Employees who prepare and approve transactions play a key role in the financial ecosystem at Stanford, ensuring proper financial stewardship and documentation of expenses. Stanford Financial Management Services (FMS) provides two certification courses which reinforce the key expectations, concepts and resources to support the financial community.
What’s changing?
FMS continually assesses the financial ecosystem for opportunities to improve and simplify. As a result, the recertification timelines for the two certification courses below are being extended, reducing the number of times that staff will be required to retake the course.
| Course | Previous recertification requirement | Recertification requirement as of Aug. 1, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| FIN-PROG-0020: Financial Stewardship Expectations is the certification course for any faculty, staff, or students who need access to most Oracle Financials systems. | Retake the course annually. | Retake the course every two years. |
| FIN-PROG-0103: Approving Financial Transactions is the certification course for Oracle financial transaction approvals, such as travel and business expenses, PCard verifications, purchase requisitions, and iJournals transactions. | Retake the course every two years. | Retake the course every four years. |
How to take action
- No immediate action is required if you are current with your certification status. After Aug. 1, 2025, the next time you are prompted to recertify a course, complete the course and your certification status in STARS will reflect the new timeline. If you are unsure if you are current with your certification status, visit STARS and click on the “Certification Status” link to view the current status of all certification programs previously taken.
- If you need help with financial training, please submit a support request.