{"id":3783,"date":"2025-08-27T13:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T13:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-business-services\/?page_id=3783"},"modified":"2025-09-04T18:51:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:51:53","slug":"financefoundationslesson6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/financefoundationslesson6\/","title":{"rendered":"Finance Foundations &#8211; Lesson 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Finance Reports via Argos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In this lesson you will learn:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What finance information can be viewed using Finance Reports via Argos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Naming and System Note<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Macalester Finance reporting is delivered via a tool named Argos.&nbsp; &nbsp;Argos is a reporting tool that displays transactions that are kept in Banner, Macalester&#8217;s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) too.&nbsp; &nbsp;At Macalester, people often refer to Banner and Argos as the same resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Best practice is to review your Operating budget(s) and Fund(s) transactions at least monthly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can viewing Finance Reporting at Macalester help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>View which transactions have been categorized in a particular FUND\/ ORG.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Validate an invoice, transfer of funds (JE), check request has been processed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor your Operating Budgets expenditures and how much allocated budget remains for the Fiscal year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monthly, on the 20th of the month, those employees who have access to Financial reports via Argos are sent notification the last month&#8217;s transactions are now available to view via Argos.&nbsp; For employees who have been identified as responsible the budgets, these emails will have an attachment of the current Budget and Transaction Expenses by FY, that include a graph of the expenditures to date.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Research budget spend or a category of spending for budget forecasting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to access Finance Reporting at Macalester<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Access to Finance Reporting at Macalester is limited to those who have a need to monitor a budget or track transactions.&nbsp; &nbsp;Before you can access Finance Reporting at Macalester, you will need to have approval from your supervisor.&nbsp; &nbsp; See <a class=\"more-long\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/submit-finance-access-approval\/\">Finance Access &amp; Approval<\/a> to see how to request access to Macalester&#8217;s Finance Reports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once you have been granted Finance Reporting Access via Argos, you will receive a notification from Business Services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To access Finance Reporting Access via Argos go to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/argos.macalester.edu\/argos\/awv\/\">argos.macalester.edu\/argos\/awv\/<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong> &nbsp;You will be asked to provide your Macalester login credentials.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you are off campus, you will need to first connect to the Macalester network via VPN.&nbsp; &nbsp;If you have not already connected to VPN, please find the specific instructions on how to access:<span style=\"font-family: arial, sans-serif\">&nbsp;<\/span>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Fp-hO2nEzOhLAF4_L41bc-tb_dg4lHoHHrOhAnM0i1U\/preview#heading=h.1vi3cass17m6\">Connect to VPN via macOC (gdoc)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1Fp-hO2nEzOhLAF4_L41bc-tb_dg4lHoHHrOhAnM0i1U\/preview#heading=h.x45fm4ga2wlv\">Connect to VPN via Windows (gdoc)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Please contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/its\/\">ITS Help Desk<\/a> with any questions about accessing the VPN.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once you access Finance Reporting via Argos, go to Business Services Reports on the left navigation.&nbsp; Here you will find standard reports provided by Business Services to monitor your budgets.&nbsp;<strong> Your Finance access and approval will determine if results are displayed in each type of report.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Finance Reports include<\/strong>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#myfinance\">My Finance Access and Approval Report<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#budgetandtransaction\">Budget and Transaction Expense by Fiscal Year<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#Fundbalance\">Fund(s) Balance Summary by FY<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#transaction\">Transaction by Date Range<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#activity\">Activity Code Report by Fiscal Year<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#grant\">Grant Transaction by Date Range<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a id=\"gap\"><\/a>Also a guide to Document Codes, FOAPAL Syntax, Fiscal Periods and general account categories can be found at <a class=\"more-long\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1RAasgofs0gNSYkVwWQksrkqeMTmE3EKWqyF57O6ujcs\/view\">Accounting Cheat Sheet (gDoc)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<section class=\"callout-feature-text block-container\" >\n    <div class=\"callout-feature-text__inner\">\n        <div class=\"callout-feature-text__container\">\n            <div class=\"callout-feature-text__feature-wrapper\">\n                <div class=\"callout-feature-text__feature-card\">\n                    <div class=\"base-lockup\">\n                                                                                                    <p class=\"base-lockup__copy\"><p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>Keep in mind that Finance Reports in Argos are NOT up-to-date<\/strong>\u00a0due to the\u00a0<strong>Pcard<\/strong>\u00a0cycle and other types of transactions that have a delay in importing the data into Banner \/ Argos for display.