The following DFA classes are available from January 2021 through June 2021 and are open to any person interested in learning more about Cornell accounting/finance policies. Please register via CULearn (click the registration link in the description below to view open class dates, times, and locations).
All classes are held REMOTELY until further notice. Do not go to the DFA Training Room.
Anyone in a service center role is required to complete the Accounting Certification Program within 18 months of employment and re-certify every 3 years.
The Accounting Certification Program (ACP) helps employees develop and enhance accounting skills and knowledge by providing an overview of the accounting function, as well as detailed training on the use of specific accounting tools and their associated policies and procedures. The ACP is constantly growing/changing. As core courses become available, you can take them individually and apply them to the certification.
To obtain credit for the course and eventual certification, staff members taking any ACP core course must pass an open-book exam for each class.
The following courses will be part of the redesigned program (you must take one elective). See the individual course pages for more information. Also see below for a description of these and other classes.
Register for the DFA Accounting Certification Program (all classes are listed in one place for ease of registration)
This course is for staff members who work with accounting information or who are new to Cornell accounting methods. The three-session program uses a mixture of online and traditional classroom learning. There is an online, open-book exam after each session (a total of 3 exams) that must be completed along with all three sessions to receive credit. Exams do not need to be completed before attending the next session.
Session I: An online prerequisite for sessions II and III, this session provides an online introduction to accounting topics and policies such as the accounting equation; assets, liabilities, and fund balance accounting; debits and credits; ethics; compliance and methods, the Cornell accounting structure; and commonly used accounting terms. Approximate completion time is 20-30 minutes (not including the exam).
Session II: This classroom session will cover topics such as debits and credits; organizations (orgs) and the org structure; account types; the Cornell accounting string (account, sub-account, object codes, sub-object codes, project codes, org ref ID); restriction classifications (unrestricted, temporarily, permanently); account attributes (fund, sub-fund, sub-fund program); and higher education function codes.
Session III: This classroom session will tie together the topics covered in Session II by reviewing KFS, including creating/updating an account; creating a sub-account; creating a sub-object code; closing accounts; viewing account balances; understanding general ledger (GL) pending entries and self-balancing accounts; measuring accounting information; accounting fiscal periods; reporting accounting information (dashboards and Web Financials II).
Instructors
Accounting staff members and Steve Jackson, ODTM
Policy Considerations at Cornell comes back to life from the pre-KFS days in this new, self-paced online course that covers several university policies, including 3.14, Business Expenses; 4.2, Transaction Authority and Payment Approval; and 4.6, Standards of Ethical Conduct; along with various citizenship and tax information.
For all staff members who work with accounting information and who are new to Cornell accounting methods, this class will cover topics including responsibilities for stewardship and fiduciary responsibility at the university, types of accountability, policy resources, standards of ethical conduct, transaction authority reviews and payment approvals, conflicts, financial irregularities, internal controls, risk assessment and monitoring controls. We will also review several case studies based on the material presented.
Instructors
Cornell University Audit Office staff members
Suggested Prerequisite: Accounting 101 (see above) or a minimum of 3-6 months experience working with Cornell accounts.
This course defines allowable and unallowable costs from the vantage point of the university and the federal government. Excerpts from the new Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) will be discussed in detail. Other topics include how to code federal unallowable transactions, how federal unallowable costs affect the facilities and administrative rate calculation, and the review process for federal unallowable costs.
Instructors
DFA Cost and Capital Assets staff members and Steve Jackson, ODTM
This class will provide an overview of the capital assets policy and thresholds. Topics covered include Cornell’s definition of a capital asset; the importance of keeping capital asset records current; handling sponsor-owned equipment; tagging assets; and working with the surplus and disposal processes. KFS topics include pre-asset tagging, editing assets, transferring assets, loaning or returning equipment, fabrication of assets, retiring assets, and conducting the barcode inventory process. (This course replaces KFSCAM-600.)
Instructors
Capital Assets staff members
This course/tutorial covers a variety of Cornell policies and procedures for managing and accounting for leases including the decision making needed to identify leases and non-leases.
Effective Fall 2020 this is a two-part program. Please make sure you pay attention to class dates and times because they will be on separate days.
This two-part course will provide a foundation for managing sponsored projects.
Part 1: Sponsored Financial-Managing Sponsored Projects is an overview of sponsored projects, including the life cycle, research administration at Cornell, and general principles surrounding oversight of a project. 1.5 hours. For those who have completed Research Administration Certification Program (RACP), Part I is not required but you still need to register for the entire course, attend Part 2, and pass the exam.
Part 2: Sponsored Financial-Managing Sponsored Accounts is an overview of project accounts associated with a sponsored activity. Includes time for testing and reviewing accounts in the Kuali Financial System. 1.5 hours.
This course is the foundation for Financial Management of Sponsored Activity and a prerequisite for these courses in this suite:
Instructors
Sponsored Financial Services staff members
We strongly encourage you to complete (or be currently taking) FIN 114 - Financial Management of Sponsored Projects before taking this course.
This course is an overview of the Sponsored Financial Activity dashboard, which presents financial activity associated with sponsored projects. You will learn how to analyze your project by reviewing the current financial status and monitoring activity on a regular basis.
Attendees should have general dashboard knowledge (completed KFSIDR-1050) and an interest (current or future) in managing sponsored activity. Access to this dashboard follows the general accounting role and may be restricted by local college access.
Instructors
Sponsored Financial Services staff members
We strongly encourage you to complete (or be currently taking) FIN 114 - Financial Management of Sponsored Projects before taking this course.
This course comprises thirteen distinct online modules and provides an overview of Uniform Guidance Post-Award Federal Requirements. You will learn how to manage and navigate post-award financial administration of a sponsored project.
Topics include administrative rules, budget analysis, cost principles, salary certification, participant costs, equipment, cost share, indirect costs, subawards, program income and financial monitoring.
This program provides greater understanding of the development of the Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost rate and will be valuable for those working with sponsored grants and contracts or managing F&A recoveries at a college or university level. The session will provide an overview of the processes involved in developing the F&A cost rate, including the impact of coding of accounts, the treatment of unallowable expenses and activities, the impact of cost sharing, the importance of properly coding space usage, and a case study of how the numbers are all put together.
This workshop provides to recharge operation and service facility managers the background and knowledge necessary to develop accurate, equitable, and compliant user fees. Topics covered include key definitions, relevant regulations and policies, key requirements of University Policy 3.10, Recharge Entities, the difference between recharge operations and service facilities, which costs can and cannot be recovered through user fees, how to calculate user fees, how to handle subsidies (user fee and user subsidies), applicable accounting procedures, the review and approval process, and common problems/deficiencies.
Instructors
Nancy Abbott, Cost and Capital Assets
Prerequisites: Accounting 101 and KFSIDR-1050
This class is for staff members responsible for monitoring revenue and expenses for Cornell, state, federal or contract and grants accounts, as well as performing account reconciliations.
This three-hour class provides guidelines for reconciling asset and liability object codes and monitoring revenue and expense activity. It will define the difference between a reconciliation and activity monitoring, as well as cover risk assessment, properly recording sales tax, correcting unknown variances, and writing off uncollectible receivables. During the class, we will be using the KFS Dashboards and hands-on exercises to reinforce reconciliation techniques and strategies.
Instructors
DFA Accounting staff members
All Cornell University employees have a role to play within the university’s internal control framework. This introductory course explains internal controls in general along with the employee’s responsibilities for internal controls within Cornell’s framework.
Topics include the definition of internal controls and why are they important, an overview of Cornell’s internal control framework, challenges that may exist and how to manage them, and key controls.
Instructors
DFA Accounting staff member
Prerequisite: You must have KFS Accounting Dashboards access when registering for this class. If you do not, request access for the KFS Staff Accounting role in Cynergy from your business service center.
Learn how to use the full power of the WebFin2 dashboard to meet your reporting needs. This hands-on class is designed for staff members with accounting responsibilities who need to review and monitor transactional- and summary-level data at the individual account level. Topics discussed include viewing account balances, year-to-date and inception-to-date summary reports, reviewing transactions, drilling from summary reports to transaction details, understanding encumbrances, and using the WebFin2 Account Notes feature.
Users with KFS Labor access will learn how to interpret the summary/name detail views provided in many reports. Many custom navigation features of this dashboard will be explained.
