Financial administrators monitor and clear fund overdrafts to maintain compliance with Stanford's fiscal policies and ensure accurate financial reporting. While fund overdrafts should be addressed throughout the year, all overdrafts exceeding $1,000 must be resolved by fiscal year-end close (YEC). The clearance process involves identifying the overdraft source, determining appropriate corrective action, and completing necessary journals or fund transfers. Learn more in the Topic Overview: Year-End Close.
Clear a Fund Overdraft at Year-End
Before You Start
Required access and permissions:
- Authority to view fund balances in OBI Financial Reporting using the Revenue and Fund Management (RFM)>Fund Statement report
- Authority to view expenditures using the Consolidated Expenditure Reporting>Expenditure Details report
- Knowledge of your department's organizational code and award scope
Important timing considerations:
- Critical deadline: All overdrafts >$1,000 must be cleared by fiscal year-end
- Correcting journals may need approval time before year-end close
- Go to OBI Financial Reporting
- Enter SUNet ID and password, if prompted
- Select the Dashboards menu from the toolbar
- Select the Revenue and Fund Management from the dropdown
- Select the radio button Period Selection: Beginning and Ending Period
- Enter the August GL Period in the format MMM-YYYY in both:
First GL Period Name
Last GL Period name - Enter other selection criteria as desired e.g. the Organization (department org code)
- Select Apply
- Review the Available Balance Amount (not the Fund Balance amount)
- Identify all awards with a deficit balance amounts of $1,000 or more
Overdrafts of Available Balance Amount are what counts and they may be less than the Fund Balance Amount due to negative Net Investments such as prepaid credit card charges.
- Select the Dashboards menu from the toolbar
- Select the Consolidated Expenditure Reporting from the dropdown
- Select Expenditure Details on the dashboard home page
- Select the radio button Period Selection: Fiscal Year to Date
- In GL Period Name enter the August GL Period in the format MMM-YYYY
- Enter Award Numbers identified as overdrafted
- Select Apply
- Examine award activity to determine the overdraft cause and required corrective action:
If overdraft is due to Net Investments (e.g. prepaid credit card charges):
- Create an accrual journal to temporarily cover the deficit with funds from another award during year-end close
- Journal will automatically reverse at the start of the next fiscal year
- Learn more in the [How To: Create an Accrual Journal]
If overdraft is due to improper journal posting:
- Initiate a correcting journal to move activity to the appropriate award
- Learn more in the [Learn About System: iJournals]
If overdraft is due to anticipated funds not transferred:
- Contact the source of the anticipated funds for status update
If overdraft is due to improper expenditures:
- Use an iJournal to move expenditures to the proper award
- Learn more in the [How To: Create iJournals Entries]
If all recorded activity is appropriate:
- Move funds from another appropriate source or transfer expenses to a different award
Learn more in [How to: Request a Fund Transfer]
Verification and follow-up:
- Check that all deficits are cleared using OBI Revenue and Fund Management Dashboard>Fund Statement report
- For fund transfer status only, use OBI Revenue and Fund Management Dashboard>Transfer Detail report
- Contact current approvers for updates on transactions still in process
Support and questions:
- For questions about fund accounting for non-sponsored funding, contact your designated school/department representative. Learn more in the Resource: School/department contact