Systems and Procedures
A Division of The Office of Budget and Finance
A Division of The Office of Budget and Finance
The Shaver's Creek Environmental Center (SCEC) operates within the Stone Valley Recreational Area under the authority of Outreach to provide service, instruction, and research in the fields of recreation and environmental interpretation. Programs and services are presented to the general public as well as to Penn State students, faculty, staff, and classes.
Annual memberships are sold by the Center which provides certain benefits and price discounts to members, not available to the general public. The Environmental Center also maintains a Bookstore and Gift Shop that sells nature-related books and gifts. Fees charged by SCEC are properly approved in accordance with University Policies FN27 Establishing and Billing Service Center User Rates and BT06 Course-Related Fees Approval, and are reviewed and revised annually.
All bookstore revenue, including donations, collected at the Shaver's Creek Environmental Center is recorded through the Center's cash register, online DoubleKnot system, or submitted with an accompanying deposit template. The business process for handling donations is described later in this procedure. It is the policy of the Center to receive payment immediately for goods and services rendered. However, some programs and services may be billed to recognized groups with the advance approval of the Director of Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
The Environmental Center has a change fund. The fund has been properly established in accordance with University Policy FN04 Long-Term and Short-Term Advances. During large events, such as the Maple Harvest Festival, this change fund will sometimes be temporarily increased for the dates of the event. Access to, and custody of, the funds is limited to the Associate Director of Operations or their designee. The funds are adequately secured according to guidelines established by University Policy FN01 Cash Revenues and Procedure FN2005 Processing Cash Revenues.
SCEC maintains and follows a set of written opening and closing procedures which have been locally established and approved. This procedure is separate from those guidelines and outlines the necessary controls and fundamental responsibilities associated with the collection and reporting of funds received by the Center.
Shaver's Creek Environmental Center operates a bookstore and gift shop specializing in nature-related products. As approved by the management, all items are sold at the manufacturer's suggested retail price, or if no MSRP is given, around a 60% markup from cost. As one of the privileges of membership, members receive an established percentage discount on items from the bookstore. All items are taken to the Center's cash register site and appropriately recorded through the cash register, including the charging of the appropriate sales tax. The patron receives the customer cash register receipt as evidence of their payment. (Specific payment/collection procedures are discussed later in this procedure.)
The Center has many facilities available for rent by University and non-University groups. Reservations for the facilities must be made at the time of the request. All relative information will be recorded. The request will be checked with the Center's master calendar to determine availability. The patron will be advised whether the date and facility are available and that a Program Director, or designee, will be in touch with them, as necessary.
The appropriate Program Director or responsible employee will contact the patron and establish a confirmed commitment for use of the facility and other related services requested. The patron will be advised that they may prepay their rental or pay on the day of use. In some instances, as approved by the Director, the Center will invoice the non-University patrons, or request payment by direct billing from University groups (see Policy FN16 Interdepartmental Transactions and Procedure FN2069 Direct Billing.) Specific payment collection procedures are discussed later in this procedure.
The administrative staff of SCEC develops new public program offerings three (3) or four (4) times a year. The Program Director coordinates the program staff and material requirements and determines the program fees based upon historical program cost and/or material costs. Fees charged by SCEC are properly approved in accordance with University Policies FN27 Establishing and Billing Service Center User Rates and BT06 Course-Related Fee Approvals. The approved programs are established on the Center's master calendar.
The approved programs are publicized, and registrations are taken. Programs are offered to the public and to special groups. Member and non-member rates are charged. Fees collected for these programs are either paid at registration through the secure online DoubleKnot system or paid on the date of the program.
As patrons register, the appropriate information is recorded securely through an online DoubleKnot form. The appropriate Program Director will review the program registrations to determine whether the program has enough support to be presented.
The SCEC offers an annual membership program for interested patrons per rates shown on the Membership Application Form (Exhibit A) as well as the Shaver's Creek website. Members' benefits are described on the application form and the website.
When a Membership Application and payment are received in person, the receiving party will process the payment as described later in the payment processing section of this procedure. The Membership and Program Registration Coordinator reviews the Membership Application Form and enters the member information (along with additional family members) into the online membership system Doubleknot. The Membership Application form is destroyed once the online portion is complete.
