DFL Weekly Update

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Deadlines at a Glance

  • Tuesday, 6/30 - Submit final FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms in BFS
  • Tuesday, 7/7 - Approve FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms
  • Tuesday, 7/7 - Queue commitments for Q4 June requests
  • Friday, 7/10 - Last day to review and post all Financial Journals and Temporary Budget Journals (Campus Units)
  • Friday, 7/31 - Complete department review for Vacant Position Cleanup
  • Friday, 8/21 - Submit completed and approved Org Tree change requests

Budget Process

Thank you for all your effort in completing and submitting your budget materials. The CalPlanning planning tools (CalPlan, HCP) are closed so the Financial Planning & Analysis team can review the budget submissions. CalPlan and HCP will remain unavailable while the Operating Budget is finalized.

Action items

Fiscal Close Dates

The combined list of VCF/VCA deadlines on the Fiscal Close Dates - FY2025-26 is available on the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) website. This year’s fiscal close steps are similar to those in previous years for Berkeley Regional Services (BRS) and the Finance Office. Please take a moment to review the information to ensure that all relevant steps are taken according to the deadlines.


Complete External Audit Certification for Q4 by Friday, June 12 - Today

To ensure the completeness and accuracy of the quarterly Controller’s report to the UC Office of the President - Ethics, Compliance, and Audit Services, please help us identify the external audit activities on campus. The Controller’s Office is sending a separate email with additional information to DFLs with known external audit activities. By Friday, June 12, please submit the materials below to gao@berkeley.edu.

  • All DFLs: External Audit Confirmation Form - You must return the completed form even if you do not have any external audit activities so we can certify campus responses.
  • DFLs with external audit activities: External Audit Confirmation Template - Include any related documentation with the template, i.e., notification of the commencement of the audit, audit report, etc.

If you have questions, please contact gao@berkeley.edu.


Submit final FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms in BFS by Tuesday, June 30

Research Administrators (RAs) or other BFS departmental users should submit FY26 Contracts & Grants deficit-clearing waiver request forms, for a waiver of deficit clearing on open awards, via the RA Grants WorkCenter no later than Tuesday, June 30, 2026. For the Year-End Deficit Clearing Process on open awards, BFS users can submit the C&G deficit-clearing waiver request form through the RA Grants WorkCenter as of June 2. Refer to the action dots in the blue header row at the top of the screen in BFS for instructions. Access to the RA Grants WorkCenter is obtained by submitting a request via the SARA system. You can read more about the year-end deficit clearing process on the Deficit Clearing Process page.


Approve FY26 C&G deficit-clearing waiver request forms by Tuesday, July 7

The deadline for Divisional Finance Leaders (DFLs) to approve the C&G deficit-clearing waiver requests in BFS is Tuesday, July 7. DFLs should navigate to the following page in BFS in order to approve waivers: Enterprise Components > Forms > Approve/Review a Form. Enter “CGADFCWVR” in the “Form” field.


As a reminder, the following are exempt from the Year-End C&G Deficit Clearing Process related to open awards. Please do not submit a waiver under these circumstances:

  • Awards that have a final Financial Report due date after May 31 of this year and before January 1 of next year.
  • Awards with an Anticipated Funding Amount recorded in BFS that exceeds the total actual expenses as of June 30 this year. The Anticipated Funding Amount for awards is found in the BFS fund panel on the "Award Info" page.

If you have further questions regarding the Contracts & Grants deficit clearing processes, please contact the Controller’s Office at cgahelp@berkeley.edu.


Queue commitments for Q4 requests by Tuesday, July 7

Please complete the commitment queue form by Tuesday, July 7 for commitments to be funded in June of FY2025-26. Please note that the following commitments do not need to be queued: Budget Decisions; EVCP TAS; Star Awards; Bear Grants; both Productivity Suite and Campus Data Network assessments, and endowment payouts for rotating chairs. Commitments are processed quarterly. You only need to use one commitment queue Google form to submit your requests for both faculty and non-faculty funding commitments. Faculty commitments are defined for this purpose as Start-up, Retention, ASMD, and Chancellor's Professorships. Chancellor’s Professorships are those that are offered via start-up or retention in lieu of an actual chair until one can be found and are funded by central resources. For more information about queueing commitments and the required documentation, visit the Commitments page. Please remember to log in through the VPN if you are working remotely for these forms to function properly. For questions, email dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu.


Submit completed and approved Org Tree change requests by Friday, August 21

To submit an Org Change request, please access the Organizational Tree Change Request Portal. For Org Tree changes to be processed in August, please complete your org change request form in the portal as early as possible to allow time for the Org Tree Change Committee to review and route for all required approvals by the August 21 deadline. Please review the Org Tree Change Request Portal Job Aid for more information on how to get started. Contact dfl_concierge@berkeley.edu with questions. Note: The Master Org Tree is now closed to all org changes; however, review of org change requests will continue throughout the closed periods (June and July) for processing approved changes in August.

