Ithaca College's Fiscal Year-End is Changing

01/04/19

Contributed by Beth Reynolds

In October 2018, the Board of Trustees approved changing the College's fiscal year from the current June 1st - May 31st to July 1st - June 30th.  This will go into effect in 2019.  This means that fiscal year 2019 will end on June 30, 2019 and fiscal year 2020 will begin on July 1, 2019.

Reasons which support making this change:

  1. This model is standard in the higher education space.
  2. The change is beneficial to the Oracle HCM (Human Capital Management) system implementation in Human Resources.  The calendar year quarter-ends will allow for a less time consuming and less expensive approach to converting and validating balances in the new system.
  3. Quarterly filings in Payroll, HR, Financial Services, Student Financial Services among other departments will align with the external agencies that they are required to report to (i.e. Internal Revenue Service, NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, U.S. Department of Education, etc.) making the processes less cumbersome and time consuming.
  4. Staff that process financial related work will have more time to complete their year-end duties without the complications involved with end of the semester and commencement responsibilities.
  5. The College will be better aligned with investment (endowment) and banking institutions who report on calendar year quarter-ends.

Anticipated Questions and Answers:

Q:  For Budgeting purposes, what happens to the month of June 2019 if our old year ends on May 31, 2019, and our new year begins on July 1, 2019?

A:  The current Budget Cycle will end on May 31, 2019.  A new, one-month Budget Cycle will begin on June 1, 2019 and end on June 30, 2019.

Q:  Do we need to complete a separate budget for the month of June 2019?

A:  The Budget Department will create a June 2019 budget based upon an average of the past 3-years actuals for June, to the extent that the data is available.  If there is insufficient data, the Budget Department will contact your department to discuss your allocation.

We realize that there are many more questions that will need to be answered in relation to this change as it impacts so many facets of the College.  The Business & Finance department is working hard to map out the process.  Stay tuned throughout the coming days, weeks, and months as we navigate this change and communicate out to the campus. 

Your feedback is very important to us.  If you have questions, please send them to Luke Sweet at lsweet@ithaca.edu.

 

 

 

 

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