Membership applications are processed through the online Membership system, Doubleknot. The finance office has access to pull daily reports of all membership donations, and the donations are accounted for and deposited to the correct cost collector. If the patron pays for the membership by check or cash, the member and payment information is recorded in Doubleknot and processed as an "off-line payment" which is included in the Doubleknot membership report. The off-line payments (cash or check) are then sent to the finance office in a locked bag via an Auxiliary and Business Service courier and guard to be accounted for in the daily reconciliation. Memberships that are processed in person by credit card are processed through the Doubleknot point-of-sale station (cash register).
Membership to the SCEC is valid for twelve (12) full months from the date of registration. Membership renewal letters are sent out in late fall.
All donations are processed as gifts through the Office of Gifts and Endowments. In accordance with University Policy FN03 Substantiation, Disclosure, and Accountability for the Receipt of Contributions from Non-Governmental Sources and Procedure CR2021 Accountability of Contributions from Non-Governmental Sources, the SCEC prepares a deposit template and sends a copy along with the cash, check, or record of credit card payment that is forwarded to the Office of Gifts and Endowments to be deposited into the appropriate gift account. The Center collects donations according to Procedure CR2021 Accountability of Contributions from Non-Governmental Sources to from the public in three (3) ways:
Donations received on-site are submitted to the Office of Gifts and Endowments via a Deposit Template (Exhibit B) sent to Outreach Business and Finance and deposited into a special OUD account.
At the beginning of each business day, the cashier will follow the locally established and approved procedure for opening the Shaver's Creek Environmental Center. These procedures are in writing and kept at the desk for reference by each employee assigned the responsibility of opening.
The Center's cash register is in the bookstore/gift shop area. As part of the opening procedure, it is the cashier's responsibility to ready the cash register for the day's operation. The cashier will log into the Doubleknot register system. The change fund will be removed from the safe, counted, and entered into Doubleknot as prompted.
All payments for materials and services collected by the SCEC are recorded through the Center's cash register. As payments are made, the item or service is scanned or looked up as appropriate through Doubleknot on the register. Payment may be made by cash, check, or credit card. Checks must be made payable to "The Pennsylvania State University" or "Penn State–Shaver's Creek" or "Shaver's Creek Environmental Center" or "Shaver's Creek." The cashier will only accept checks for the exact amount of the sale. Immediately upon satisfactory review, the cashier will restrictively endorse the check as outlined in University Policy FN01 Cash Revenues and Procedure FN2005 Processing Cash Revenues. The patron will receive the customer cash register receipt as evidence of their payment.
Payments may also be collected by credit card. After the cashier has scanned or looked up items in Doubleknot on the register, they may swipe the customer’s credit card. After the credit card charge has been approved, two receipts will be printed out, one for the customer to sign that SCEC retains as proof of payment, the other for the customer’s records.
The cashier will close the register at the established time each business day in accordance with the locally established and approved closing procedure. The cashier will count the total cash on hand and perform the Doubleknot procedure "Remove the Cash Drawer, End the Shift and Close the Day" generating an "End of Day Report" (Exhibit C). The change fund will be separated from the total cash on hand (to be deposited) and secured in the Center's safe until the next cash register operation is initiated. The cash and checks for deposit will be secured in the Center's safe until deposited in accordance with Policy FN01 Cash Revenues and Procedure FN2005 Processing Cash Revenues.
When staffing at the Center allows, an employee other than the Visitor Services Program Coordinator may perform on Doubleknot the procedure "Remove the Cash Drawer, End the Shift and Close the Day." They will prepare the deposit for the Visitor Services Program Coordinator to deposit during their next shift.
The Visitor Services Program Coordinator will prepare the deposit weekly. Envelopes from each day's sales containing cash, checks, and credit card receipts will be put into the locked deposit bag. The deposit bag transfer log will be filled out and signed by the Visitor Services Program Coordinator. Then it will need another signature from another employee with permission for the cash register. The daily sales envelopes and deposit bag transfer log will be locked in a deposit bag. The locked deposit bag will be taken by the Auxiliary and Business Services courier and guard to the Business and Finance Office.
The Business and Finance office will secure the receipts in a locked deposit bag and make the deposit in accordance with locally established and approved procedures and Procedure CR2004 Accountability for Transfer of Items of Value (Except Equipment) and FN2005 Processing Cash Revenues.
