MARTIN’S MILL ISD
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES MANUAL
2014-2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Business Office Mission Statement
Activity Accounts
Budget Amendments
Budget Transfers
Cash/Check Handling
Check Processing
Copiers
Credit Cards
Donation and Gifts
Federal Funds
Field Trips
Fiscal Year
Fixed Assets & Inventory
Gift Cards
Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Form
Invoices
On-Line Processing
Payroll Procedures
Petty Cash Account
Purchasing Deadlines
Purchase Requisition & Order forms
Purchasing Policy
Receiving of Goods
Rental of facilities
Returned Checks
Sale of School Property
Sales Tax Exemption Form
Travel Expense-Advances & Settlements
Vendors
Introduction
This Fiscal Manual has been prepared to provide general information to help service the Martin’s Mill ISD employees concerning business functions. This is just an overview and more information is available within the district’s Board policies or other web resources.
Please feel free to contact the business office at any time when you need help with any business operation.
Business Office Mission Statement
Martin’s Mill Independent School Districts Business Office Mission is to be the best support to the
District including students, staff, parents, board, and community in reaching excellence financially and instructually.
Activity Accounts
Student activity funds shall be collected and deposited to the business office daily. Refer to Activity Fund Handbook. All monies collected should be receipted in a receipt book.
Student activity funds shall be used exclusively for the benefit of the students. All expenditures and payments to vendors shall be centralized through the business office.
To establish an activity account, an organization should have an approved constitution and elected officers. The assigned sponsor (professional staff member) shall be responsible for the proper management of the student activity accounts. All activity account records must be maintained for a period of seven (7) years.
Activity Handbook
Cash Count Deposit Form
Fund Raiser approval Form
Budget Amendments
Budget amendments must be approved by the School Board. Requests should be submitted in accordance with agenda deadlines posted by the Superintendent. All donations will be Board approved. Money will not be used until after the Board approval.
Budget Transfers
A budget transfer is a transfer of funds from function to function. The Business office will approve all budget transfers. To keep budget transfers to a minimum, each budget manager should review his/her budget on at least a monthly basis to determine if any budget transfers are necessary. Each budget manager is encouraged to limit budget transfers. Below is a form to use for a request to transfer funds.
Federal funds have different guidelines to follow and must be aligned with Federal Grant.
Budget Transfer Form
Cash/Check Handling
All cash and checks shall be deposited to the Business Office on a daily basis. No post dated checks will be accepted. Funds should not be kept in classrooms, personal wallets, or at home for extended periods of time. No cash purchases should be made at any time. Every dollar collected should be receipted and deposited to the business office with two (2) counters and signatures. Deposits will be recounted (verified) and signed by business office personnel. All deposits will be logged onto deposit log. Business Office will make bank deposits daily.
Athletic gate receipts shall be recorded on an athletic gate receipts form and submitted to the business office with deposit. There must be two signatures (counters) on form.
Employee or other checks shall not be cashed from monies collected at the campus or district level to ensure an adequate audit trail of all funds collected by the district.
Athletic Gate receipts form
Concession receipts form
Check Processing
Business office checks will be printed, endorsed, and released on a weekly basis. Generally checks will be generated on Thursday afternoon. All check requests such as travel, reimbursements, contracted services, etc. shall be approved by the appropriate principal or administrator and submitted to the business office a week in advance or by (Wednesday afternoon in an emergency situation) including all supporting documentation. See attached forms. The appropriate forms shall be used for travel and reimbursement. Requests received after this time will be processed the following week. The Business office will determine when vendors will be paid, so employees should not make prior commitments to vendors about check disbursements.
Checks not cashed by the expiration date (90 days from date of issue) will be voided. A new check will be reissued at a fee of $25.00 if the payee requests a reissue. Otherwise, the funds will be distributed in accordance the State of Texas Unclaimed Property Guidelines.
