Cash Posting Order (CPO) Procedures for Campus Departments

Background and Purpose

Cash Posting Orders (CPOs) are the tool used to move cash between Sac State and either another CSUcampus or the Chancellor's Office (CO). Any transfer between two or more CSU campuses or Sac State and the CO should be processedwith a CPO. All CPO transfers should be requested through the Accounting ServicesOffice.

Examples of CPO’s:

  • Travel reimbursements from the CO
  • Payments to another campus for conference registration
  • Reimbursements by CO or other CSU campus for a portion of salary

Contacts

The first point of contact for a Sac State department should always be the following Accounting Services Office staff:

Jennifer Barrett (x86019 or )

Nicole Sharkey (x87438 or )

Chancellor's Office - Financial Services - Accounting

Steps to request a CPO

In general, the campus who will be receiving the cash should initiate the CPO request as it is assumed that this campus would have most of the information needed. However, this ruleis not hard and fast. As long as communication is very clear on who will initiate the CPOrequest, it is ok to have either campus begin the process. The goal is to do only one CPO. Two CPO's or no CPO would only cause more work for everyone to correct.

  1. Campus department gathers the following information:
  2. Contact phone number and email addresses for departmental and accounting personnel involved from both campuses involved in the agreement.
  3. Any documentation that will provide sufficient details to calculate the dollar amount to be transferred, the time period covered, and what is being paid for. This can take the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), memos, email string, or other document. Note: A CPO can only be processed for the current fiscal year.If an agreement spans more than one fiscal year, a new CPO request will need to be initiated by the Sac State department at the beginning of the new year.
  4. Approval/acceptance of the amount to be charged from the campus that will be paying. This can take many forms. It can be a signature on an MOU or an email from an employee authorized to approve expenditures.
  5. Chartstring where charges should be posted or where credit should be posted when the final CPO is received.
  6. Campus department forwards above information and backup documents via email to the Accounting Services Office. Jennifer Barrett and Nicole Sharkey are the Accounting Services contacts, as noted above.
  7. Accounting Services Office reviews information and requests more information if necessary.
  8. Once the information is complete, Accounting Services Office prepares a CPO request form, attaches the appropriate documents and contact information, and submits via email to the CO. Accounting will typically copy the Sac State department when the email request is sent to the CO.
  9. The CO-Accounting Office reviews the documents provided and gets approval from either the CO-other department or from the other campus using the contact information provided on the CPO request.
  10. The CO generates the final CPO and distributes to the campuses involved.
  11. Campuses affected by the CPO post to the General Ledger (G/L) using the chartstring provided earlier in the process.
  12. At Sac State, a CPO journal entry (JE) will always be posted using JE number “9”. The naming convention is MMMYY0009#. The # equals the next available letter (starting with A going to Z). The month, year and date will come from the CPO. For example,if the CPO is dated 2/22/13 then the JE will be FEB130009#dated 2/22/13.

Examples of CPO’s

Example #1 - Travel Reimbursement Process through CO (or other CSU)

  1. Employee gets confirmation that the Chancellor’s Office (CO) will reimburse for travel. This usually is for the employee to travel to the CO for CO or systemwide business. The CO will usually provide an email or other document showing pre-approval for reimbursement of travel expenses and any conditions/restrictions that might apply. (e.g. CO will only reimburse up to a certain dollar amount or for mileage and airfare only)
  2. Employee travels to CO to perform work and retains all receipts.
  3. Employee submits receipts, approved travel reimbursement form, and any other required documents to Sac State-A/P for reimbursement. BE SURE TO CHECK BOX AT BOTTOM OF TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT FORM THAT SAYS “Dept to be reimbursed by Chancellor’s Office”
  4. Sac State-Accounts Payable (AP) office pays employee claim form and forwards the claim and supporting documents to Sac State-Accounting Services (to Jennifer Barrett or Nicole Sharkey.) AP knows to do this because reimbursement box is checked.

