Finance & Administrative Operations
Mission
School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts' Office of Finance and Operations is committed to providing responsive financial management support, fiscal guidance, and excellent service to the dean, faculty, staff, and students. Our goal is to ensure responsible and accountable stewardship of financial resources. The services we provide include: funds management and reporting, travel reimbursements, payroll management, and day-to-day operational support.
Services for Instructors
- Manage faculty accounts, providing faculty members with updated account information;
- Manage annual SSHA fiscal reporting across all units in SSHA budgetary components.
Policies & Support Materials
SSHA Internal Forms
Contact
For inquiries, please email SSHA Financial Services at: ssha.financial@ucmerced.edu
Financial Staff Contact Information:
VACANT
Assistant Dean - Finance
209-228-
Office: COB-1 249
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Eli Vargas
Director of Financial Services
209-631-8115
Office: COB-1 247
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Eddie Torres
Financial Services Analyst III
209-285-7360
etorres56@ucmerced.edu
Office: COB-1 247
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Amanda Leard
Financial Services Analyst III
209-355-6668
aleard@ucmerced.edu
Office: COB-1 247
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Jesus Garcia-Zaragoza
Financial Services Analyst II
209-228-4163
jgarcia-zaragoza@ucmerced.edu
Office: COB-1 247
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Last Updated: September 2024
FAQ
The answer is yes as long as you are logged on via the UC’s VPN. Here is a link to the news database A-Z database listing.
Essentially ‘no’. If you are planning to use the university funds, furniture can be purchased through authorized contracted vendors only. Faculty are strongly encouraged to have ACT make the up-front purchase rather than seek reimbursement. Reimbursements are not approved until reviewed and deemed in-line with University’s guidelines. Processing of reimbursements also may be delayed by additional levels of documentation and approvals. Submitting the purchase request up-front furthermore offers the opportunity for the buyer to recommend an alternative vendor that could save money or provide other added value.
Like usual (pre-COVID), such items may be purchased using faculty start-up or incidental accounts.
All items purchased using campus funds are owned by the university. While items may not need to come back to campus, they should be returned to campus if/when employment at UCM ceases.
The funding voucher is University funds and any items funded through an Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) voucher and/or campus funds should be returned to the campus at a later date.
These are all allowable (except for the restricted desktop printers, ink, and toner which needs a higher approval). You can use your start-up or incidentals funds for these expenses.
EH&S can cover up to $450 of the cost of ergonomic equipment/furniture (via an ergo voucher) we encourage you to apply for this voucher using the following steps:
Please keep in mind that vouchers are limited.
1) Conduct an ergo assessment via the Learning Management System (LMS) https://uc.sumtotal.host/core/dash/home
a. Find a Course>type ergocat into search>register
2) There is an assessment at the end of the course. Once you complete it, email Bill at bcollier2@ucmerced.edu and let him know you’ve completed the assessment. Bill will confirm and send you your voucher.
Home delivery is possible with the approval of your CAO viaCBS2 with exceptions to computer purchases. Computers are delivered to the Office of IT for configuration and you can pick it up from their office afterward.
Staff and faculty should make every effort to adopt digital means of communicating and storing documents. For any restricted items such as desktop printers, ink, and toner, please provide your business justification when you submit your request to ACT. ACT will seek the Dean’s approval on your behalf.
An honorarium is normally a one-time payment granted in recognition of a special service or distinguished achievement for which propriety precludes setting a fixed price, such as a special lecture, participation in a workshop or panel discussion, or similar activities.
If the fee is prescribed by the individual or if it is negotiated, an honorarium situation does not exist, rather a contract for services exists. Further, it is inappropriate to pay honoraria to individuals who make significant instructional contributions to a course, or to pay honoraria over several months, such as to visiting scholars.
Faculty members and their staff support can request honoraria for their guest speakers. It can be part of a course or it can be a seminar series.
Honorarium payments are generally not allowable charges to federal/state funds unless a contract or grant specifically authorizes such payments. If the fee is prescribed by the individual or if it is negotiated, an honorarium situation does not exist, rather a contract for services exists. Please contact SSHA Academic Personnel for any such requests at rsmith7@ucmerced.edu.
You are authorized to request honoraria up to $2,500 per event under the provisions of APM - 666, and to get exceptions up to, but not exceeding, $5,000 per event according to the UCOP guidelines. Please consult with funding source prior to determining honorarium amount.
There can be multiple funding sources for an honorarium.
- Faculty Accounts: Faculty can use their accounts for honorarium payments. Please double-check with your RA or financial analyst to make sure funds are available and it is an allowable expense.
- Department Funds: Before committing to any honorariums from the department funds, please submit your request to your department chair to make sure the funds are available.
- Instructional Resources: If the honorarium is part of a specific course and/or syllabus, please consult with Instructional Resources and submit an Instructional Resources Funding Request Form to make sure it is budgeted for.
