How to avoid NSF Situations

Proactive measures that can be taken to avoid NSF:

• Accurately budget within Banner all your current unrestricted indices.
• Timely reconcile all indices to verify that expenses are complete and accurate (especially transactions that are uploaded to the banner system bypassing central accounting approval).
• Since salaries comprise about 80% of most budget, verify labor distribution and reconcile salary changes on a timely basis.
• Process Labor Redistribution changes in a timely fashion.
• Review outstanding Purchasing Orders for need and appropriateness.
• Process any necessary PO Modifications in a timely manner.
• Renew master Purchase Orders on a fiscal year basis.
• Liquidate manual encumbrance as soon as transaction has been completed/posted to Banner. [This does NOT happen “automatically”!]
• Budget Reserves amounts that the unit intends to spend in the current fiscal year.
• Purge any pending transactions from Banner system that were initiated but are no longer intended to be completed.

Troubleshooting NSF

Do I have PO’s that span more than one fiscal year?

Banner looks at the remaining amount on a purchase order and assumes it will be spent in the current fiscal year.

Example: You have a five year purchase order in place for $5,000, and intend to spend $1,000 per year, and only budget $1,000 in Banner. Banner subtracts the entire $5,000 from your budget, leaving you $4,000 overspent.

Modify multiyear purchase orders with a PO Modification form. Each purchase order should reflect what is to be spent in the current fiscal year. Coordinate your efforts with Purchasing. Your original Purchase Order must be for the full amount to enable Purchasing to avoid incremental purchasing, which is illegal under the state code. After your original purchase order, for the full amount is in place, then you can modify it to include only the current year portion.

Are my labor distributions current and accurate?

Reconcile your indices monthly. Labor Distributions can be updated with an EPAF, which you will access through Loboweb. Once the EPAF is approved and posted, the labor distribution will post correctly for future payrolls. In order to originate EPAFs, you must have taken EPAF-BAN HRP EP 101 course offered via  and submitted a BAR named “Originating a Labor Distribution EPAF” to originate an EPAF in Loboweb. Encumbrances for Learning Central payroll are adjusted when posted, so you may not see your adjustment immediately.

Labor redistributions are made with PZAREDS. This is how you correct already posted labor that is not in the correct index. PZAREDS is a Banner screen you access from within Banner. You must have taken the PZAREDS course offered via  Learning Central and submitted a BAR named “Department Labor Redistributions” to access PZAREDS in Banner.

Once your PZAREDS is posted, the incorrect transactions will be moved, along with related benefits, to the correct index.

Are my expenses properly charged?

Reconcile your indices monthly. See the “Index Reconciliation” section of Part III of this manual.

Particularly note:

• Banner feeds. They will post whether you are in NSF or not. This includes ITS (Telecom) charges. They can put you into NSF.

Am I spending unbudgeted reserves?

Any reserves (funds unspent from the prior year) that you wish to spend in the current year must be budgeted. If you have a reserves amount budgeted, it will be in account 1901.

Even if you have a large reserves in account 1900, you should not spend it unless it is budgeted in account 1901. If you spend unbudgeted reserves, you run the risk of putting your Level 3 Banner fund in NSF.

If necessary, submit a budget revision, documenting how you are going to spend the reserves. To submit a budget revision, you will submit a journal voucher with journal type BD4. Once this journal voucher is approved and posted, the entry should relieve your NSF status. 

Are there any pending transactions that need to be purged from Banner system?

When calculating NSF, Banner subtracts all outstanding JVs, DP-EZs and Purchase Requisitions. Banner subtracts these whether they are posted or pending. If you have documents in existence that will never be posted, remove them.

Is the NSF Condition due to another index within my organization?

If your index is not in NSF, but you are getting NSF indicators, another index within your organization could be the cause. Check the available balance of your department using Banner Form FGIBDSR, the Executive Summary Form. This form allows you to query by specific Organization to check the available balance. If your organization as a whole is NSF, all indices within the organization will be in NSF status. Discuss the situation with your supervisor.