About Us
The Comptroller’s Office reports to the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for the development of financial accounting and related policies to control and safeguard University assets.
The Comptroller’s Office supports the University’s mission by providing effective accounting systems and processes to monitor and assess the financial position and internal controls of the University and its related affiliates. The office provides support to campus through accurate and timely financial information, facilitates policy formulation to enhance financial integrity, and develops strategies for implementing the University’s initiatives ensuring quality and cost-effectiveness.
Jean Gallipeau serves as the University’s Comptroller and oversees a wide range of departments within finance including Accounts Payable, Construction Accounting, Financial Reporting, Financial Systems Management, General Accounting, Purchasing, Payroll, Restricted Gift Accounting, Sponsored Accounting, and Tax Reporting.
Latest News
April 11, 2023
Adjustment to Sales Tax Reimbursement Rules; Updated Travel Policy to Be Issued Later in 2023
Effective immediately, Syracuse University staff and faculty members utilizing a University credit card will no longer need to seek sales tax reimbursement from the vendor if the purchase results in less than $25 in sales tax per transaction. Though employees should continue to request tax-exempt purchases every time they utilize their University credit card, this rule change will eliminate some of the retroactive action necessary to correspond with vendors and request refunds for mistakenly-charged sales tax.
The University will continue to require reimbursement from the vendor for transactions exceeding $25 in sales tax. The Comptroller’s Office is available to assist individuals and departments if they encounter challenges with larger tax amounts.
The updated sales tax rule is a part of a broader review of the campus travel policy, which is currently underway. Though the full, updated policy won’t be available until later in the calendar year, the Comptroller’s Office is providing the sales tax update to the campus community now in order to help ease the administrative burden associated with reimbursement.
February 2, 2021
Message from the Comptroller Regarding Paper Paychecks
All paper paychecks dated Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, and continuing until further notice will be delivered through campus mail to each employee’s campus department.
As a reminder, anyone with a NetID and password has the ability to set up direct deposit on MySlice. The Payroll Office provides step-by-step instructions to enroll in direct deposit on its website.
Please contact payroll at payroll@syr.edu or 315.443.4042, option 2, with any questions.
Other Updates from the Comptroller’s Office
- Increase in Mileage Reimbursement Rate: The mileage reimbursement rate for use of a personal automobile on University business incurred on or after January 1, 2023, is $0.655 per mile.
- SAMtool: The Sponsored Award Management tool (SAMtool), is a financial and budget management tool for sponsored projects. It was conceived, designed, and built with the active participation of a campus-wide cross-functional team including central office staff, department and college budget staff, and research faculty from multiple academic units.
- University Fringe Benefit Rates for Fiscal Year 2023: The University’s fringe benefits expense is distributed to the responsibility centers, Syracuse Abroad administration, facilities, and administration and technology units as a percent of actual payroll expense. Fringe benefit rates were established considering the cost of the benefits available to employees in each classification (i.e., Regular, Graduate Assistant, Summer, Part-Time Faculty Union, Temporary Wages) as a percent of the payroll in the same classification. The University has negotiated new fringe benefit rates with the Federal government for fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023). These rates will be used for charging both sponsored (funds 13 and 91) and non-sponsored restricted (funds 15 and 16) chartstrings. The University has also established the fringe benefit rates to be used for unrestricted chartstrings (funds 11 and 14) under RCM for fiscal year 2023. Read more: FY 2023 University Fringe Benefit Rates (PDF file) and FY22 Fringe Rates (PDF file).
- University Facilities and Administrative Rates: The University has negotiated with the Federal government to establish Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rates, sometimes referred to as overhead or indirect cost rates. They pertain only to sponsored activity…more information about Facilities and Administrative rates (PDF file).
- Accounting for Excess Property Sales: Please note that excess property sales may no longer be deposited to an expense account (i.e., accounts beginning with ’56’).
All excess property sales must be accounted for as revenue for the selling department. Please use one of the following revenue accounts to record the sales income:- 480057, Other-Excess Property Income (cash or check sale and the selling department is not an auxiliary department)
- 470057, Auxiliaries-Excess Property (cash or check sale and the selling department is an auxiliary department)
- 800057, Internal Income-Excess Property (ID sale, note: buying department should use an appropriate expense account)
- W-2 Information: The Payroll Office continues to encourage employees to elect Online Receipt of their Form W-2. This can be done online via MySlice. If you have questions about your Form W-2, please contact the Payroll Office at x4042.
- Direct Deposit: We continue to encourage students and employees to elect direct deposit of your student refunds, expense reimbursements, and pay. This can be done via MySlice.