Generally, a rough average for UC Merced has been $500 per event/speaker. This average is subject to change depending on future commitments.
UC Merced Faculty are not eligible for an honorarium for the services they carry out within the UC Merced campus. It is considered as service to the campus community.
Honorarium for UC Faculty is allowable and is done through Intercampus One-Time Payment Form. The maximum honoraria rate that can be paid to University of California faculty is $1,500 (with exceptions allowed up to $3,000) per event.
Yes, a faculty member can choose to waive receiving an herbarium payment.
If UC Merced is the Host Campus: Complete the Host Campus Information of the Intercampus One-Time Payment form and obtain required signatures. Once this is complete, the form is sent to the Home Campus for further processing and payment.
If UC Merced is the Home Campus: When the Intercampus One-Time Payment form is received with complete Host Campus Information, complete the Home Campus Information. After completing the Home Campus Information, the form is forwarded to the Academic Personnel Office at academicpersonnel@ucmerced.edu for approval and is sent to Payroll for processing.
The Home Campus is responsible for submitting the completed form to Payroll for payment processing.
Non-academic staff members are not eligible to receive either honoraria or any other payments that are not related to the service they are providing as employees.
Students are not eligible for honorarium payments.
Requests should be submitted as far in advance as possible. Honorarium requests must NOT be submitted after the event. It will be considered as an unauthorized payment and will need additional layers of approval.
NO. Faculty must NOT pay out-of-pocket and request reimbursement for honorarium payments. It will be considered as an unauthorized payment and is unlikely to be reimbursed.
How do I request an honorarium payment?
There are a few ways to request an honorarium:
- You can submit a request to CBS2, formerly ACT, directly.
- If your honorarium request is part of a virtual event and have already filed an event request with SSHA Events and Seminars they can help you with honorarium payment processing.
- You can request your Department Specialist to submit an honorarium payment on your behalf.
Requests for international individuals should follow the same process as outlined in the Process and Procedures for Requesting Honorarium Payments replacing the W-9 with a W-8BEN form. Banking information must be obtained from the guest speaker via email and submitted as part of the supporting documentation to CBS2 for payment processing as these payments are processed via wire transfer.
There are other considerations to keep in mind when it comes to honorarium payments to international participants, including but not limited to:
Foreign Individuals/CA Nonresidents (activity in U.S. and California):
- Need to confirm the individual is eligible for payment under current U.S. immigration status prior to activity.
- Need to enter into GLACIER.
- Tax determination by Tax Services is needed for correct tax withholding from the gross payment amount.
- Need to confirm the individual is eligible for payment by UC Merced Export Controls (U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control)
- The amount is Form 1042-S reportable income to the individual. Federal tax withholding of 30% applies unless tax treaty exempt.
- California Nonresident withholding 7% deducted from the gross honorarium payment if payments made to an individual exceed $1,500 in a calendar year. The amount is reportable on annual CA FTB Form 592-B.
Foreign Individuals/CA Nonresidents (activity in the U.S. but outside California):
- Need to confirm the individual is eligible for payment under current U.S. immigration status prior to activity.
- Need to enter into GLACIER.
- Need to confirm individual is eligible for payment by UC Merced Export Controls (U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control)
- Tax determination by Tax Services is needed for correct tax withholding from the gross payment amount.
- The amount is Form 1042-S reportable income to the individual. Federal tax withholding of 30% applies unless tax treaty exempt.
Non-US Citizens (Foreign)/CA Nonresidents (activity outside U.S.):
- No tax reporting or withholding; taxable income in a foreign country to the individual.
- Need to confirm the individual is eligible for payment under UC Merced Export Controls (U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Asset Control)
- One-time payment does not create a nexus for UC Merced to register in the country.
- Tax determination by Tax Services needs to be done to ensure payment is made outside of the United States (additional foreign source income statement form may be necessary).
Please contact the Tax Services Team at tax@ucmerced.edu if additional clarification or discussions are needed.
- Honorarium is paid in recognition of a special service or distinguished achievement for a department, school, or university.
- If the fee is prescribed by the individual or if you have agreed on a service and negotiated a fixed price, then it should be processed as a service contract. Contact ssha.ap@ucmerced.edu to learn more.
- If you would like to pay a research assistant, student, or anyone else, not in the UC payroll system, for services rendered or expenses incurred for which a fee was NOT pre-negotiated. Contact ssha.financial@ucmerced.edu to learn more.
- If you would like to acknowledge the contributions of a student, research assistant, or employee, you can look into the option of gift cards. See BFB-G-41 for employees and BFB-G-42 for non-employees to learn more.
To view the full list of IT resources available for faculty please click here. Most services are free of cost. However, if you are requesting a software purchase the form will ask you for the source of funding (FAU). If you are not sure what is the source of funding please email us at ssha.financial@ucmerced.edu.
