Getting Started with Reporting

Accessing Reports

In order to access reports, you will need to have access to our finance systems. Visit Required Trainings by Role for information about gaining access and the required trainings.

To enter reporting environments log into myColumbia using your UNI and password and click on the "ARC Portal" tab, then click on the "Go to ARC" link or, for FDS reports, click on "Go to FDS."

Columbia University’s fiscal year financial cycle begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th and includes monthly financial periods. 

As part of your school or department requirements, you may need to perform various weekly, monthly, and quarterly financial reviews concerning fiscal year progress. These financial reviews are necessary to identify financial transactions that may need to be adjusted or modified and financial variances that may need to be analyzed.

To accomplish these functions, reporting allows users with the appropriate security role to:

• monitor transactions
• track balances
• analyze budgets
• generate financial statements
• report to stakeholders 

The Accounting and Reporting at Columbia (ARC) system receives feeds from the various integrated systems so that it can be the combined source of financial information across the University. ARC tracks activities through a series of modules including the ARC General Ledger, the financial record for the University. 

June year-end financial results are critical for internal and external reporting and are reviewed by our external auditors. In July of each year, you should:

• review your financial results
• enter adjustment journal entries and internal transfers as needed, and
• clear payroll suspense and fund balance overdrafts

Senior management will conduct its review of the financial results based on the activity recorded. 

Report types are available to you depending upon your access, the kind of information you need, and the format you prefer to view the data. Please refer to Required Trainings By Role for details on applying for and gaining access to ARC.

There are three circumstances when you may need special reports for accounting purposes. They include the following:

Reporting Capital Equipment Status Change

The custodial department is responsible for notifying Capital Assets Accounting (CAA) whenever the status of equipment changes.

The Equipment Inventory Adjustment Form should be used to report changes to the CAA Property Manager.

Reports to Government Agencies

When special reports covering capital equipment are required by a government agency, the principal investigator or head of the custodial department should furnish the CAA Property Manager with whatever technical data is needed to meet the reporting requirements.

Grant Closures

The process of closing a grant or contract requires a final review by the Research Policy and Indirect Cost group and CAA of the status of any capital equipment used in the project. The purpose of the final report is to provide closure to the agreement.

When special reports covering capital equipment are required by a government agency, the principal investigator or head of the custodial department should furnish the CAA Property Manager with whatever technical data is needed to meet the reporting requirements.

FDS Reports

To print an FDS report, click the print icon on the upper left-hand corner of the report. Since many FDS reports are wider than a typical screen page, it can be challenging to connect left category columns with center financial columns once printed.

As an alternative, it is often best to download the report into Excel, hide unneeded columns, highlight key sections and then print your selection. To download a report click "export" and choose PDF or Excel.

Queries

For queries, you will be offered the option to output the query in HTML, CSV, XML or Excel formats. Select the output option, enter values for the prompts, and click "view results."  Choose download and select print.

Inquiries

For inquires, download the information into an Excel spreadsheet by clicking the "download" button on the right. From Excel, you can print.

Trainings

There are a number of trainings available in our Training Library that will guide you through the reporting process, including: