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Administrative Services

 

Deborah McIntosh, Fiscal Manager
Location: Torrey Life Sciences, Room 163B
Phone: 860-486-1740
Fax: 860-486-3943
e-mail: deborah.mcintosh@uconn.edu

The responsibilities of the Fiscal Manager position in Biology Central Services are discussed below. Duties of other personnel in the Administrative Services Unit of BCS are detailed in the following links.

The Fiscal Manager is responsible for the four Biology department tuition accounts. In addition, the she is responsible for managing the Academic Renovations accounts and the grant accounts for all Biology faculty. The bookkeeping and accounting for this load is handled by the Fiscal Manager and a Financial Assistant. The accounting program used by the Fiscal Manager and staff is DataEase, a complex and powerful database program. Additionally, the Fiscal Manager utilizes the Focus report writing system to extract data from FRS and Microsoft Excel.

FRS is an integral part of the accounting position since it is the link to Purchasing records, Accounts Payable records and all budget data.  The accounting personnel must be kept informed of all changes occurring in FRS and the way data is being entered and sorted in a constantly changing system.

The Accounting personnel work closely with Biology's own purchasing personnel, UConn's Purchasing Department, Accounts Payable Department, Grants and Contracts, the Budget Department, and the Accounting Department.  The Accounting personnel also work closely with the Biology Departments and grant Principal Investigators in resolving budgetary problems that may arise.  Due to the complexity of  FRS the Accountant spent a great deal of time correcting errors and solving budget problems.  This required an increase in paperwork due to numerous grant budget change forms and A-1s that needed to be processed.  A great deal more time was spent on the phone with Grants and Contracts, Accounts Payable, Budget and Purchasing trying to correct problems created by FRS.

Accounting personnel must, on a daily basis, review and enter all budget data pertaining to Purchase Requisitions, Purchase Orders, Transfer Vouchers, Vendor Invoices, UConn's Co-op orders, Payroll Authorizations, Travel Authorizations , Reimbursements and  Direct payments,etc. a total of approximately 7,884 this year.  All paperwork is ultimately filed and maintained in the Accounting office.
 Monthly, the Accountant must update and compare budget data with the University issued FRS Account Statements.  Financial Reports are then printed out and sent to all Principal Investigators and Department Heads.  In addition, Financial Reports are issued to Grant Principal Investigators and Department Heads on a demand basis--primarily for payroll information and near the ending date of a grant.  Due to the financial restraints of the federal government,much more time was spent helping principal investigators of federally sponsored grants manage their restricted funds..

Other accounting duties include: setting up new accounts as necessary and helping to set up budgets for these accounts as well as already existing accounts, reviewing tuition accounts regularly and making recommendations regarding use of funds, monitoring acquisition of funds for Summer Session courses; billing for demurrage charges, stockroom charges, animal care charges, illustration charges, etc.