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">For example, a Pcard transaction from May 5th will not display in a Finance Report in Argos until June 20th due to the Pcard statement cycle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul style=\"text-align: left\">\r\n \t<li>Pcard statement period closes around the last day of the month.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pcard reconciliation occurs through the 6th of the month.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pcard approvals occur through the 10th of the month.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pcard transactions are imported into Argos Finance Reporting by the 20th of the month.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pcard transactions in Finance Reports via Argos will show a transaction date of the last day of the month the transaction\u00a0<strong>posted<\/strong>\u00a0to.\u00a0The actual date of the transaction will display in the Transaction description column as shown below.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Transactions fall into a given statement period\u00a0<strong>based on the posting date, not the transaction date<\/strong>, and they can take\u00a0<strong>several days<\/strong>\u00a0to post. Many transactions that occur at the very end of a given month will not post until the following month. This means a transaction that occurs on May 30th may not appear in Argos until July 20th.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Recent Pcard transactions can be viewed via the Wells Fargo Pcard portal.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Other types of transactions, including Document Services, Bon Appetit and Invoices can be delayed up to a month to show in the Finance Reports via Argos due to approvals and processing. Check with\u00a0<a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:Accounting@macalester.edu\">Accounting@macalester.edu<\/a>\u00a0if you are not finding a transaction in the reports that you are expecting.<\/p><\/p>\n                                            <\/div>\n                                     <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"myfinance\"><\/a>My Finance Access and Approval Report<\/strong> will show your access (can see the report) and approval (can approve expenditures) for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Program \/ Operating Budgets<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Funds (including Designated, Endowed Spend, Restricted and Grants)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To see who has approval rights for expenditures, click on a Fund\/Org, and then the red &#8220;Who else has APPROVAL?&#8221; button.&nbsp; A list of Macalester employees who have access and approval will display.&nbsp; See <a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/financeapprovals\/\">Macalester Finance Approvals Explained<\/a> for more information about approval levels at Macalester.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"budgetandtransaction\"><\/a>Budget and Transaction Expense by Fiscal Year<\/strong> will show you how the <strong>Program\/ Operating budget<\/strong> has been spent.&nbsp; This report shows by fiscal year, going back to 2008.&nbsp; The current fiscal year will appear as the default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Navigate by selecting a FUND + ORG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A red oval will appear on <strong>Account Category Totals<\/strong>, select the tab. To select multiple values, use the Shift or Control key, or your mouse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next, a red oval will appear on the <strong>Account Totals<\/strong>, select the tab.&nbsp; Only <a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1to-zXepy6tbpJlKE8iZs2LmDor43oP8OO8eIQrf9ny4\/view\">Finance Expense Account Codes<\/a> that have been active for the fiscal year will be listed.&nbsp; To select multiple values, use the Shift or Control key, or your mouse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finally, a red oval will appear on the <strong>Transaction Detail<\/strong>, select the tab.&nbsp; All expenses for the fiscal year &#8211; to date, will be displayed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a PDF of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Budget and Transaction &#8211; Expense by FY &#8211; Account Category Summary &#8211; a very high level rollup report of just the Account Category totals to date.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Budget and Transaction &#8211; Expense by FY &#8211; Account Summary &#8211; a high level rollup report of just the&nbsp;<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1to-zXepy6tbpJlKE8iZs2LmDor43oP8OO8eIQrf9ny4\/view\">Finance Expense Account Codes<\/a> totals for the budget to date.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Budget and Transaction &#8211; Expense by FY &#8211; Transaction Detail &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the budget to date.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AND Select RUN&nbsp;<\/strong>to download the report.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"Fundbalance\"><\/a>Fund(s) Balance Summary by FY <\/strong>&#8211; will show you how a Fund (NON &#8211; Program\/ Operating budget) has been spent.&nbsp; This report shows by fiscal year, going back to 2008.&nbsp; The current fiscal year will appear as the default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/argos.macalester.edu\/Argos\/AWV\/#explorer\/Business%20Services%20Reports\/Fund(s)%20Balance%20Summary%20by%20FY\">Fund Balance Summary by FY <\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The default is to show a SINGLE FUND.