In those instances, approved by the SCEC Director, the Office Manager will prepare the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) (Exhibit D) and intake form to be sent over to the Outreach Non-Credit office for an invoice to be sent out. The billing information will be obtained from a MOA completed for that program/service. The MOA is used to monitor program registration and fees to be charged. Once the program happens, the MOA is sent over to the Outreach Non-Credit Office where they prepare the bill/invoice and send it to the participators for payment. Every month the Outreach Non-Credit office sends out a report showing all paid and non-paid invoices for the month. SCEC receives an updated list from the Outreach Finance Office for all cost centers and IOs.
Inventory is kept track of through the cash register Doubleknot program. A full physical inventory count is performed once a year by the Visitor Services Program Coordinator between mid-December and mid-January; adjustments are made, and discrepancies are accounted for.
The Associate Director of Operations will review the physical inventory postings and assure that adequate controls are in place to protect the inventory from shrinkage.
SCEC will issue refunds for items purchased from the Bookstore and Gift Shop in the same way they were originally purchased. The patron must present their cash register receipt along with the item (in new condition) for a refund. Refunds are processed through the register and Doubleknot system. Refunding through the register and Doubleknot records an adjustment in inventory.
Periodic reconciliations are performed under the direction of Outreach Central Finance to help ensure that related sets of financial documents balance, and thus assess the integrity of the local record keeping system. The results of these reconciliations are to be reviewed by Outreach Central Finance.
On a monthly basis, University Monthly Budget Reports are to be examined, along with the Auxiliary Accounting System Reports, to ascertain that the proper (SCEC) accounts were credited with the income. Likewise, comparisons should be made to determine that purchases to inventory are accurately reflected on both the University's budgetary accounting records and SCEC's internal records.
See Procedure FN2002 Processing Returned Checks for complete details on the business process when a banking institution returns a check.
Violations of a financial policy and/or procedure should be reported to your supervisor, unit manager, Human Resources representative, and/or office responsible for the policy and/or procedure. Where those resources are inadequate, you may choose to make an anonymous report through the Penn State University hotline by calling 1-800-560-1637.
The Financial Officer is responsible for ensuring that procedures pertaining to the accountability and safeguarding of all cash receipts, cash funds, and other assets are established and followed in accordance with approved University policies and procedures. Regular audits relating to advances, cash, travel, equipment accountability, and other expenditures provide a means to protect University assets. The Financial Officer is responsible for collaborating with Internal Auditing when audits are being performed in the administrative area. Audits pertaining to sponsored activities or other audits performed by external auditors may also be performed. The Financial Officer is also be responsible for collaborating with the external auditor and/or a central University office related to these procedures.
University Records retention must be managed in accordance with Policy AD35 University Archives and Records Management, and Records Retention Schedules approved by the Records Management Advisory Committee, the Office of General Counsel, and Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff. These records retention schedules are derived from - or based upon - federal, state, and local statutes or regulations, University Policy, industry standards, and business needs. All University Records must be maintained in such a manner to provide ease of access, establish a suitable audit trail for all transactions, and to be reviewed prior to disposition.
University Records and Transitory/Disposable Record are defined below. See Policy AD35, Definition of Terms for additional information.
Upon completion of the retention period, University Records must be disposed of via secure destruction or transfer to University Archives, unless an exception to the disposition process set forth below applies. If the disposition method for University Records states "Review by Archives" on the records retention schedule, the employees responsible for those records should consult the University Archivist for a final determination of disposition. For University Records that must be securely destroyed, units may arrange for shredding services by contacting the Inactive Records Center.
Exceptions to the disposition process are as follows:
To safeguard the privacy of individuals, records that contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII), as defined in University Policy AD53 Privacy Policy, or student records, as defined in University Policy AD11 Confidentiality of Student Records, must be destroyed beyond recovery. For additional information regarding privacy and the protection of an individual's personal information, see Policy AD53 Privacy Policy.
Additional questions may be directed to the Office of Records Management.
For questions or additional details, please contact the Manager, Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.
To request changes to this procedure, please contact the Office of Systems & Procedures by submitting a GURU Technical Support Request form.
December 23, 2024
