General Financial Information

The Student Assembly Administrative Staff will provide clerical and financial support to all student organizations in order to help them reach their goals. One of our primary responsibilities is to assist you with financial transactions, which include, but are not limited to: reimbursements, payments, credit card charges, and wire transfers. By providing general financial information, we aim to help you understand WSA financial procedures, and also offer thorough information regarding the ways to manage your group's funds. Please review the information provided in each of the following sections.

Electronic Dollars
How are funds Maintained
What is a Smartkey Number?
What is an Account Code?
How Funds Are Financially Managed
How Funds are Obtained or Generated
How Expenses are Charged to Smartkeys
Department Contributions
WSA Tools and Application System
Financial Forms

General Financial Information

Electronic Dollars
The Student Activities Fee (SAF) is managed through an electronic system. Money is moved between Smartkeys electronically, so we do not deal with actual dollars.

For example, if your student group requests money from the Student Budget Committee (SBC) and your request is approved, the SBC will submit a list of financial requests electronically to the WSA Administrator, who then enters the data into a budget management system. The information is then uploaded into the WSA Tools and Application System, which all financial contacts (treasurers) have full access to if their group is active.

How are funds maintained?
Once you have registered a student organization and it becomes active, three Smartkey Numbers are automatically assigned to your group.

Your funds are maintained through these Smartkeys Numbers, which can be used to charge bills, reserve any Wesleyan facility, rent University audiovisual equipment, make a payment to vendors and honoraria, in addition to a gamut of other services here at Wesleyan. While you should guard your Smartkey number carefully, the WSA Administrator or the administrative team will be able to provide your group's Smartkey numbers, if they have been misplaced.

What is a Smartkey Number?
A Smartkey Number is a ten-digit account number used by the University to keep track of financial transactions. Your student organization is identified by the Smartkey number and is utilized to record all expenses and revenue, so your group can keep track of your expenditures.

The ten digits are broken into three parts: fund identifier, department identifier, and group identifier.

1. The first three digits indicate the source of funds. There are three sources of funds: SBC, Income and Department.
2. The following four digits refer to the Department. It indicates that your student organization is part of the WSA administrative department.
3. The last three digits are the assigned group numbers used to identify the student organization 's name.

Once your student group is registered and active, it will automatically be assigned three Smartkey numbers: the SBC, Income and Department Smartkey Numbers.
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Three Types of Smartkeys?
Student organizations are automatically assigned three types of Smartkeys: SBC, Income and Department. All student groups can receive money from three primary sources. They can request an SBC allocation for SAF funds; they can generate revenue, which is automatically put into an Income Smartkey or obtain funds from an administrative or academic department, which are put into the Department Smartkey. Each Smartkey starts with a different 3-digit prefix, 4-digit department number and a three digit group number which identifies the organization. For example, if the student group, Wesleyan Flower is assigned the group number "123", the Smartkey Numbers will be as follows.

Department Smartkey: 1001113123
SBC Smartkey: 1101113123
Income Smartkey: 1111113123

The Department Smartkey prefix is 100, the SBC Smartkey prefix is 110 and the Income Smartkey prefix is 111. Note: the last seven digits are always the same.

What is an Account Code?
An account code is five digits. It is used to categorize income and expenses by type. Account codes are used for generic expense classifications such as supplies, membership dues, travel, etc.
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Although there are hundreds of account codes available, the WSA Administrative Office uses approximately 30 account codes. You can find a list of account codes on the back of the Financial Request Form or the online SBC Allocation Request Form. Both forms can be found on the Student Assembly Office (SAO) website or in the SAO in Usdan 104. Below is the list of the most commonly used WSA account codes.

Account Code List

Account Code	Account Code Description
81600	Student
81720	Temporary Workers
81740	Faculty and Staff (other compensation)
82101	Supplies
82201	Subscriptions
82250	Organization/League Dues
82400	Computer Supplies
82450	Other
82580	Mail/Postage
82600	Telephone
82640	Food and Drink
82915	Athletic Officials
82916	Athletic Entry Fees
82919	Athletic Uniforms
83404	Outside Printing
83570	Honorarium
84509	Travel
84520	Lodging (see object code 5970)
85010	Equipment Rental
85020	Facility Rental
85040	Capital Item: $1000-5000
85045	Capital Item: Greater than $5000
85050	Capital Item: Less than $1000
85421	Film Rights
85905	ITS Media Service
85950	Public Safety/Middletown Police
85970	Campus Guest Accommodations
87920	Physical Plant Labor Charges

How Funds are Managed
Financial Contact Responsibilities
All student groups have a treasurer or financial contact that will oversee all financial transactions for the group. They are responsible for managing the group 's finances and should know what events are being sponsored by the organization, what items are needed for each event, and which member of the group is responsible for various events and/or activities.