Users will learn how to answer common questions such as: Do I have enough money in my account to make this purchase? How can I find if any of my accounts are in overdraft status? Where can I find information on remaining PO and labor encumbrance balances? How does my account compare to budget? What salaries have been charged to my account? What was purchased at the campus store? We will also cover the extensive OBIEE dashboard tools available, such as changing the sort order and column order in reports, moving report columns to create custom filters and report breaks, adding sub-totals to existing reports, hiding columns to redesign dashboard report format; and saving customized reports for future use.
Instructors
Tim Pollard (CIT) and DFA staff members
Prerequisite: Using KFS Dashboards Overview Tutorial (KFSIDR-1000DASH-Tutorial)
This class combines the previous KFSIDR-1000 and KFSIDR-1100 classes. This hands-on class is designed for transaction specialists who need to review, monitor, and report on transactional activity in their accounts. Learn how to use the financials dashboards to find transactions posted to your accounts, including using page selectors to request data specific to your needs; changing column and sort order; sub-totaling; hiding columns to redesign dashboard report format; and saving customized reports for future use. It is also designed for account representatives and finance specialists who need to manage budget and financial activity in their accounts. Learn how to use the financials dashboards to find funds available, balances for accounts in your organization, and compare financial activity against budgeted allocations. Answer questions such as, Do I have enough money in my account to make this purchase? How can I find if any of my accounts are in overdraft status? How can I monitor asset and liability balances? Where can I find information on remaining PO encumbrance balances? We will also cover changing the sort order in reports, moving report columns to change the display, and adding subtotals to existing reports.
Instructors
Steve Jackson, ODTM and Financial Systems and Information Delivery (FSAID) staff
Risk Management is everyone's responsibility. In this class, you will learn how the risk management process can help you become a more effective steward and protect the human, physical, and financial assets of the university. You will gain an understanding of the university's insurance programs, the claim process, and the university policies that are impacted by risk management.
Other topics covered include risk identification, risk rates and exclusions, the cost of allocation, emergency planning and business continuity, insurance claims and incident reporting, deductibles, contractors (paying for services), architects and engineers, certificates of insurance and risk, foreign travel and travel risks, sexual harassment, rental cars, contract risks, use of university property, and use of alcohol.
Instructors
Risk Management and Insurance staff members
This is a five course, six session program (PAY 101 is two sessions with a pre-session tutorial) that will help give you the skills you need to manage the administration of payroll and payroll functions effectively and efficiently.
Topics include:
Please view the Session Details for each course to see the available class dates and times.
Instructors
Cornell University Payroll staff members
This class is for staff members responsible for working with foreign nationals, dealing with visas, and making payments to foreign nationals.
This is a two-part workshop.
Part I is an online tutorial that covers common definitions, visa types, tax treaties and documentation pertaining to payment processing for foreign nationals.
Part II is an instructor-led class where we will cover examples and case studies on topics such as determining if an individual is a foreign national; payment types to foreign nationals (honoraria, fee for services, stipends, and wages); and the types of documentation needed to receive treaty benefits and potential exemption from taxes. Participants will also review the Foreign National Questionnaire form and other required documents and backup material.
Instructor
Lori Kanellis, Tax Office
The Procurement Certification Program covers various aspects of the procurement process at Cornell. Participants will be guided through the purchasing decision process including identifying the appropriate payment method, selecting a vendor, processing a purchase order, identifying independent contractors, paying for services, and more.
The program is a series of nine classes, five of which are required. There are four required classroom courses and one required tutorial and four electives. You must attend all required classes and complete all exams for certification.
The classes required for certification include Procurement Overview (tutorial), The Basics of Cornell Procurement, Identifying Independent Contractors and Paying for Services, Processing Purchase Orders, and Contracts and Negotiations. The optional classes include Bid Solicitations, PCard Use for BSCs, Spend Viz, and e-SHOP.
Instructors
Cornell University staff members
This course will walk you through setting-up your traveler profile in Concur as well as cover the use of the Concur Mobile Apps and some high-level travel policy information that pertains to the subject area.
Instructors
Cornell University staff members
We strongly encourage you to complete TRAVEL 100 before enrolling in this course.
This course will go over the booking travel process using Concur and will also cover using other ways to book travel and enter that information into the Concur travel system. Some high-level travel policy information will also be presented.
Instructors
Cornell University staff members
We strongly encourage you to complete TRAVEL 100 before enrolling in this course.
This course will go through the expense report from beginning to end for travelers needing to complete the travel reimbursement process using the Concur travel system.
Instructors
Cornell University staff members
