Reconciliation is an imperative part of success for any department, center, bureau or institute at SAS.
Reimbursements will not "pend" against the system, nor will any committed funding (example, a department gives $250 to another department to support a seminar- the system will not show that money until the transfer is done)
In order to have accurate balance through out the year, reconciliation is key.
Shadow systems are normally done through excel workbooks.
Projects are easier to reconcile because you can get activity reports that detail what has hit the project. They can be found either in Project Report 073 or from Report 505 (Projects Consolidated View with Task and Expenditure)
If you are looking for how to start, SAS has a sample template for project reconciliation here.
General Ledger can be tricky because the general ledger is based on totals. This is why you need to make the ledger work for you.
The Unit, Division, Organization, Location numbers should remain relatively the same regardless of what you are doing in the ledger. The fund type, business line and account will be key in keeping track of your expenses.
General Ledger activity can be viewed through the system in the General Ledger reports or on the Inquire on Details section of the ledger.
The General Ledger represents your organization. This includes your operational budget provided to you through the SAS Dean's Office (your yearly pro forma budget). Reconciliation should be done periodically through out the year to make sure that your spending is on track and you do not go over your budget.
Personnel expenses can be reviewed through payroll reports- such as the payroll distribution report or the employee status report from Tableau.
Since the Cornerstone system is a totals based system, when you are tracking (or making) purchases for the goods and services for your organization, it is important that you utilize the Chart of Accounts to your benefit. The Unit, Division, Organization, and Location will never really change as they represent your organization at the school. (You may have multiple UDOs for your organization, you would just need to make sure that you are using the correct one when you are making purchases or reconciling)
The Fund Type, Business Line and Activity is what will become variable for you during the year. Consistency when using the fund type and the business line will help you better track your expenses. The activity code will represent what you are spending your funds on. That will be the most variable code during the fiscal year and will detail on where you are spending your funding.
These expenses can be viewed on the system. This is done through the the Cornerstone system.
Report 023 will show you the activity (as totals) per month. This report will also allow you to access "Inquire to Detail Balances" so you can see the individual detail.
Account Analysis Report will allow you to see the details of the activity depending on the string you enter.
Excel is commonly used for shadow systems. Excel allows you to design your own shadow system that will meet your needs through out the fiscal year. You can change columns, add functions, delete functions. A sample template can be found here.