The following is a list of the primary responsibilities of the financial contact:

- Review the student group financial data through the WSA Tools and Applications system.
- Keep track of the external and interdepartmental expenses incurred by each event and/or activity. This includes: equipment rental, supplies, capital items, travel, audio visual charges, physical plant labor fees, facility reservation cost, ITS set-up fees, and other miscellaneous charges from on campus departments and outside organizations.
- Complete and sign all financial request forms and timesheets for the group.
- Adhere to all notices regarding deadlines, policy and procedures, and other important information.

Primary Contact Responsibilities
All student groups have a primary contact that is responsible for any technical needs for the group.

The following is a list of the core responsibilities of the primary contact:

- Register a new student group or re-register an old group. All established groups must be re-registered each academic year to update their contact information and to activate the group's Smartkey financial accounts.
- Request technical needs or support for the student organization.
- Request and create blogs, Lyris list, or other online systems.

How Funds are Obtained or Generated
Student Organizations receive money in three ways:

SBC Allocation Requests:

You can submit a SBC Allocation Request through your student portfolio. Once it's approved, the amount is transferred as electronic dollars into your student group's 1101113xxx SBC Smartkey under specific account codes.

Income:

You can have income from the previous year, commonly known as a "carry forward," transferred into the new fiscal year Income Smartkey. *Normally the University allows the balance of a student group's 1111113xxx INCOME Smartkey from the previous year to be used by the group the following year. It's placed in account code 72004.

Your student organization can generate income during the current school year. This income is reflected in the student group's 1111113xxx INCOME Smartkey under account code 70360 after the group's treasurer submits a Deposit Form to the WSA Administrative Office. Account codes in Income Smartkeys all begin with the number seven. For example, if you are making a deposit, the account code would be 70360.

Campus Department Funding:

You can ask a chair or department head of an administrative or academic department to co-sponsor our event during the current school year.

How Expenses are Charged to Smartkeys
Expenses
When a student group spends money, its expenses will always be charged to the specific Smartkey code that best reflects the nature of the expense.

If the expense is funded by an SBC Allocation Request then the expense should be charged to the student group's 1101113xxx SBC Smartkey under the account code for which an Allocation Request Form was approved.

If the expense is funded by current year or prior year income then the expense should be charged to the student organization's 1111113xxx INCOME Smartkey under the account code which best reflects the nature of the expense.

If the expense is funded by another department within Wesleyan then department will transfer funds into the group's 1001113xxx DEPARTMENT Smartkey and the expense should be charged directly to the group 's department Smartkey.

*Note: It is possible that one particular invoice or expense may need to be split across any or all three Smartkeys listed above.

Department Contributions
You can request funds through alternative sources (other than the SBC) by contacting and requesting support from other departments on campus. Contact the department that will most likely support your request and ask them complete a journal transfer to your Department-funded Smartkey.
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It is important that you provide the department with the following information when you make your request, so that they can properly complete the online journal.

Required information that student should provide departments:
- Name of Student Group:
- Student Group Smartkey Number:
- Name of Event:
- Purpose of Event:
- Event Start Date:
- Event End Date:
- Student Name:
- Student Email Address:
- Student Cellphone:

WSA Tools and Application System
The WSA Tools and Application System is an electronic accounting system that keeps track of your student group's finances online. In order to access the Group Finances Reporting System your group must be officially registered and activated by Community Outreach and External Affairs Committee (COEAC).

Your group should also assign one currently enrolled undergraduate as the Financial Contact person; this person will be able to access your student group's Smartkey(s) through the e-portfolio system by following the instructions below.

1. Log into your student portfolio
2. Select "My Student Portfolio"
3. Go to "Student Life at Wesleyan"
4. Select "WSA Tools and Application"
5. Select the "Group Finances" tab
6. Click the "Instructions" link, review instructions and proceed from there.
A screen similar to the following will appear. Select the report you want to review by clicking on one of the links.

Financial Forms
The WSA Office has a variety of forms to assist student group leaders with acquiring funds for payment and/or reimbursements. You can acquire the forms online by clicking this link or by picking up a hardcopy from the WSA Administrative