Finance

Fiscal Year 2015 Closing Guidance: Message From the Controller

Thanks to all of you for your efforts to control expenses during FY 2015. It is important that we carry this effort through to the end of the fiscal year by controlling discretionary activity. This does not mean curtailing business, but it does mean making prudent choices by deferring or eliminating noncritical activity, and purchasing goods or services throughout the year, rather than at the end of the fiscal year, simply because there are available budget funds. Please encourage your contractors to bill us in a timely manner for goods received and services rendered, or inform us of any billing delays so we can recognize the expense before the end of the fiscal year.

The following instructions will assist you, when appropriate, in helping the Postal Service™ close its financial books in a timely and efficient manner.

Maura A. McNerney
Vice President, Controller

I. Instructions for Fiscal Year 2015 Closing

All organizations are requested to limit their expenditures to essential spending. Accordingly, all vice presidents should review discretionary spending to ensure the Postal Service attains its financial target for this fiscal year (FY).

The instruction and reporting dates in this Postal Bulletin supplement procedures followed during the normal monthly or quarterly reporting schedule.

II. Fiscal Year

The Postal Service prepares its annual reports on a government FY basis, which comprises 365 days (366 in leap years), always ending on September 30.

III. End of Year Processing Activities and Timelines, Contract Actions, and Requisitions

Expense requisitions and requests for contract modifications for FY15 should be submitted to Supply Management before August 31. Requisitions for capital purchases will be accepted by Supply Management through September 11.

Also, organizations should limit capital commitments, particularly for Postal Service support equipment, to essential needs. The schedule for Supply Management processing is as follows:

 

For requisitions received…	Funds are processed as follows…
On or before August 31, 2015	Supply Management will issue the required contract or modification for Accounting Services, San Mateo to process against FY 2015 funds.
On or after September 1, 2015	Supply Management will issue the required contract or modification for Accounting Services, San Mateo to process against FY 2016 funds.

Requisitions for Contract Actions

FY 2015, Expense and Capital requisitions and requests for contract action should be submitted to Supply Management before August 31 and September 11, 2015, respectively.

Requisitions for IT Hardware, Services, Software, and Telecom (Exception):

For FY 2015, Expense and Capital requisition requests for contract actions should be submittd to Supply Management before August 1, 2015. Any requests received after this date will not be guaranteed for award and delivery by September 30, 2015.

For FY 2015, Expense and Capital requisition requests for contract actions that require a start date before October 1, 2015, should be submitted to Supply Management before August 1, 2015. Any requests received after this date will not be guaranteed for award by September 30, 2015.

Hardcopy paper commitment documents (only applies to Non-CAMS documents) must be forwarded to Accounting Services, San Mateo, no later than Friday, September 18. Electronic files must be transmitted to Accounting Services as follows:

 

Send electronic files for...	To...	No later than...
Contract Authoring and Management System (CAMS)	San Mateo	September 30, 2015
Facilities capital commitments and expense payments	St. Louis	September 30, 2015

Appropriate receiving reports or certified invoices for goods and services received by September 30 must be received by Accounting Services, San Mateo, no later than Thursday, October 1.

1. Expedite processing of receiving reports and certified invoices, as these documents are used to charge expense to the proper FY.

2. Additionally, review contracts to ensure sufficient funds are available by Friday, August 28 to process invoices.

3. Supply Management will process all requisitions for the issuance of contracts against FY 2015 funds according to the following priorities:

Priority 1 — Capital commitment requisitions.

Priority 2 — Expense commitment requisitions.

IV. Accruals

Year-end closing, FY 2015:

1. There will be no “special” end-of-year accruals for HQ expenses. Monthly accruals for HQ expenses will be processed as normal and as communicated to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) budget coordinators. Note: Any unusual/non-monthly expense should be communicated to the ELT as a possible adjustment to the normal ELT accrual.

2. All HQ accruals will be accrued at the ELT finance level.

3. All invoices for San Mateo goods and services received in the month of September must be mailed to San Mateo no later than September 25 for processing by September 30, 2015. All invoices not received by San Mateo by October 1, 2015, will be processed in October 2015, and paid in FY 2016.

V. Submission Schedules (Appendix)

The table below describes the schedule for submitting forms by the required submission date.