Informational updates

SSGPDP fund deficit clearing and disallowed funds reminder

For divisions and departments with self-supporting graduate professional degree programs (SSGPDPs), we want to remind you that you may not clear deficits on SSGPDP funds with core funding sources. These funds are considered disallowed for use by SSGPDPs to cover campus operating expenses, per UCOP policy. Disallowed sources include state general funds (199XX), tuition (20095), Student Services Fees (20000), nonresident supplemental tuition or NRST (19942), and professional degree supplemental tuition, or PDST, funds. While self-supporting program expenses are intended to be fully covered by the program fee you charge your students, you may use allowed sources – such as unrestricted current-use gifts or sales & services revenue – to cover short-term deficits. Please reach out to studentfees@berkeley.edu if you have any questions about this policy.


FY2026-27 UCRP Supplemental Interest Assessment Rates

UCOP has released the updated assessment rates for FY 2026-27, which are officially locked for the upcoming fiscal year. New multi-year projections are also available. DFLs should review their non-federal payroll fund sources against these schedules to ensure accurate long-term budgeting.


The uniform UCRP Supplemental Interest Assessment covers interest on historic pension borrowings. Because federal rules strictly prohibit charging pension interest to federal fund sources, this assessment is excluded from the Composite Benefit Rate (CBR) and applies only to non-federal funding sources. For more information, visit the UCRP Supplemental Interest Assessment webpage.


Vacant Position Cleanup Initiative

UC Berkeley UCPath and the Vice Chancellor for Finance’s Office are launching a Vacant Position Cleanup Initiative to eliminate unneeded vacant roles in UCPath. This is strictly a data-cleanup effort and will not impact your hiring plans; positions can be quickly reactivated if needed. To minimize your workload, pre-populated review sheets have been made with default actions based on vacancy dates and active recruitments.


Key Dates & Required Actions:

  • June 17: DFLs were sent pre-populated spreadsheets.
  • June 18 – July 31: Department review period
  • Early August - Final file preparation and submission to UCPath
  • End of August (Target) - UCPath processing and mass inactivation (as appropriate) with effective date June 30, 2026

You can reach the UCPath Operations team at UCBUCPath@berkeley.edu


Update to faculty regalia purchasing & reimbursement

UC Berkeley has updated its stance on faculty regalia to offer departments greater flexibility while remaining compliant with IRS and UC policies G28 and Bus 79. Departments may now directly purchase UCB-branded regalia to keep in their inventory for future use. They can also reimburse faculty for UC Berkeley-branded regalia if the items are added to the department’s inventory. Additionally, departments may choose to reimburse faculty for non-UC Berkeley regalia; however, because the faculty keep these items, the reimbursement will be considered a taxable expense. These new options replace previous restrictions, offering a cost-effective alternative to annual rentals while following standard accounts payable regulations. For questions about these updates, please email disburse@berkeley.edu.


Finance Job Opportunity

The Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance is hiring a Director of Capital Finance and Treasurer. This role focuses on developing strategies for managing the campus's cash and long-term capital resources, ensuring strong internal controls for financial health, and creating incentives for high performance. Please share this job opening with potential candidates who may be a good fit. 


Position: Director of Capital Finance and Treasurer (0213U) - #86585

Salary: $220,000.00 - $270,000.00

Review the job description.

The first review date is June 23, 2026.


FY26 Composite Benefit Rates (CBR) rates have been approved

The composite benefit rates (CBR) for FY2025-26 have been approved by the government. As a reminder, we follow a standard process for calculating rates led by UCOP and adopt their agreements with the federal government. The new rate values and more information about how the CBR rates are calculated are available on the Composite Benefit Rate webpage. If you have any questions, please email Hervé Bruckert and Kevin Mack at centralresourcemanagement@berkeley.edu.


Review June's updated unused airline ticket credits

Please review the June 2026 UC Berkeley Monthly Unused Ticket Report to ensure your unit's travel credits are used before expiration. If you identify a credit that is no longer active, please let us know so we can update the report accordingly. Please contact the UC Travel Center at 310-206-2639 or travel@finance.ucla.edu to learn how to use the applicable credit. Read more in the Unused Airline Ticket Credit Alert (June 2026).


Cal Answers training

Enrollment is now open for the two-hour instructor-led class that builds on the basic navigation skills covered in the self-study. There are separate courses focusing on financial dashboards and student data dashboards. In the class, a subject matter expert guides a deep dive into the reports and data available in the dashboards and answers specific questions. The Cal Answers website also hosts self-service learning resources, including a complete course on basic navigation, short videos, job aids, wiki documentation, and a list of frequently asked questions.


CalPlanning and Smart View training

Enrollment is now open for instructor-led classes for CalPlanning and Smart View. Self-study materials for CalPlanning and Smart View are available on the website for everyone to use; they can be a helpful resource for those who have already completed the training and are looking for a refresher. Review the CalPlanning training page to access the self-study materials.

Federal Updates

Please be aware of two resources regarding the evolving federal policy shifts: the UCOP "Federal updates" page and the UC Berkeley "Federal updates" page, which will be updated regularly as new information becomes available. 

Changes to the DFL in your division?

If the DFL role in your division is changing, email fpa@berkeley.edu to ensure our website, communications, and training plans are updated. 


As a reminder, these updates are regularly posted to the DFL Weekly Updates page, allowing you to reference past updates at any time. Additionally, the operational deadlines page provides an overview of deliverables by quarter.


Thank you,

Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance

If you are having difficulty accessing the information in this message, please contact vcfinance@berkeley.edu for assistance. 

CFO website

Divisional Finance Leaders