Inter-Unit Journals (IUJ)

Effective Date:  02/01/2011
Revision Date:  02/01/2011

In an effort to reduce the labor and cost of writing and depositing checks between business units, the UW System encourages the use of an Inter-Unit Journal (IUJ) using the Journal Entry Tool (JET) to record expenses and/or revenues, as well as transfer cash, between the business units in a mutually agreeable manner.

JET also has a JRT – Non-Salary Cost Transfer journal available to be used for transfers within the same business unit. Access to the JRT journal should be given by the user’s campus WISDM Business Unit Administrator (BU Admin).

Accountability:

It is important for users to understand the power of the IUJ and the responsibility the user has for ensuring the approval and accuracy of the financial information being entered into JET. The access to IUJ must be limited to needed users in the Controller’s business office and there should not be wide-spread access across the campus. Transactions that are entered into JET are interfaced and posted to the SFS general ledger. The general ledger is the source of information sent to the Department of Administration (DOA) and the upload to WISDM, where it can be viewed by each business unit.

The user has a responsibility that the data included in the IUJ/JET entries:

• Meets the criteria set forth in this policy

• Adheres to the terms of the user agreement in the UW System IUJ/JET Access form

• Contains valid funding strings

• Corresponds with the level of security given to the user

• Meets accounting requirements in DOA and UW System accounting policies

Transactions entered through JET encounter “edits” prior to being submitted to SFS. However, JET does not currently have the ability to catch every type of error that could exist. JET users should recognize this and take the necessary steps to ensure that entries do not violate any of the above criteria.

Transactions entered into JET cannot be deleted once they are submitted. A complete reversal or partial correction would need to be submitted for any changes.

Users for all business units (except UWMSN) obtain authorization to use Inter-Unit Journals through JET by completing the UW System IUJ/. The UW System IUJ/JET Access Form must be signed by the user, signed by the business unit Controller, and forwarded to the WISDM Business Unit Administrator who signs the form and gives IUJ access to the user in WISDM. The completed UW System IUJ/JET Access Forms must remain on file at each business unit.

UWMSN has its own policies and procedures in place for authorizing and providing access to JET. UWMSN users must obtain authorization and access to use Inter-Unit Journals through JET from UWMSN Accounting Services, but are still required to adhere to all other policies set forth in this document to use Inter-Unit Journals.

It is the responsibility of the business unit Controllers to notify their WISDM Business Unit Administrator when a user’s authorization should be deleted from the system by forwarding the UW System IUJ/JET Access Form with the “remove access” box checked.

An Inter-Unit Journal (IUJ) can be used to record expenses and/or revenues between business units for transactions such as:

• Billing of services
• Payment of registration for conferences
• Charging back expenses
• Allocating assessments
• Distributing revenue such as interest or rebates
• Transferring grant payments (specific coding required)
• Payment of an Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA)

The IUJ only requires the entry of the expense or revenue account lines. JET automatically enters the cash account lines when the IUJ is submitted. Never key the cash line.

The rules below apply to all users, except the Payroll Service Center and UW System users:

An IUJ is not allowed to be submitted with balance sheet accounts.
An IUJ is only allowed to be submitted with Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) salary and fringe accounts. All other salary and fringe accounts are not allowed on an IUJ.

Transaction must be an allowable use of the IUJ. An IUJ must only contain one type of transaction for audit trail purposes. Do not post multiple types of transactions within the same IUJ.
Before submitting an IUJ, the user must:

• Contact the business unit to provide supporting documentation and request approval to process an IUJ. Click here for a list of IUJ Contacts. See below requirements for recurring versus non-recurring transactions.
• Use funding provided by the business unit.
• Ensure posting date is agreed upon by the business units.

After the IUJ is posted in JET, the user must:

• Print the IUJ document or export the IUJ to an excel file, and retain according to the record retention policy.
• Provide supporting documentation to the business units involved.
• Documentation for recurring transactions must be in accordance with the agreement.
• Documentation for a non-recurring transaction must be an email with the IUJ file and documentation file(s) attached. The email must go to the contact person at the business unit as well as any other people at the campus involved with the transaction that need documentation. Click the button on the upper right of this page for a list of IUJ Contacts.