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the Fund<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the Fiscal Year<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Fund&#8217;s balance will display in the Fund Balance box<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Account Summary will display:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Fund&#8217;s balance as the beginning of the Fiscal year (June 1st)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any Revenue<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Any Expenses &amp; Compensation totals (Compensation details should directed to <a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/employment-services\/\">Employment Services \/ HR<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To see the Fund Balance for MULTIPLE funds, select the &#8220;Summary for multiple funds&#8221; button<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click on the funds, to select multiple values, use the Shift or Control key, or your mouse, to display the funds in the Fund Balance box.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a PDF of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fund Balance Detail by FY &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the fund to date, for SINGLE funds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fund Balance Summary by FY &#8211; if you selected MULTIPLE funds, the available balance for each fund selected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"transaction\"><\/a>Transaction by Date Range &#8211;<\/strong> this report can show transactions beyond a fiscal year, and can be very specific to a particular Expense Code, or very inclusive of all transacations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Select the Date range &#8211; the default is the start of the current fiscal year (June 1st) to today&#8217;s date.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the FUND<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the ORG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next, the Account and Program Code will appear as you make your selections.&nbsp; You can select a single Account code or to select multiple values, use the Shift or Control key, or your mouse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Finally, select the box &#8220;Once you selected the above criteria, check her to retrieve Transaction Detail&#8221; .&nbsp; The transactions will display.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a PDF of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Transaction by Date Range &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the date range selected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"activity\"><\/a>Activity Code Report by Fiscal Year<\/strong> &#8211; this report will display all transactions that have been categorized with a particular <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/activitycodes\/\">Activity Code<\/a>. The current fiscal year will appear as the default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Select the Fund.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the Org.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If transactions have been categorized with an Activity Code, the Activity Code will be listed.&nbsp; &nbsp;If there are transactions without an Activity code, they can be viewed by choosing &#8220;no activity code&#8221; in the Activity Code box.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The transactions will display in the Report Preview box.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the &#8220;Check Box to Include Revenue&#8221; to include revenue in the report.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a PDF of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Activity Code Report by Fiscal Year &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the Activity Code(s) selected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a id=\"grant\"><\/a>Grant Transaction by Date Range<\/strong> &#8211; this report will show Grant related transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Choose the Grant from the pulldown.&nbsp; Active Grants are selected as the default.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The related Fund to the Grant will be displayed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the date range for the report.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the ORG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the PRO (Program)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select the Activity Code, or if no Activity code, select &#8220;no activity code&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select Account Type<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The transactions will display.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a PDF of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Grant Transaction by Date Range &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the date range selected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To download a CSV of the transactions, go to the Reports menu at the top and select a report:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Grant Transaction by Date Range CSV &#8211; a detailed report of each transaction for the date range selected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Training available<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Individual or departmental training is available.&nbsp; Contact&nbsp;<a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/staff\/#BusinessServicesSystemsManager\">Business Services Systems Manager<\/a> for any requests for training or questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Go to <a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/financefoundations\/\">Finance Foundations at Macalester<\/a> to find additional lessons.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finance Reports via Argos In this lesson you will learn:&nbsp; What finance information can be viewed using Finance Reports via Argos. Naming and System Note Macalester Finance reporting is delivered via a tool named Argos.&nbsp; &nbsp;Argos is a reporting tool that displays transactions that are kept in Banner, Macalester&#8217;s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) too.&nbsp; &nbsp;At [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3783","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3783"}],"version-history":[{"count":71,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10619,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3783\/revisions\/10619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/business-services\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}