There is nothing more important than making sure that your budget is accurate.  We have developed a process that allows you to reconcile your MRA by verifying and validating what you have in HOPS with your Monthly Financial Statement (MFS).

We have created a simplified process, so that you are spending your time efficiently.  Below are the steps to reconcile your budget in HOPS.

1.   The first step in reconciling your budget is to download your MFS from Finmart. Follow these steps to download the MFS:

1. Log in to Finmart and navigate to Shared Reports, and click ‘Budget’.

2.  From the list of budget reports, select ‘Monthly Financial Statement by Legislative Year (Excel)’.

3. Select your office, Legislative Year, and Calendar Month, then click ‘Export’ at the bottom left of the page

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2.  It is now time to import your MFS into HOPS. Follow the steps below to import:

1.  In HOPS, navigate to [Finance -> MFS Import] from the left navigation menu.

2.  From the ‘Import’ section of the form, select:

• Select Budget – This is the budget that includes the period that you are reconciling.
• Select Period – This is the budget period that you are importing into HOPS.
• Month Close? – This indicates to HOPS whether the MFS that is being imported is for a closed period. If it is not, you will not be able to reconcile the period until the final ‘Closed’ MFS has been imported.
• Select File – Click the ‘Browse’ button to navigate to and select the MFS to be imported into HOPS.
• Display Name – Create a name for the imported file

3.  Click the ‘Upload’ button to import the MFS to HOPS. 

After the MFS has been uploaded, the imported records will display below.  Action is not required here unless you need to change an assigned BOC, or budget period. 

3.  After the MFS has been imported, go to [Finance -> Budget Details] from the left navigation menu.

4.  The period that has been imported will display two columns (Budgeted and Imported).  The budgeted column displays the amounts that have been budgeted for the BOC’s.  The imported column displays the amount spent for each BOC.

Note: Periods that have been previously reconciled display a ‘Reconciled’ label at the top of the column.  Additionally, the font color is black for periods that are reconciled vs. blue for periods not yet reconciled.

5.  You can compare the budgeted and reconciled columns for verification of accuracy.

1.  Important note regarding the budgeted and imported columns:

• In most cases the ‘Budgeted’ amounts are only projections, so the two columns will likely not match.  If you choose, you can change the budgeted amount to match the imported amount prior to reconciling. (The budgeted amount cannot be changed once the period has been reconciled).
• Personnel compensation (1100 BOC’s) is managed directly in the payroll history for each staffer, so the budgeted and imported values should likely match.  If these values do not match, there will need to be an adjustment made in the payroll history.

2.  You can view the vouchers that are associated with each BOC by clicking the value in the imported column for each BOC.  You can view all vouchers for a period by clicking the ‘Imported’ at the top of the column.

–  The voucher summary and details will be displayed as shown below.  You can also search for a specific voucher if needed.

3.  The details of Personnel Compensation (1100 BOC’s) are displayed by selecting the ‘Payroll’ tab.  Here you can view the budgeted and imported totals for each staffer.

4.  You can view the details of the budgeted salary and imported payroll disbursements by clicking in the disbursed amount for each staffer in the imported column.  This will display a detailed view which includes a display of what has been entered in the payroll history of HOPS and what has been imported from the MFS.

• If there are any discrepancies between the budgeted and imported amounts, you can make necessary adjustments in the staffer’s payroll history to resolve the issue.
• In addition to the MFS, you can use your monthly Payroll Certification to compare and verify any discrepancies with payroll.

5.  The details of your Intern compensation is displayed by selecting the ‘Intern’ tab.  Here you can view the budgeted and imported totals for your interns.

• Only interns that have been assigned to your ‘Intern Budget’ will be displayed on the ‘Intern’ tab.  Those that have been assigned to your MRA will display on the ‘Payroll’ tab along with other staff that are paid from the MRA.
• Any discrepancies between the budgeted and imported amounts will be highlighted in red.  This will assist you in identifying which records need additional review prior to reconciliation

6.  Once you have verified and confirmed that the MFS import and HOPS data are accurate, you can then process the reconciliation by clicking the ‘Reconcile’ button at the bottom of the period being reconciled.

– If there are discrepancies (payroll only), you will be presented with a notification and description of the discrepancies.  You can either cancel the reconciliation and correct/adjust the records or click ‘Reconcile’ to complete the reconciliation.

– When the reconciliation has been completed, the period will display one column labeled ‘Reconciled’, which will display the totals from the imported MFS.