Finance Office
UNK Department of the Month
November 2007
The UNK Staff Senate is honored to recognize the Finance Office as the November 2007 UNK Department of the Month. Personnel in the Finance Office have worked hard to provide the best services for both students and staff at UNK.
The following are just but a few of the reasons the Finance Office truly an outstanding office on campus:
The Finance Office has responded to student needs by addressing the following:
- Students no longer need to stand in long lines because of the ability to direct deposit to student bank accounts for:
Financial aid in excess of tuition, fees, room and board
- Refunds from dropped classes
- Student loans which are electronically transferred from the financial institution to the student's account for tuition, fees, room and board.
- Their student ID card may be used to purchase Loper Dollars, which they can use at vending machines, dining at Chartwells, purchases made at the Antelope Bookstore, copy machines and printing on campus.
- Students now have available to them the Enhanced UNK Card (debit card with Wells Fargo) that they can use on and off campus.
- Students can electronically pay for their tuition, fees and room & board.
- Through WebEASI, students can access and print copies of their 1098 tax statement for a record to use as an IRS tax deduction.
The Finance Office has responded to staff needs as follows:
- Payroll deduction for parking permits may be made over a two-month period which also decreases the employee’s taxable income. (A joint project between the Finance and Payroll offices)
- Testing the Firefly portal system which will allow a single sign-on to access financial information.
- Implemented the Team Travel Card (P-Card) which reduced greatly the need for teams to carry cash to pay for team expenses while traveling.
- Implementation of the travel module in SAP.
- Participates in Spot Checks as a training tool for staff on how to complete the financial duties of their positions.
- Developed the policy and procedures portion of the Business and Finance website to help staff complete their job functions.
- Converted from department monthly printed SAP reports to electronic access for these reports, enabling access to activity in the account at any time.
- Assumed the navigation training for SAP that was being conducted by Information Technology Services.
- Played a major role in establishing the Business & Finance Client Service Group that allows feedback and input by staff who utilizes the services of the division.
Other ways the Finance Office has worked on improving processes that students and staff may not be aware of:
- Remittance of cash distribution, interstate documents and journal entries is now done electronically with the State of Nebraska, thereby reducing paperwork and time to complete transactions.
- SIS reports to coordinate charges to students’ accounts are now available electronically for the Finance Office staff.
- Retention policies and procedures have been updated to conform to U-Wide and State of Nebraska policies.
- The 1099 form that was once produced by the State is created by the Finance Office.
Many of the personnel in the Finance Office have been serving UNK for a number of years. Their loyalty to the University in making processes better for both students and staff and in their support of activities of UNK is evident in their attendance at many University events.
The Finance Office personnel work together for the benefit of the entire University and are loyal supporters of activities. For these reasons, the UNK Staff Senate is pleased to recognize the Finance Office as the November 2007 UNK Department of the Month.
Thank you to the sponsors of the Department of the Month: UNK Athletics and Staff Senate.