Procedure: 104-Transfer of Funds (money) Between UW-Madison Departments/Funding Sources
Date: 08/17/05 (Last updated: January 20, 2012 )

Statement of Procedure:

Purchase of goods or services within UW-Madison:

  • Use Interdepartmental Billing Form for direct charge or issue an internal workorder. Use appropriate account code for buying department and internal sales credit code for selling department. For major internal billing units (e.g. Physical Plant, MDS) follow their specific procedures.

    Note: Use of account codes is not permitted.
  • If services are provided by an individual, use account code 2650 (internal services) for the charge and 9050 (internal sales) for the credit. On interdepartmental billing form/work order, state an explanation such as "for services provided by departmental personnel for the period of ______________________".

Salary Payment Transfers:

  • A salary payment transfer should be used to change any coding element on a previous salary payment. A salary payment transfer must identify an associated appointment ID number and pay period to be reflected in the Salary Fringe Detail (SFD) file in Wisdm.
    See Salary Cash Transfer Form
    Actual fringe benefits corresponding to the salary transfer are also automatically transferred and posted in the journal that is created.

  • A summary transfer of lump sum salary amounts is also acceptable; however these amounts must be identified at least at the account code level. An attached listing of individuals involved must be included or documented at the department originating the transfer. Corresponding fringe benefit amounts must also be calculated at the extramural project rate and included for transfer at the account code level (1899 for unclassified and 1999 for classified). Note: lump sum salary transfers will not be posted to the SFD file; they will post only to the General Ledger in SFS/Wisdm. Lump sum transfers must be submitted using the non-salary cost transfer form.
    See Cost Transfer Request (Non-Salary)
    Exception: Lump sum salary transfer is not an option for 133/144 project/grant funding due to implications of salary transfers on effort reporting (PAR).

Non-Salary Cost Transfers:

  • A non-salary cost transfer form should be used to change any coding element on a previous payment. The voucher(s) number of the payment being transferred must be identified. If several vouchers are involved, use of the word "Various" can be assigned on the payment form, but an attached listing of individual voucher numbers must be included or documented at the department originating the transfer.
    See Cost Transfer Request (Non-Salary)

  • A summary transfer of lump sum amounts is also acceptable; however these expenditures must be identified at least at the account code level. An attached listing of individual voucher numbers must be included or documented at the department originating the transfer.

Transfer of funds (money) for allowable program support, including salary support:

  • If both funds (charge and credit) are the same GPR fund, process a budget transfer.
    See Madison Budget Office

    (GPR funds are 101 thru 119, 126, 171 thru 179, 402, 403, and 406)

  • If transferring money between funds (expenditures must be allowable on both funding sources) issue an internal work order or use the interdepartmental billing form for direct charge, assigning account code 3915 for both the charge and credit. Account code 3915 is defined as "transfers other". Use of account code 3915 is for Dean/Division Office use only.

    Note Exception: Funds (money) transfer on account code 3915 is not allowed on the following funds: 101 Grad School Projects, 133,135,142,144,161 projects/grants.

Funds (money) availability in 133 and 144 project/grants:

  • To maintain the integrity of these project/grants, it is not possible to process "fund transfers" on 133 and 144. RSP establishes segregated accounts for a specific purpose (as outlined in the RSP transmittal form and attached proposal/grant/contract/documentation). In accordance with the terms and conditions provided by the sponsors, incurred project/grant expenditures must be readily identifiable as reasonable, allocable, allowable and consistently treated. Allowing "fund transfers" would lead to the possibility of commingling unrelated funds in accounts leading to multiple accounting and reporting problems.

  • Instead, there are mechanisms available to allow multiple departments to use these accounts. The most common and simplest approach is to request the addition of spending edits on a 133 and 144. Adding a department's UDDS to the authorized list of spending edits authorizes encumbrances and expenditures with those edits to be processed in the accounting system. Requests to expand edits are handled via email routed to RSP via the appropriate school/college.

  • A second option is the creation of sub-accounts. For projects with complex accounting or programmatic requirements, a single account is not practical. In those cases, multiple accounts can be created-each with its own budget and spending authority. These "sub-accounts" are linked in ESIS through the use of the "senior account" field. All related sub-accounts share the same reference information in their "senior account" field.

    Requests for sub-account(s) are made through Research and Sponsored Programs using one of these forms available on the RSP website:
    Request to Establish a Single Sub-Project Form
    Multiple Sub-Project Form

Related Policy:

104-Transfer of Funds (money) Between UW-Madison Departments/Funding Sources

Who should know this procedure?

Deans, Directors, and Staff who deal with transfers

Related Documents:

Interdepartmental Billing Form
Salary Cost Transfer Form
Cost Transfer Request (Non-Salary)
Request to Establish a Single Sub-Project Form RSP
Multiple Sub-Project Form RSP

Contacts:

Susie Maloney

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