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Balance Sheet Account Balance Reconciliation and Attestation Roles and Responsibilities

The following sortable table defines the roles and responsibilities of the people involved in the Balance Sheet account balance reconciliation and attestation process at Stanford.

Responsibility Activity Recorder Reconciliation Preparer Reconciliation Approver Attestation Owner School/Dept Finance Office FMS
Understands and adheres to University policy, donor or sponsor requirements and regulations
Understands and adheres to department-specific policies and procedures  
Stewardship and control of funds
Establishes the appropriate financial controls for their organization, communicating appropriate values and ensuring approvers take responsibility for financial integrity          
Establishes appropriate separation of duties          
Ensures that reconciliation preparers are adequately trained and possess the skill, experience and competence for preparing the reconciliation          
Maintains financial policies and procedures          
Designates reconciliation frequency          
Develops and maintains desk procedures for reconciliations        
Reconciles the account balance timely          
Identifies and adequately explains reconciling items          
Ensures reconciliations contain adequate supporting documentation        
Reviews all aspects of the reconciliation          
Withholds approval and investigates questionable balances and transactions        
Communicates errors discovered during reconciliation        
Corrects errors          
Reports suspected fraud
Resolves escalated issues          
Supports Schools Dean's Offices and Departments and responds to support requests          
Designates Attestation Owners          
Distributes and collects account balance attestations          
Verifies that account balances under their authority have been reconciled and reviewed at least quarterly          
Attests to all statements on the Balance Sheet Reconciliation Review Attestation form          
Ensures that attestation forms are submitted to the University Controller’s Office timely          
Provides secondary financial control through review of sample reconciliations          
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2022

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