Comptroller's Office  Policies and Procedures Manual
Effective: 01/01/2000	Revised: 02/18/2013

CMP 430-29: Expense Transfers - Non Payroll

To define the policy and procedures for transferring non-payroll expenses in the PeopleSoft Financial System.  See CMP 430-28: Payroll Expense Transfers for payroll expense transfer procedures.

University Policy

Departments are responsible for ensuring that expenses charged to their PeopleSoft Financial (PS Financials) Department/Projects are appropriate and relate to the purpose for which the Department/Project was established (see CMP 203: Unit Manager Responsibilities).  In certain situations, expenses may be legitimately charged to a central Department with the knowledge that they should be charged to a different Department/Project account.  Some examples would be for shared expenses and purchasing card transactions tied to a central purchasing card Department account. There are also times when a Department/Project is charged an expense in error.  In both situations, the expense must be transferred to the appropriate Department/Project.

Expenses charged to Departments/Projects must relate to the purpose for which the Dept/Unit was established. Expense activity that does not relate to the Department/Projects purpose must be transferred to an appropriate Department/Project.  Expense transfers should be made within 30 days of the original charge and within cutoff dates for year-end close.  See additional Cost Transfer Guidelines for grant projects at:  http://nau.edu/postaward/policies/Cost-Transfer-Guidelines/

Expense transfers must NOT be made to cover for a budget deficit or a negative fund balance in a Department/Project, or to build local fund balances when the expenses are unrelated to the Department/Project to which the expenses are being transferred. In addition, expenses CANNOT be transferred to grant accounts simply because they have unexpended funds. Departments should contact the Budget Office with questions regarding budget or fund balance deficits and Post Award Accounting Services and Fiscal Compliance  for questions regarding transfers to Grant accounts.

Department/Projects that wish to fund activity in another Department/Project may do so by voluntary fund transfer according to CMP 430-26: Voluntary Fund Transfers.  An example would be a College providing funding support to Student Services for a cultural event, or funding a cost sharing department for cost sharing commitments.

 Note: voluntary fund transfers cannot be made to or from state or agency Departments. 

Expense Transfers are recorded in PS Financials on a Departmental Journal (IDT - Internal Departmental Transfer or IST - Internal Service Center Transfer journal source).  Departments are able to process their own Departmental journals for legitimate expense transfers between Departments/Projects or within the same Department/Project to correct/adjust expense account coding. When submitted for approval, valid IDT journals will route to the Department being charged for approval.  In addition, certain expense transfers against grant projects will be routed to the Post Award Accounting Services and Fiscal Compliance Office for approval.  See instructions and overview documentation for Departmental Journals at:  http://home.nau.edu/comptr/

For information on voluntary fund transfers, see CMP 430-26: Voluntary Fund Transfers.

For instructions and a form for transferring Payroll Expenses, visit the Payroll Web Site or see CMP 430-28.