Reimbursement Form
Travel Form
Mileage Reimbursement Form
Copiers
The district owns several copiers that are strategically placed in different campuses or departments. The copiers are for district use only. Payment for personal copies shall be made immediately to the business office. See the business office for costs.
Credit Cards
See credit card policy
Credit card policy
Donation and Gifts
Donation or gifts of cash or cash equivalents to the school district shall become property of the school district after board approval. District employees are prohibited by law from intentionally or knowingly offering, conferring, soliciting, accepting, or agreeing to accept a personal gift or benefit.
Donations will be posted to the appropriate account as stated by donor. Any equipment shall be tagged and added to the district inventory.
Federal Funds
All Federal Guidelines will be followed on all and any Grants. Various guidelines are mentioned throughout the Fiscal Manual. Draw downs will be performed monthly after payroll processing for expenditures of Federal Funds.
Field Trips
All field trips must be approved at campus level. A purchase order shall be submitted for admission fees, meals, etc. if any. Any monies collected must be deposited to the Business office. In addition, a field trip lunch request must be submitted to the Food Service Director. If a district owned vehicle or bus is needed this must be submitted to the transportation department. All of this should be submitted at least a week in advance of the trip.
Fiscal Year
The fiscal year begins on September 1 and ends on August 31. All good or services received and invoiced during these dates must be paid from current fiscal year funds.
Fixed Assets & Inventory
Fixed assets are defined as equipment with a unit value over $5000. These assets are tracked and recorded on the district’s financial general ledger. Fixed assets that are stolen, obsolete, damaged beyond repair, etc. should be reported to the Business office for removal from the district’s financial records.
Gift Cards
Gift cards shall not be issued to staff without prior approval from the Business office according to IRS rules.
Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Form
This form shall be used for school related travel to conferences, workshops, etc. Copies may be obtained from the business office or via the web at the link below. Lodging taxes which should have been exempt will be unauthorized for reimbursement if the traveler fails to present the tax form to the hotel. The traveler will be held responsible for charges, if any.
Hotel Tax Exempt Form
Invoices
Vendors are required to submit all invoices to the business office, yet occasionally an invoice will be mailed directly to a campus or department. If any invoices are received at the campus they should be forwarded to the business office immediately. If the district fails to pay promptly the vendor can assess penalty interest charges.
The business office will issue invoices for reimbursement requests from outside entities as needed. The invoices are tracked so that funds are collected on a timely bases.
On Line Purchasing
Since external vendor on line purchasing generally does not have internal controls which include
verification of available budgeted funds or allow tax exempt status, use of on line purchasing will be
limited. Business office approval is required.
Payroll Procedures
Every non-exempt employee must clock in and clock out daily through the Time Clock Plus timekeeping
System. Failure to clock in or out may result in non-payment of unverified work time. All
administrative supervisors shall sign off on the Weekly punch detail report. All corrections should be
submitted with correction forms where necessary.
All non-exempt employees shall comply with the work schedule assigned by their respective supervisor.
All overtime shall be preapproved by the Superintendent.
All employees shall complete an absence from duty form when absent from work to ensure that the
time off has been recorded in their leave record. Staff members shall report all absences and leave
requests to their immediate supervisor.
Extra Duty payment forms will be generated by the campus, approved by the campus administrator and
submitted to the Business office for payroll processing according to the pay schedule dates.
At the beginning of every school year each employee will be required to sign a salary letter verifying all
Information is correct before the first payroll of the school year is processed. If employee is paid from
Federal Funds they will be required to sign document and time and effort if paid through multiple funds.
Time Clock exceptions
Extra Duty Payment Form
Pay Schedule
Employee Absence From Duty Form
Petty Cash Account
Each campus is allowed to manage a petty cash account. Petty cash accounts are provided for
the convenience when minor emergencies arise unexpectedly. The principal or department
administrator shall be responsible to ensure that funds exist in the accounts, which will be
utilized to pay for the petty cash expenditures. At all times, the petty cash account shall be in
balance. The sum of the disbursed cash, purchase receipts, and/or cash shall equal the
authorized amount.
