Skip to Content

Office of the Controller

Business Manager

The role of each Business Manager at the University of South Carolina varies across each college and department. Each Business Manager handles several responsibilities that directly influence the success of their departments and the University overall. They provide business expertise on a variety of topics including, but not limited to budget, expenses, supplier onboarding, transaction corrections, and University policies and procedures.

Below is a list of tasks a Business Manager may be responsible for within their college/department. Sections include links to training resources that support each task.

Note: Each year the Controller’s Office provides refresher trainings starting the month of February thru the end of April. Registration links for all scheduled trainings are sent to our BIZMANAGER listserv end of January, provided in our monthly newsletter, and in a prior week reminder email. On demand training can be found in the sections below.

An Account Funding Change eForm is used for any employee that requires a funding change before the next payroll.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft HCM
Contact: payroll@mailbox.sc.edu

AP uploads are a way to pay a supplier or individual in one of the following categories instead of keying each payment into payment request; prizes and awards, stipends, services rendered, preceptor payments, refunds, and participants.

The below training resources are available:

Training: AP Upload
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: apupload@mailbox.sc.edu

Cash advances are payment types issued to advance funds for athletics team per diem & study abroad participant per diem. All cash advances must be settled within 30 days of the ending period for the advance. 

Cash advances are no longer allowed for educational programs, gift cards & research participant incentives.  These purchases should be made using the Program Expense Card.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: cashadvc@mailbox.sc.edu

A Cost Transfer is a reassignment (transfer) of charges involving one or more sponsored awards. This includes both direct charges and cost share. Review projects monthly to determine and submit adjustments as soon as possible. PI signature and approval are required.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Using HCM Distribution and Time and Effort Reporting for the Business Manager
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: controllercompliance@sc.edu

Departmental Deposits are payments received by the University for any purpose other than to pay for charges on a student’s account, such as tuition, fees, and related charges.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Depositor Training
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: genacctg@mailbox.sc.edu

Employee reimbursement (non-travel) is processed through the expense module. The expense module is an online payment tool that allows an employee or a proxy to create an expense transaction. This tool has strict guidelines and an employee reimbursement (non-travel) matrix for allowable types of reimbursement.

The below training resources are available:

Note: This is a required training that is incorporated into the Travel Proxy training. Use the PeopleSoft Finance Training schedule to sign up for a date that fits into your schedule.

Training: Travel and Expense Proxy
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: ap@mailbox.sc.edu 

An endowment at the University of South Carolina is a permanent gift, an investment that gives back to the university forever. Endowment funds are managed to provide a permanent source of income to support the educational mission of the university.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: treasury@mailbox.sc.edu 

The Expense Report page in PeopleSoft Finance is where all Procurement, Program, Team, and Travel card transactions that represent the month end statement are copied using the My Wallet function in Travel and Expense.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contacts:

An internal reporting site that houses various reporting tools and resources used to research PeopleSoft transactions and retrieve account balances.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Using the Finance Intranet
System: Finance Intranet
Contact: intranet@mailbox.sc.edu

Chartfield strings are a combination of chartfields that are used for reporting.  Only valid combinations can be used for transactions.

Use the Chart of Accounts Combinations Inquiry to find valid chartfields in PeopleSoft Finance.

Navigation: Main Menu – USC Conversion – USC Chartfield Mapping – USC CoA Combos Inquiry

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: genacctg@mailbox.sc.edu

Each year, the USC campuses participate in the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD) to provide key information on R&D expenditures. The HERD Survey is the primary source of information on R&D expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities. The survey collects information on R&D expenditures by field of research and source of funds, and gathers information on types of research, expenses, and headcounts of R&D personnel.

Each department chair/supervisor completes the HERD Survey eForm for A funded research effort by each faculty member. The eForm includes an attestation that the information submitted accurately reflects faculty member’s research effort. It is important for department chairs/supervisors to report research effort by individual faculty members rather than submitting data that reflects across-the-board research effort for everyone. 