  1. Accounting Services prepares CPO request, attaches supporting documents, and forwards to the CO’s Accounting Office. Accounting should copySac State-department and CO-department or other CSU to advise that CPO request is pending.
  2. CO Accounting Office secures approval from either another CO department or from another CSU.
  3. CO generates final CPO and sends to appropriate campuses.
  4. Sac State-Accounting Services posts the travel reimbursement as abatement to the same chartstring where the employee was reimbursed from originally. The net effect of the original travel payment to the employee and the CPO reimbursement is zero. There should be no net increase or decrease to the department for a travel reimbursement unless the CO only reimburses a portion of the expenditure.
  5. The CPO journal entry (JE) will always be posted using JE number “9”. The naming convention is MMMYY0009#. The # equals the next available letter (starting with A going to Z). The month, year and date will come from the CPO. For example, if the CPO is dated 2/22/13 then the JE will be FEB130009# dated 2/22/13.

Example #2 - Conference Hosted by Sac State and Attended by Other CSU or CO Employees

  1. Sac State department makes all conference arrangements and compiles a final list of attendees.
  2. Sac State department waits until after the registration close date and then submits to Sac State-Accounting Services a final list of attendees. This can take the form of copies/scans of the conference registration forms that were completed by the other campuses or it could be a list of attendees, with campus, and maybe even a sign in sheet. We are looking for some sort of agreement/proof that the other campus would attend the conference and pay the fee. We wait until after close of registration so that we can do one CPO request rather than multiple requests.

Sac State department also includes a chartstring where expenditures for the conference were, or will be, posted. When the final CPO is received, the reimbursement and the expenditures should be matched up in the same chartstring.

  1. Sac State Accounting Services prepares CPO request and forwards to CO-Accounting along with backup documents. Sac State-Accounting Office should cc the department when CPO Request is sent.
  2. CO generates final CPO and sends to all appropriate campuses.
  3. Sac State-Accounting Office posts credit (incoming money) to the chartstring provided by the department where expenditures for the conference were originally posted. Sac State-Accounting Office notifies the department that the final CPO has been posted. Department can find reimbursement on their records by looking for a journal ID like MMMYY0009# (E.g. DEC120009A or MAR130009F). The month and year come from the date on the final CPO.

Example #3 - CO or other CSU Campus reimburses Sac State for a portion of Salary

  1. Sac State employee (usually a faculty member) gathers together information on reimbursement.

Typical information needed:

  1. Employee Name.
  2. Employee campus ID.
  3. Time frame of work to be provided to CO or other campus.

e.g. Fall 2012, Spring 2013, or specific dates

  1. Scope of work to be provided.
  2. How much will be reimbursed. The calculations for amounts to be reimbursed are often provided or assisted by Sac State Budget Office.
  3. Documentation of above showing approval by CO or campusproviding the reimbursement. This can take the form of an MOU or emails or can include a Release Time Calculation Sheet (provided by the Sac State Budget Office.)
  4. Chartstring where employee is paid.
  1. Sac State employee provides above information to their department or college staff responsible for Human Resources (HR) transactions. Department/college staff is responsible for collaborating with the HR and Budget Offices on calculations and securing additional pay for the employee (if this applies.)
  2. Once all of the details are worked out and documented, the department forwards the information to Accounting Services. All supporting backup documents should be attached to an email request to the Accounting staff.
  3. Accounting staff will review the documents and request further information and backup as needed.
  4. When all information has been received, Accounting will create a CPO request and send it to the CO Accounting Office for processing. Sac State-Accounting should cc the department staff when the CPO is sent.
  5. CO reviews CPO request and generates the final CPO. CO sends to appropriate campuses involved.
  6. Sac State Accounting Services posts the final CPO as an abatement (credit) to the same chartstring from where employee was originally paid.

Accounting Office notifies the department that the final CPO has been posted. Department can find reimbursement on their records by looking for a journal ID like MMMYY0009# (E.g. DEC120009A or MAR130009F). The month and year come from the date on the final CPO.

Cash Posting Order (CPO) Procedures for Campus Departments

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