DFL Weekly Update

Friday, June 5, 2026

Deadlines at a Glance

  • Friday, 6/12 - Complete External Audit Certification for Q4 
  • 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, 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

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

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).


Endowment FY27 payout projections now available and change to UC Berkeley Foundation payout schedule

Endowment payout projections for FY27 are now available through the Cal Advancement Database System (CADS), where users can look at estimates for specific funds or run reports for a school/college, division, or department. Users can run the Future Payout Report in CADSmart or look at payout estimates for individual funds on the allocation screens. Starting in FY27, UC Berkeley Foundation endowments will distribute the full payout amount in late August or early September, similar to UC Regents endowments. Divisional Finance Leads should contact Gift Analysis & Compliance at fundhelp@berkeley.edu with any endowment payout questions. To learn more about endowments, please go to Eureka, Berkeley's advancement intranet, which can be accessed with your CalNet credentials.


Vacation Assessment Rates

The vacation assessment rates for FY27 have been finalized. Effective July 1, the assessment rate for staff will decrease from 9% to 8%, while the rate for faculty will remain unchanged at 8%. You can view the updated rates on the Controller’s Office website.


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

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