Purchasing Deadlines
In an effort to maximize the use of budgeted funds during the current fiscal year, the purchasing deadline for supplies and equipment shall be May 1st. Summer needs for staff development and summer school should be anticipated and ordered prior to May 1st deadline. Purchasing documents for services and travel should be submitted by August 1st. At times, the purchasing deadlines for state or federal grants may be earlier than the deadlines stated above due to grant ending dates.
Purchase Requisition and Order Forms
A purchase order form is used to purchase supplies, equipment, or services from an external vendor. Requisition forms should be created in the TxEIS system by the requesting campus or department and submitted for approval. The electronic system allows users to enter purchase requests electronically, verify account balances, select pre-approved vendors, etc, at the point of data entry. Budget codes must be noted on all requisitions. After the requisitions pass all electronic approval paths, the purchase order form is automatically numbered for audit tracking purposes. No employee shall order or receive goods without an approved purchase order. A system requisition cannot be used to place an order.
All of these procedures will be followed plus any other legal procedures required for all federal money being spent with purchase orders.
Purchase requisition form
Purchasing Policy
See Board Policy
Purchase Order-Student Activity
Refer to Student Activity Handbook
Receiving of Goods
The district utilizes a centralized receiving system-all goods are delivered to the Administration Building. All orders will be delivered to the respective campus or department with a packing list for check off and verification of receipt. Discrepancies, if any, should be reported to the Business Office. Upon receipt of the packing slip and invoice, the vendor will be paid for the order. Staff members that receive authorization to pick up goods directly from a vendor (WalMart) shall submit receipt to the Business office.
Rental of Facilities
The Superintendent shall coordinate the rental of district facilities. A rental agreement is required for all rentals of facilities by outside organizations. Fees, if any, will be negotiated at the time that the rental agreement is executed.
Returned Checks
Martin’s Mill ISD contracts with Paytek Solutions for all returned checks. Paytek solutions will attempt to reconcile with the maker of the returned check. The district reserves the right to reject future checks from makers of returned checks.
Sale of District Property-Surplus
All supplies and equipment which are deemed to be surplus (not of any use to the district) will be recommended to the Superintendent for sale. Neither district supplies, nor equipment, shall be sold unless authorized by the Superintendent or School Board.
Sales Tax Exemption Form
The sales tax exemption form shall be used for school-related purchases only. Misuse of the exemption form for personal purchases constitutes a misdemeanor. Copies of the exemption form may be obtained from the business office. Taxes which should have been exempt will be unauthorized for reimbursement if the exemption form is not presented to the vendor at the time of the purchase.
Travel Expense-Advance & Settlements
All travel requests shall be submitted at least two weeks prior to the travel event (meeting, conference, workshop, athletic event, etc.) The travel request will be forwarded to the appropriate administrator for electronic approval. The final approval will rest with the Superintendent.
The documentation of travel expenses is required before processing. The travel authorization form acts as an estimate of travel expenses and request for advancement of estimated travel expenses. The travel rates for meals, lodging, mileage, and airline are limited to the rates and amounts stated in district brochure.
The student travel authorization form shall be utilized by employees to request travel expenses such as registration¸ meals, transportation, lodging, etc. for students. The current student travel rates are $6, $8, $8.
All monies due to the traveler will be paid upon approval of the Business office and availability of budgeted funds.
Staff Travel Form
Student Travel Form
Travel Brochure
Vendors
Purchases from vendors that operate on cash basis (do not accept purchases orders) will not be allowed. The district participates in several cooperative purchasing programs. Region VII, TASB Buy Board, and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Priority should be given to these vendors since the goods and/or services have been subjected to the rigor of a competitive bid process.
Requests to add new vendors shall be accompanied by new vendor form, W-9 form, and Conflict of Interest Form.