Flashpoints

In this May 2025 issue:

The Red Flag Identity Theft Prevention Program (Program) applies to any university activity that extends credit or establishes a transaction account primarily for personal, household or family purposes (“Covered Account”). The Program also applies to departments that can affect the security or integrity of those accounts. Covered Accounts maintained by the University include but are not limited to the following: • Child care accounts • Financial aid/student loan accounts • Housing accounts • ID card accounts • Patient accounts • Student accounts The Program the University develops and implements is required to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in connection with the opening of covered accounts and the administration of existing accounts. Please read the complete policy Red Flag Identity Theft Prevention Policy.

Please consider donating to the crisis leave program. This program allows any employee who earns vacation leave to donate up to five accumulated vacation days per calendar year. The donated leave goes to a pool of crisis leave hours that are used to help an employee who is experiencing a crisis and does not have sufficient leave to cover their absence period. Donation forms can be accessed through SAPPHIRE or the following link: https://sapphire.bravais.com/adminportal/document/38097

Please submit completed forms to the Human Resources Office.

Per University policy (see below), hourly employees should utilize any accrued compensatory time prior to July 1^st. Please log into Firefly>Employee Self Service>Leave Information to review your current balance and submit your leave request(s) accordingly.

Employees who request to use the compensatory time earned shall be permitted to use such time within a reasonable period after making such a request if the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operation of the department. Employees shall not accumulate more than 60 hours of compensatory time. To ensure that compensatory time is used within a reasonable time, compensatory balances should be used by June 30th of each year unless permission is granted by the Human Resources Office to carry a balance beyond that date.

Please contact Human Resources with any questions.

If your department generates revenue, the department must reconcile the deposits recorded in SAP to the sales records. For example, deposits for camp fees should be reconciled to the number of campers that attended the camp. The reconciliation must be approved by the Department Head. The reconciliation and approval must be documented and retained for the current + 7 fiscal years in accordance with the records retention policy. Finally, appropriate segregation of duties should be maintained, or compensating controls identified. For more information, see the Cash/Money Handling and Accounts Receivable Policy. Contact Karen Labenz at 8785 or labenzk@unk.edu for questions or assistance. Upon request, the Finance Office will review the department’s revenue reconciliation procedures to determine if they include the proper internal controls.

Departments who handle customer credit card information must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS). PCI compliance mitigates risk, protects the University from the costs of a breach, and strengthens overall security. When the University complies with the PCIDSS, it not only protects itself, but also its students, employees, alumni and customers.

The requirements for departments include:

Approval by the Finance Office prior to acceptance of payment cards (credit or debit) as a means of payment regardless of the transaction method or technology used (e-commerce, POS device, in person).
Approval by Information Technology Services of all technology implementation to process any payment card transaction including internet payment service providers such as PayPal.
Establish department procedures for safeguarding cardholder information and secure storage of data. An updated copy of these procedures signed by the department head must be submitted to the Finance Office annually.
Annual security control attestation to assure understanding of the requirements to comply with payment card merchant safeguards. Attestation form provided by the Finance Office.
Breach of security reported immediately to ITS at achildress@nebraska.edu, Finance Office at purdyj@unk.edu, and UNK Police at fastrj@unk.edu. If you suspect loss or theft of any materials containing cardholder data, you are required to report the incident as soon as possible. Please contact ITS-Sec-Response@nebraska.edu if this occurs.

Contact Jill Purdy at purdyj@unk.edu with any questions.

If you were unable to attend the fiscal year end procedure presentation it will be available on the Finance Office web page. Also, several reference guides will soon be available as well to assist you in understanding what happens to surplus budgets at the end of the fiscal year as well as fiscal year closing policies, procedures, dates, and deadlines. This information will be posted here soon. Please contact Jill Purdy at purdyj@unk.edu or Karen Labenz at labenzk@unk.edu with any questions.

Training on the financial reports that are available in SAP and Firefly is available upon request. The training can assist departments in managing their budgets and demonstrate how to read and understand financial reports. Please contact Karen Labenz at 308-865-8785 or labenzk@unk.edu or Heather Foradori at 308-865-8540 or foradorih@unk.edu to set up a one-on-one training, review or just general questions.

Financial Report Training - available upon request Register