301,311,321,331,341,361,365,371,385,399,and 610, and Object codes 140,143,185,305,365,366,394,396,406,433,490.Career Tech revenue is based on eligible expenditures. If your UFARS expenses are lower or higher compared to the estimate when you certified your levy, you will have adjustments on future revenue.To review your Career Tech expenditures in SMART Finance, ...
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