 

Form #	Item	Submit by	Submit to	Received by Date
PS 1839	Payment Record for Carrier Drive Out Agreements	Field offices	Scanning & Imaging Ctr.	11-Sep
PS 1164-A	Claim for Reimbursement for Postal Supervisors (for Employee Business Expenses only)	Field offices	Scanning & Imaging Ctr.	11-Sep
PS 17	Stamp Requisition/Stamp Return	Field offices	SSC/SDO	11-Sep
PS 1233	Project Financial Change/Completion Report (To add site prep cost to an existing assets or CIP)	St. Louis	San Mateo	11-Sep
N/A	Email from Accounting Assistant to add inventory items to fixed assets or CIP	Topeka	San Mateo	11-Sep
Form 969	Material Recycling and Disposal (Retirement)	Field offices	San Mateo	11-Sep
Form 2880	Physical Inventory — Certification/Adjustments (Retirement or Addition)	Field offices	San Mateo	11-Sep
N/A	All Recognition and Incentive Awards	All offices	eAwards	16-Sep
N/A	Hardcopy paper commitment documents	Supply Management (HQ)	San Mateo	18-Sep
N/A	Government Printing Office	Supply Management (HQ)	San Mateo	18-Sep
Form 8162	Capital Property Record	Field offices	San Mateo	18-Sep
Spreadsheet Capitalization	Addition, adjustment, add-on etc.	Program Managers through HQ Payable	San Mateo	18-Sep
Form 4503	Vehicle Delivery Control Sheet	VMF	San Mateo	23-Sep
Form 4587	Request to Repair, Replace, or Dispose of Postal Service–Owned Vehicle	VMF	San Mateo	18-Sep
SF 97	The U.S. Government Certificate of Release of a Motor Vehicle	Field offices	San Mateo	18-Sep
PS 1902	Justification for Billing Accounts Receivable (Non-Payroll)	Field offices	San Mateo	18-Sep
PS 4541	Order-Invoice for Vehicle Repair (commercial work order)	Field offices	Support VMF	18-Sep
N/A	Tort claims	All offices	Scanning & Imaging Ctr.	23-Sep
N/A	eTravel (Approving Official)	All offices	St. Louis	25-Sep
N/A	Vehicle hire payment certification reports	Field offices	Support VMF	25-Sep
PS 2551	Non-good and Non-service Payment Authorization	All offices	Scanning & Imaging Ctr.	25-Sep
PS 3533	Application for Refund of Fees, Products and Withdrawal of Customer Accounts	Field offices	Scanning & Imaging Ctr.	25-Sep
N/A	CTEL	Tangoe	San Mateo	25-Sep
N/A	Arbitration — Related Payments	All offices	San Mateo	25-Sep
N/A	Inter-Agency Payment and Collection (IPAC) Certified Invoices	Field offices	San Mateo	25-Sep
N/A	National Transportation Services (NTSP)	Supply Management (HQ)	San Mateo	30-Sep
PS 1129	Cashier Reimbursement Voucher and/or Accountability Report (Imprest fund)	All offices (Imprest)	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Government travel account (GTA)	St. Louis	St. Louis	25-Sep
N/A	Gasoline Credit Card (fleet card)	U.S. Bank	San Mateo	25-Sep
N/A	Project facility system	Facilities	St. Louis	25-Sep
N/A	eBuy utilities	All offices	eBuy Post/Certify Module	30-Sep
Form 2146	Employee’s Claim for Personal Property	All offices	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Commitments (CAMS) through APEX-CAMS electronic interface	Supply Management (HQ)	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Direct Vendor Delivery (DVD) and eBuy*	Topeka MDC	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Telecommunications Expense Management (TEMA)	Raleigh Network Operations	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Material Distribution Management System invoices (MDIMS)	Topeka	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	National Customer Management System invoices (NCMS)	Stamp Fulfillment Services	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Program Cost Tracking System invoices (PCTS)	PCTS Systems Administrator	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	UTIL — Energy Initiatives	Energy United/NISC	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	Solution for Enterprise Asset Management (SEAM)	Topeka	San Mateo	30-Sep
N/A	BPA cover sheets	All offices	San Mateo	1-Oct
N/A	Capital and expense receiving report	All offices	San Mateo	1-Oct
N/A	Certified Invoices — supplies and services, bulk fuel and oil purchases, motor vehicle parts, nonmetered heating fuel	All offices	San Mateo	1-Oct
N/A	National Service Agreement (NSA)–certified invoices	Mgr of Pricing Strategy	San Mateo	1-Oct
N/A	U.S. Bank Visa accrual	U.S. Bank	San Mateo	1-Oct
N/A	Relocation Management Firm (RMF) accruals	Accounting, (HQ)	Relocation	2-Oct
N/A	Commercial Bank Reconciliations	U.S. Bank, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank	Eagan	10-Oct

*Do not place orders for DVD or eBuy purchases from September 28 through October 1, 2015, except for critical needs.

Address questions concerning these instructions to the appropriate Accounting Services location or Finance office indicated in the table above.

— Corporate Accounting, Controller, 7-23-15