Welcome to the Fiscal Agent Networking Group

A Fiscal Agent is a designation given to an individual whose current responsibilities include such duties as compilation, verification, analysis and ad hoc reporting of financial and budgeting data for their assigned unit of operation. These individuals have close contact with the Dean/Director/Department Head of their organization and are empowered with enough authority to hold applicable personnel accountable for financial information. They are the single point of contact for the Central Financial Administration.

There are three primary duties/responsibilities for the Fiscal Agent:

1. to ensure that all monthly accrual entries (including reversals or pro rates) that have been identified as owned by the organization are submitted accurately and timely.
2. to explain to the Central Financial Administration any budget variances in the organization ’s financial data that are identified in the monthly consolidated report. It must be emphasized that responsibility for managing the budget remains with the Dean/Director/Department Head; the Fiscal Agent is responsible only for gathering and reporting information. There is the expectation that a core set of reports specifically for the Fiscal Agents will be developed to enable them to be proactive in obtaining this information.
3. to represent their organization on a Fiscal Agent networking group that would work together with the Central Financial Administration personnel to problem solve, make recommendations, resolve inconsistencies, and implement solutions to improve the financial and budgeting process.

A Fiscal Agent is required for each of the Banner Level 3 Organizations (e.g. School, College, or Branch) per attached. Required duties and responsibilities may be delegated to lower organization levels at the discretion of the Dean/Director/Department Head of a Level 3 Organization. But the “point of contact” between the organization and Central Financial Administration will be at Level 3. Special circumstances might indicate that more than one Fiscal Agent be required at Level 3. In such cases, the Dean/Director/Department Head of the Level 3 Organization may request additional Fiscal Agents; the appropriate Associate Vice President of Financial Services will approve these requests.

It must be kept in mind that the Fiscal Agent designation is not a job classification; it entails additional duties for existing job classifications and will require training and certification. For this reason, duties and responsibilities must be kept to the minimum required to implement the planned Finance/Budget organizational structure.

Certification for Fiscal Agents will include completion of all UNM internal financial training that is currently available plus any Fiscal Agent training that is developed. Annual certification would require completion of all additional training developed during the previous year. Training will be made available to any support personnel, but certification will be required only for the Fiscal Agents.

Competencies include:

1. Basic accounting knowledge, including understanding the accrual basis of accounting
2. Knowledge and understanding of budgeting and financial management principles
3. Ability to gather, compile, analyze and interpret financial data and prepare financial reports
4. Ability to analyze budgetary expenditures for compliance with approved budget
5. Knowledge of Banner Finance
6. Knowledge of MyReports