The UW System JET and IUJ User Manual provides instructions how to install JET on a PC and how to use JET to prepare and submit an Inter-Unit Journal. UW System Administration will provide operational assistance to business units when needed. Each business unit is asked to designate a staff person to be the IUJ/JET primary contact that would seek assistance from UW System Administration.

Transactions that occur on a regularly scheduled basis (monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc) and are an expected or known transaction by all business units involved. Some examples are UW System assessments, UW System interest distribution, UW Madison MDS billing, etc.

Business units that want to use the IUJ for recurring transactions must ensure proper communication with all business units involved in the transaction and outline an agreement. UW System requires that agreements for recurring transactions be documented in writing using email or a memo.

Agreements for recurring transactions must contain the details about:

• Frequency of transactions
• Funding strings to be used
• Posting dates to be used
• Documentation to be provided
• The business unit which will be entering and posting the IUJ

The business unit being charged an expense or receiving a revenue must approve the agreement for the recurring transaction and has the right to refuse the agreement. Once the agreement is approved, the recurring transactions may be posted using the agreed upon schedule without needing to get approval each time a transaction is to be posted. UW System encourages business units to cooperate and agree to these recurring transactions to ensure efficiencies and achieve the purpose of this policy.

Transactions that do not occur on a regularly scheduled basis, may be unexpected, and business units involved do not know all of the transaction details. Some examples are grant payments between institutions, Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) payments, charging back expenses, etc.

Business units that want to use the IUJ for non-recurring transactions must ensure proper communication with all business units involved in the transaction. Business units must provide supporting documentation for non-recurring transactions when requesting approval from other business units. UW System requires that approval for non-recurring transactions be obtained using email to document the approval, funding string, agreed upon posting date, and the business unit which will be entering and posting the IUJ. The business unit being charged an expense or receiving a revenue has the right to refuse the posting of the non-recurring transaction.

Posting Dates for IUJs in JET

JET uses the date the IUJ is submitted as the journal date, except for fiscal year end. At fiscal year end, JET will only post to Period 13 of the prior fiscal year during the first week of July. Once UW Madison closes JET for Period 13, JET will only post to the new fiscal year.

An IUJ cannot be back-dated.

The IUJ must not be used to post recurring or non-recurring transactions to other business units during Period 13 unless the business units involved agree to the posting of an IUJ in Period 13. Every effort should be made to minimize the posting of an IUJ that will record a new expense or revenue in Period 13. As a result, business units may need to adjust billing cycles to accommodate fiscal year end.

Monitoring the Inter-Unit Journals Posted to Your Business Unit:

An nVision report has been developed to assist the business units in determining when any IUJs have posted to their business unit. This nVision report must be run at least monthly at each business unit. The nVision report will identify what funding and description was used on the IUJ, identify the user that posted the IUJ, and provide columns to track whether supporting documentation has been received and when, whether the business unit clearing account was used, and to document the journal number used to clear the entry from the clearing account.

• From the UW nVision Report Request Selection Center, Category should equal “JOURNAL” and Sub Category should equal “LINE”. Click on JRNL_IUJ Detail IUJ Info-Prompts BU, Jrnl Dates.
• Enter your 'Business Unit'.
• Enter your 'From Date' and 'To Date'.
• Submit parameters and run report.
• When opened in Excel, click the 'Subtotal by Journal ID' (make sure macros are enabled).
• The Operid-User column provides the user that posted the IUJ. Because an IUJ is posted through JET which is part of WISDM, the user id will begin with the 3 digit business unit, the user’s first initial, and the user’s last name.

An Inter-Unit Journal (IUJ) falls under the following record retention schedule:

FISC600 Journal Entries

Records include all supporting documentation for journal uploads or entries into the Shared Financial System General Ledger. These may include, but are not limited to: internal transfers (chargebacks), payment transfers, revenue transfers, budget transfers, and budget entries for projects. Also included is documentation supporting the allocation of purchasing card expenditures, as well as supporting documentation for project budgets.

Retention Time Period

Original Document: Fiscal year of creation + additional 6 years, and thereafter destroy.
Duplicates: Destroy when no longer needed. Do not retain duplicates longer than original.

Fiscal and accounting general records schedule (PDF; 17 pages; Last updated 11/2012)