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft HCM
Contact: HERD@sc.edu

An internal reporting tool that provides payroll information by employee, including their pay group, funding chartfield, gross earnings, and the cost of each employee’s benefits to the department.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Using HCM Distribution in the Finance Intranet
System: Finance Intranet
Contact: controller@sc.edu

To view a list of all available account codes, use the query SC_CF_ACCOUNT_LIST. Use this query to find the proper account code for payment requests, requisitions, deposits, and corrections.

Log into PeopleSoft Finance, and navigate to the Query Viewer page.

Navigation: Main Menu – Reporting Tools – Query Viewer

Enter SC_CF_ACCOUNT_LIST in the description field. Be sure to add to favorites saving the query to use in the future.

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: genacctg@mailbox.sc.edu

Moving agreement and offer letter are sent to moving@mailbox.sc.edu for the University Controller’s signature. The signed agreement is returned to the requestor for signatures and completed packet is submitted to moving@mailbox.sc.edu.

The below training resources are available:

Training: General Accounting Hot Topics
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: moving@mailbox.sc.edu

Payment request is an online payment tool in Finance PeopleSoft for paying invoices under $10,000. This tool has strict guidelines and a payment matrix for allowed types of payments.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Payment Request Refresher
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: ap@mailbox.sc.edu

The Capital Asset team is responsible for tracking all assets retained by the University and for completing the Annual Physical Inventory. This includes recording additions, tagging assets, documenting stolen and damaged property, and retiring assets.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: physinv@mailbox.sc.edu

The Controller’s Office provides policies and procedures for Compliance, Grants and Funds Management, Capital and Assets, General Accounting, Travel and Reimbursements, and Payroll.

Visit our Policies and Procedures page on the Controller’s Office website for the most up-to-date policy information.

Contact: controller@sc.edu

The Program Expense Card is a credit card used for educational programs (eg. Study Abroad, Summer Programs, etc.) and participant incentive payments. The cardholder must be a USC employee. The Program Expense Card cannot be used for individual travel or any purchase subject to procurement.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Program Expense Card – Visit our PeopleSoft Finance Training Schedule for available training dates.

System: PeopleSoft Finance

Contact: cards@mailbox.sc.edu

Use the GL Dashboard, Grant Dashboard, or Non-USCSP Project Dashboard to view the project team for a project.

Log into the HUB and navigate to Finance Intranet – Grant Dashboard to view the Project Team.

To make Project Team updates, please reach out to Post Award Accountant (PAA).

Training: Using the Finance Intranet
System: Finance Intranet
Contact: controller@sc.edu 

Use the Chartfield Request Form to: Request new fund, departments, USCIP and USCSA projects; Inactivate a project or chartfield string; Change description for a chartfield string.

The below training resources are available:

Training: General Accounting Hot Topics
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: cfmaint@mailbox.sc.edu

Retro Funding Change Journal Entries are after the fact corrections to payroll. Please note, if payroll corrections affect sponsored awards, they are subject to the Cost Transfer Policy and must have a Cost Transfer Justification Form attached.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Using HCM Distribution in the Finance Intranet and Time and Effort Reporting for the Business Manager
System: Finance Intranet
Contact: retroje@mailbox.sc.edu

A Salary Cap is a sponsor-imposed limit for the total salary rate allowed to be charged to a grant for an individual. Any amount above the salary cap must be recorded as mandatory uncommitted cost share in order to properly capture total expended effort and prevent the effort from being used on another sponsored project. Prevents double counting effort and ensures faculty do not become overcommitted.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Time and Effort Reporting for the Business Manager
System: PeopleSoft HCM
Contact: gfmpay@mailbox.sc.edu

An online supplier registration system that gives potential suppliers access to self-service registration and change requests through a supplier portal in PeopleSoft Finance.

