Prerequisites
Prior to reading the instructions on the Material Transactions Report, it is beneficial to review the following sections of the IU Accounting Standards Book to gain foundational information along with report requirements and best practices:
- Accounting Fundamentals Section
- Chart of Accounts and General Ledger Section
- Financial Statements Accounting Section
- Closing Standards and Procedures-Closing Standards Section
Overview
The Material Transactions Report was introduced to assist units in pulling detailed, non-system-generated transactions with absolute values of $5 million or greater. To ensure the integrity of an entity’s financial position as well as compliance with internal controls and external audit requests, units are responsible for reviewing and substantiating these material transactions. This report allows units to readily identify individual entries at the account line-item level, review transactions for accuracy, and gather supporting documentation. In conjunction with running the Material Transactions Report, units should familiarize themselves with the Financial Transaction Substantiation Standard for detailed information on substantiating transactions along with examples of appropriate documentation.
Units are required to run this report quarterly and provide proper substantiation to University Accounting and Reporting Services (UARS). However, it is recommended that units run this report monthly to maintain accuracy of financial information.
How the Material Transactions Report Works
The Material Transactions Report is designed to display transactions by transaction line of $5 million and above with pre-defined parameters. If a unit has no transactions of $5 million or above for the period(s) selected, the report will return no results. Users can input unit information to narrow the report by Chart, RC, Org, account number, and fund group. There are two options available to view the report:
- Transactions Requiring Substantiation (Unit-Level) – report displays only the non-system generated, actual entries that units are required to substantiate with specifically excluded entries. Excluded from the report are transfers and specific fund groups, as well as transactions that are system-generated or centrally created (i.e., treasury, payroll) where documentation would be provided from another department. See full list of excluded parameters here.
- All Material Transactions – report displays system and non-system generated transactions and actual entries with fewer exclusions than the Unit-Level to include transfers, all fund groups, and centrally-processed transactions.
The ‘Unit-Level’ view will be the option units should run to identify the material transactions that will require substantiation per the Material Transactions Substantiation Standard. The ‘All Material Transactions (UCO Level)’ view is run at an executive level and used by the Office of the University Controller in preparation for the external audit review.
The Material Transactions Report can be located at the top of this page - refer to the top right blue button labeled "Go to Report" which will automatically redirect users to the reports within the Controller's Office Reporting Tools.
In addition, the report can be found in One.IU. To find the report, search for “Controller’s Office Reporting Tools” in the search bar, and select Controller’s Office Reporting Tools (Report Center) under Tasks. Mark this task as a favorite by clicking the heart icon located at the bottom right corner of the tile. Click on the tile.
Once in the Controller’s Office Reporting Tools, users will see all available reporting tiles. Navigate to the Audit Reports folder. A new tile opens, which displays all the available audit reports. Select Material Transactions Report.
Running the Report
Define the search parameters to return results relevant to your organization or to a specific account. The search parameters available in the Materials Transactions Report are divided into three parameter types: chart of account report parameters, report specific parameters and display parameters.
If there are questions related to running the report, requirements, or reviewing results, please contact your (RC) fiscal officer or campus office. Each campus may have individual specific requirements related to the Materials Transactions Report. Be sure to reach out to the related campus office or fiscal officer prior to quarter closings.
General Notes: Do not include any special characters other than approved wildcards in any of the below parameters. Additionally, do not run reports by campus as it will take up valuable computing services.
A number of parameters are available to assist users. Users can enter the responsibility center (RC) code, organization code, and account for their respective organization. Currently, University Fiscal Year is a required parameter. Keep in mind that the broader your search parameters, the longer the report will take to run.
Several of the parameters have a valid values function which displays the available codes and corresponding descriptions.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| University Fiscal Year | Used to limit report to a specific fiscal year(s). |
| University Fiscal Period Code | Used to limit report to a specific fiscal period(s). |
| Chart Code | Used to limit report to one or more specific chart of accounts. For assistance determining your chart code, refer to KFS Chart Lookup. |
| Account Number | Used to limit report to one or more specific account(s). |
| Sub-Account Number | Used to limit report to one or more specific sub-account(s). |
| Organization Code | Used to limit report to a specific organization code. Users are encouraged to use this parameter in conjunction with a chart code. |
| Responsibility Center Code | Used to limit to a specific RC. Users are encouraged to use this parameter in conjunction with a chart of accounts code. For assistance determining your RC code, refer to KFS RC Lookup. |
| Fund Group Code | Used to limit report to specific fund group(s). |
| Sub-Fund Group | Used to limit report to specific sub-fund group(s). |
A report specific parameter is a parameter that is limited to a single or small group of reports. For example, on the Materials Transaction Report users would expect to see a parameter to display material transactions for the entire university or display at the unit-level but that is not going to be applicable on most other reports.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| All Material Transactions (UCO Level) or Transactions Requiring Substantiation (Unit Level) | Used to limit level of detail required in the reports: • Transactions Requiring Substantiation (Unit-Level) – presents filtered details displaying only the material transactions requiring substantiation by the unit • All Material Transactions (UCO Level) – presents more detail, including fewer filtered data, to be reviewed by UCO |
Display parameters are parameters that define and restrict the visual presentation of the Material Transaction Report. They are found on the lower part of the parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Select the Output Format | Report will be generated in Excel version only. |
| Select the Output Destination | The user has the option to choose where they want their report to go once it is ready. The user can either Wait for it to pop up on the screen or have it sent to their Email. If the user selects email output destination, an email will be sent with the link to the selected output format. |
Click Save Parameter Settings to save your parameters for future use of this report. For instructions on how to save settings, review the Save Parameter Settings document on the Controller's Office Reporting Tools page.