Visit our  Supplier Management page for Domestic for Supplier Job Aids and Videos, International Job Aids and Videos, and Supplier Liaison FAQs.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: apsupplr@mailbox.sc.edu

Tax management is a unit of the Controller’s Office that manages tax compliance, serves as a resource to the university community on tax issues, and remits tax payments to the appropriate federal, state, and local government agencies.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: tax@mailbox.sc.edu

The Team Card is used to make purchases for athletic team related expenses (e.g. hotel, transportation, meals, etc.).

The below training resources are available:

Training: How to Create a PeopleSoft Expense Report for All Card Programs
System:  PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: cards@mailbox.sc.edu

Time and Effort Reports documents effort, the portion of time spent on a given activity expressed as a percent of total activity for which an individual is employed by the institution. Time and Effort Reports flow to Business Managers, employees, principal investigators, and supervisors for approval.

Visit the Compliance and Tax Management page for additional Time and Effort Reporting information.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Time and Effort Reporting for the Business Manager
System: PeopleSoft HCM
Contact: timeandeffort@sc.edu

A correction is a redistribution or change of a posted transaction. Corrections are used to adjust or correct posted vouchers, expense transactions, and journal entries.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Journal Entry and Journal Voucher and General Accounting Hot Topics
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: genacctg@mailbox.sc.edu

The Travel Card program reduces the monetary burden to the traveler when traveling on behalf of the University. There are two types of cards:

  • Individual Travel Card: Individual travel for airfare, hotel, and registration.
  • Department Travel Card: Airfare and registration for individuals within the department.

**Food purchases are not allowable expenses for either card under any circumstances. **

If you do not have a Travel Card but would like to participate in the program, please reach out to the Travel Team. They will provide all the information needed to better understand the program and complete the process.

The below training resources are available:

Training: Travel Card
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: travelcard@mailbox.sc.edu

Travel is responsible for the review and disbursement of funds for faculty, staff, non-employees, and students in accordance with university policies and procedures. 

Visit the Travel page for additional Travel Information.

Note: The travel account codes that may be referenced in the recordings below have been updated as of July 1, 2024. For the latest account codes, please refer to the New Travel Account Codes [pdf] document.  All presentations have been updated to reflect the changes.

The below training resources are available:

Note: Training is required to receive the Travel Proxy role in Finance PeopleSoft. Use the PeopleSoft Finance Training schedule to sign up for a date that fits into your schedule.

Training: Travel and Expense Proxy
System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: teoffice@mailbox.sc.edu

For grant related transactions (payment request, expense report, requisition, etc.) The PI and all Approver 1s on the award’s project team must approve the transaction. This is required verification that the charges are true and accurate for the Notice of Award under penalty of law.  If a PI plans to be out of the office, it is very important they designate someone as an Alternate User ID in their absence using the My System Profile page in the PeopleSoft Finance system.

This Out of Office [pdf] quick reference guide demonstrates how to assign an alternate approver in your absence.

Use the following queries to review approvers:

Navigation: Main Menu > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer

  1.  SC_SECURITY_DEPT_APPROVER_ROLE– Department Approvers by Role

This query shows level one and two department approval authority and which transactions each person can approve.

  1. SC_SECURITY_PROJ_APPROVER – Project Approvers

This query shows project team assignments. Level one approvals for projects does not use the department approval setup. It routes to project team members in the APPRV_1 and people with the Project Manager checkbox = ‘Y’ (typically a PI for USCSP projects). Level two approvals for projects route to the level two approvers for the department tied to the project.

  1. SC_SEC_JE_APPROVERS– Regular Journal (JE) Approvers

This query shows regular journal approvers. Of note, journal approvals are based on who enters the journal. So, journal approvers have profiles that include the people for whom they approve journals. The recommended practice is to have at least two approvers for every person.

  1. SC_SEC_KK_APPROVERS– Budget Journal (KK) Approvers

This query shows budget journal approvers. Of note, budget journal approvals are based on who enters the journal. So, journal approvers have profiles that include the people for whom they approve journals. The recommended practice is to have at least two approvers for every person.

The below training resources are available:

System: PeopleSoft Finance
Contact: Your Post Award Accountant (PAA)

 

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

©